I have a five yr old weeping beech - very heathly, but the branches are now hitting the ground. when should I consider pruning the branches back until the tree itself has gained more height. thanks for any input
You can prune back any unwanted branches at any age, best is to prune beginning of March in your area. Branches low on the trunk can be pruned back flush with the trunk. No coat hangers. If leaving a large wound apply some Tree Wound Dressing.
Flush cut pruning and wound dressing? Maybe you can expand your answers as these are both against the current acceptable pruning practices.
Limbed-up weeping trees look perched or floating, producing a visual tension. It is better to allow the branches to sweep to the ground - unless there is a need for access beneath, such as when there is a walk near to the tree. In which case the specimen should be located elsewhere, in a spot where there is plenty of room for it to develop fully.
Hi. I feel that I should declare something upfront becaus I'm a Tree surgeon. Forgive the intrusion, but I have just published a book describing some new research into trees and specifically, how to understand their structures and then, how to simulate the kind of natural ageing process in what I call simulated wind pruning. That probably sounds self serving so let me add that it is available on Kindle and in just a few days it will be made available as a free download. All I will say is that once you have read it, and if it touches you, I would ask you to consider leaving a review. You can find out more by visiting www.TreeMorphogenesis.com . I mention this here because two of the five case histories that I have included at the end of the book, concern tree management that we have applied to Beech trees in the UK. Not weeping Beech I hasten to add, but believe it or not, the morphological traits that apply to upright Beech also apply to weeping Beech (only they are expressed differently). If when you have read the book you want me to explain that more fully I would be only too happy to discuss it with you and if you could send a picture to me at david@treeadvice.com or post one here we could discuss specifics of your tree.