Learning By Doing...

Carl_Bergstrom

Carl,

I've not had this experience with junipers. With mugo pine, yes, but not with junipers.

In what order did you style and root prune? Heavily styling immediately after root pruning is a surefire way to kill just about any conifer or course, because the mechanical stresses from wiring and tugging and snipping end up destroying the remaining roots. The reverse order doesn't seem to be a problem; I've been root pruning junipers (both procumbens and chinensis) immediately after styling for several years without ever a problem.

Cheers,
Carl

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Treebeard

Carl & Carl;

I don't think it was the order in which I did the root and foliage pruning that killed it. Just the fact that I did both at one sitting, and very heavy prunings at that. I had to reduce the roots quite substantially to allow me to get them into the driftwood. It wasn't your typical root pruning, where you gently comb out and snip a few ends, it was more like wholsale slaughter of the root ball...

Also, the wood it was planted in just wouldn't hold water. the whole thing was a bit too free draining, so combine lack of water with drastic root & foliage pruning and you get a dead tree..

Regards,

Chris.

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clrosner

Old Crow:
I wonder if the area (zone) in which we all live may have something to do with the demise of trees that are styled and root pruned, or root pruned and then styled. Just a thought!

I live in Zone 6/7 and have found that if I wait several months after styling, I have no problem pruning the roots at a later date.

Lately, with the short growing season, we had no spring at all, I usually wait until the next year to root prune.

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Carl_Bergstrom

Carl,

Undoubtably the zone matters a great deal. It's never hot here (well, basically never) in Seattle so perhaps that makes it easier for the trees to tolerate root work. No risk of a drying 95 degree wind! Nonetheless - and I should admit by way of disclaimer that I pretty much slept through high school Geography - I believe that Chris' UK climate is quite similar to mine here.

I would suspect that in this case order is similar the world round. Styling immediately after pruning, when the roots are at their weakest and would be getting broken off against both soil and tie-down wires, is probably a bad idea whereever one lives.

Best regards,
Carl (Old Mister Crow)

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