Follow-up: Canker in Trees and Tree-like Shrubs..Death?...Not Necessarily

After 

This is a follow-up to Canker in Trees and Tree-like Shrubs..Death?...Not Necessarily.

Aesthetically, if you look at the after picture compared to the before picture, you may say, "They looked better before."

They did, somewhat, but they are diseased and were living in a situation which was only going to create more problems.

Also, they were inundated with various vines (redirecting and killing some branches) which the owner had a difficult time recognizing and keeping up with because the canopies (the lowest branches) were hovering over or reaching the ground.

Before

Whenever I prune (not shear or simply shape) a tree or shrub I do pruning for health reasons and aesthetics depending on the tree or shrub. Pruning for health reasons, in and of itself, on an otherwise healthy plant does so much for the beauty of it.

This was not the case here. I knew pruning for health reasons, almost only and entirely, would leave these sasanquas and camellias in a not-so-pretty state, but it had to be done.

This is the agenda I set forth in the first article:

• Lower the overall height of the shrubs without topping and therefore creating a much larger mess.
• Prune for health reasons, removing as many disease-affected branches as feasible.
• Do so while sanitizing pruning tools involving stems or branches suspect or diseased.
• Increase airflow throughout the entire cluster of shrubs.
• Raise canopies and adjust (lower) the reach and timing of the irrigation system which is keeping the area too moist.
• Prune for aesthetics where desired.

Most cuts, by far, were predicated by the cankers, particularly those completely girdling a branch. Most height reduction was made with a thinning cut back to a secondary branch or the trunk.

After discussion with the property owner, we decided to leave some diseased branches (those which were still producing healthy secondary branches) as one can run into additional health issues by removing too much.

Canker is usually a sign of a fungal or bacterial issue so I wasn't only sanitizing my pruning tools between cuts on different plants; I was doing so between many cuts on the same plant. I pruned for future growth where possible.

There is definitely better circulation now - you can see into or through most of the shrubs. And, adjacent plants aren't now growing into one another. Actually, a fair portion of this was caused by vines traveling up, through and over several plants.

I raised the canopy (lower-most branches) a bit more than planned, mainly due to water sprouts which had become weak drooping branches.

The existing lawn sprinklers for this area were rather high-reaching misters located in the center of the lawn. We had a friend (30-plus years in irrigation) come in and move the heads to alongside the home, spraying outward across the lawn, but not into the plant bed. We also reduced the frequency and run time for this sprinkler zone.

It will take months to see how these girls respond. Hopefully, after some drying time for the soil, we can ask the customer about re-establishing the bed borders and applying some mulch.

This is the least viewed area on this gorgeous property. Perhaps we can get it off the least healthy list.

Winter is a great time to address such issues, and pruning, particularly with evergreens.