Iilex cren. Japanese Holly

Ronny

Can anyone tell me how well this plant back buds and branches out? I have one that i have had since dec 05 , and did a trunk chop on it and was wondering if it will back bud and branch out or if i should just strike it up to a learning experience.

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TreeBay

Yes I can - holly is a shrub so ordinarily it would bud back profusely. Timing can be an issue though. If you cut it back -- it buds out a little-- and then winter hits and you have all these tender shoots, they could freeze. Or, any time of year, if you cut it back and then cut it back again before it has time for the leaves to harden off, it might give up the ghost!

Regards,

Matt

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Ronny

Thanks Matt for the response. I will keep a watch over it.

soonami

I had one that I used in the styling contest last fall that budded back very well this spring. Although I pruned it very drastically, I did not trunk chop it.

If your tree has not, by now pushed out new buds, then I think it is likely that it is dead. Many evergreen trees do not like to be chopped down to nothing, so think you may have gone a bit too far. Good luck though

Ronny

Well we will have to see. It was pushing new growth really good, looked like a bush you know, so i went today to and start to prune it and the branches kept breaking off so i had to cut it off. thats why i cut it.

bwaynef

I pulled up 4-5 of these from my landscape about early-mid may. I have 2.5 of them right now. (2 in pots, and one left under my bonsai table in a hole, fending for itself...) I dug,torqued,cut, and pulled them up. I did manage to get plenty of their roots, though I took no care to really preserve them. I cut them down by at least 80%. On the first one I got buds within a week, and leaves within 2-3. On the second it took about 2 weeks to get new buds, but I'd left a few leaves on it. On the last it took about 3 weeks but I removed all its foliage, have yet to really water it or pot it, or put it in a proper hole. These were all dug about a week after each other (so it was getting progressively warmer for each of these.)

All that to say that these things should bounce back if they were healthy. I'd probably not remove anything else from then. Hopefully in the next weeks you'll start to see those purple buds start pushing. Even if you don't, I probably wouldn't count these out until after cool weather starts and you see nothing before then.

Good luck,
WF

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rockm

I have found that Ilex crenata will re-root from bare stubs or very very little root mass. Keep them in moist soil, with alot of organic and you can practice the same treatment that olives get in So. Cal.--saw off the bottom root mass all the way to the nebari, plant in the ground, have the plant recover...Have done this with a couple of them now.

onlyrey

I have looked around and see contradictory information regarding Ilex 'Shillings' (which is the name that my plant had at the nursery I bought it). Bonsai BCI in this article says it is different than Ilex vomitoria or Japan Holy, Dave's garden says it is a cultivar, and I have seen somewhere in the net that it is supposed to be a cultivar which is propagated vegetatively and this is the male version Ilex vomitoria plant.

Can my Ilex vomitoria/ shillings be treated as if it was an Ilex crenata (Japanese Holy)? Is this a good time of the year to hard prune and bare root?

This is a 4" or 5" trunk shrub that came in a 15 gallon nursery container, I will probably make it into a clump style because of the way it looks.

Brent

I'm interested in the flowers and especially the fruit of Ilex crenata. What are your experiences of getting fruit without male plants nearby? Are there any self fertile cultivars that are worthy for bonsai? I am considering propagating them, but would like to have some idea if there would be any demand. The also seem very slow to trunk up.

I have a male and female species, not cultivars as far as I can tell, and I get fabulous red berries every year, but it would nice to know if it would berry without the male around. And I just know you are dying for this tidbit, it's called Parthenocarpy. Figs do it all the time.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
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