Hi,
We have some conifers ( 7ft), a few of them have spurted off a a middle
shoot a couple of feet tall.
If I cut these shoots off, will the confiers continue to grow upwards or
will they just get more body.

regards,
david

In article ,
dtansley wrote:
Hi,
We have some conifers ( 7ft), a few of them have spurted off a a middle
shoot a couple of feet tall.
If I cut these shoots off, will the confiers continue to grow upwards or
will they just get more body.

Something in between. It is common for a side shoot on broadleaved
trees to 'take over' from a damaged leader, but it is rare for that
to happen on conifers - some species will do it, but most won't.

Usually, it will cause bushing out, but one or more of the main,
upwards pointing shoots will carry on up, so you get a thicker,
multi-leader tree. But the new leaders will probably never grow
as fast upwards as the current one.

Please note that all of this is species and variety dependent, so
it may not apply to yours.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679