Any ideas on the best way to prune a Monkey Puzzle tree.

Its overall height is about 20 ft with long straggly branches.

Do I just top it and then just shorten its branches ??

The message
from gray contains these words:

Any ideas on the best way to prune a Monkey Puzzle tree.

If you can't dig it up, prune it flush with the ground, or leave a few
feet od trunk to support a bird table.

Its overall height is about 20 ft with long straggly branches.

Have you got an open fireplace in the house?

Do I just top it and then just shorten its branches ??

Oh, you really mean prune it? No, you don't prune it at all, unless a
branch is threatening to attack you in the dark, grow
across/into/through a window, etc.

If you're considering topping it (in the literal sense, not the way I'd
do it) it's in the wrong place to start with.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
Gray wrote:

Any ideas on the best way to prune a Monkey Puzzle tree.

Erm, you don't. It can withstand a bit, but it will look all the
worse for it later.

Its overall height is about 20 ft with long straggly branches.

Oh well, a youngster then. Expect it to get to well over 60 ft with
even longer branches!

Do I just top it and then just shorten its branches ??

Unfortunately, chopping the top off leads to severely distorted
symmetry - lop-sided growth and all that. Shortening the side
branches might work, but it might also encourage varying degrees of
die-back. This is a very large growing tree - stupendously majestic
or hideously huge depending upon your point of view. It needs lots of
room in an open site to develop well and is probably unsuitable for
gardens under half an acre.


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November

Even 60ft sounds young middle aged. They grow in town squares in Argentina
and in Salta I reckon they were anything up to 100ft! Wonderful trees.

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:38:33 GMT, gray wrote:

Any ideas on the best way to prune a Monkey Puzzle tree.

Its overall height is about 20 ft with long straggly branches.

Do I just top it and then just shorten its branches ??

I think you've probably already got the message from others ;~)
Any kind of pruning apart from complete removal of dead wood will
severely disfigure and mutilate it. If you're even thinking about
pruning - you planted it in the wrong place. It will be a big tree
eventually and quite handsome in a way, though difficult to place so
it looks right in a Northern Hemisphere garden.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

"gray" wrote in message
...
Any ideas on the best way to prune a Monkey Puzzle tree.

Its overall height is about 20 ft with long straggly branches.

Do I just top it and then just shorten its branches ??
___________________
It cannot be pruned. The dead branches will defy any saw and ruin a
good one. The normal wood is soft but the branches are totally
different~~like iron.
You would find it impossible to remove by digging as it seems to have
a vertical tap root~~ I've never seen one blown down ~~though I did once try
to have one blown up!! Surprisingly it is capable of suckering at the
base~ one of mine does so regularly and some idiots have managed to remove
and root them! If you have it cut down you will find the wood looks as if
it can be planked well but the multitude of knots shrink and fall out~~as I
discovered to my cost!! The stumps did not sucker and rotted reasonably
well.
Sorry not to be more helpful but it is a tree to avoid.
Best Wishes Brian. .

The message
from Dave Poole contains these words:
Graham Harrison wrote:

Even 60ft sounds young middle aged. They grow in town squares in
Argentina
and in Salta I reckon they were anything up to 100ft! Wonderful trees.

Well, I was being conservative, they grow bigger than 60ft. in Devon
and regions along the west coast, but are a tad shorter elsewhere. I
need to amend my suggestion that they should not be planted in gardens
of less than half an acre. for that read 1 acre - better two! If you
own a park then you can plant several.

When I was a boy we had a corner of the garden with a monkey puzzle tree
in it. There was also a sycamore, a false accacia, a laurel, a couple of
Scots pines and several others I can't remember. Beneath this lot was
the air-raid shelter, by this time turned over to storage of apples.

The monkey puzzle must have been about fifty feet high, but looked quite
good rising above the other trees.

But it must be admitted that the garden was an acre, as were nearly all
the other gardens in the road. (There was a covenant on the estate which
stipulated that there should be no more than four houses to the acre. It
was ridden over rough-shod in the '60s.)

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Trees in the auracaria family are very beautiful when growing well-we have a
small monkey puzzle growing out of doors and two Norfolk Island pine in a
conservatory.
My elder daughter's in laws have two monkey puzzles groing in and exposed
position in Cheshire.
These tree have developed a ugly mushroom shapes with top branches densely
crowded. I think this is where the tree has grown above the shelter of a
tall hedge and become exposed to strong winds blowing in from the marshes

In article , david taylor
writes
Trees in the auracaria family are very beautiful when growing well-we have a
small monkey puzzle growing out of doors and two Norfolk Island pine in a
conservatory.
My elder daughter's in laws have two monkey puzzles groing in and exposed
position in Cheshire.
These tree have developed a ugly mushroom shapes with top branches densely
crowded. I think this is where the tree has grown above the shelter of a
tall hedge and become exposed to strong winds blowing in from the marshes

No, it's their final mature shape. Well, it is if they're about 60 ft
high. If they're only 20 ft, your explanation is better.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

When I said auracarias were beautiful, I had in mind the monkey puzzle at
Wrexham crematorium which is well over 60ft. high and smaller trees with
regularly spaced branches. The two I mentioned are unusual with around
20seasons growth crammed into the last 10 feet.
Norfolk Island pines are splendid trees.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "david taylor" contains these words:

Trees in the auracaria family are very beautiful when growing well-

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This beholder doesn't find them
beautiful, especially when grown as specimens in an expanse of mown
lawn.

we have a
small monkey puzzle growing out of doors and two Norfolk Island pine in a
conservatory.
My elder daughter's in laws have two monkey puzzles groing in and exposed
position in Cheshire.
These tree have developed a ugly mushroom shapes with top branches
densely
crowded. I think this is where the tree has grown above the shelter of a
tall hedge and become exposed to strong winds blowing in from the marshes

No, that's it's normal habit as it matures :-(. The bottom branches
drop off leaving a tall naked trunk with all the remaining branches
bunched together at the top end like a giant inverted lavatory brush.
Hillier's Manual attributes this to araucarias grown in industrial
areas, but I've observed it in many very rural auracarias in unpolluted
areas. My neighbour has one dwarfing a rural cottage and adjacent
farmyard. The ghastly tree is about 60 ft high, 40 ft of which is bare
trunk.

Last week, for the first time, I saw a monkey puzzle that looked
strikingly good, but this will only be a temporary effect I fear. It was
in Attadale garden near Strathcarron in Wester Ross. The tree was a
young one, about 20 ft high, growing amid a dense "jungle" of very
striking foliage which included gunneras, bamboo, and huge skunk
cabbages. The whole effect was wildly exotic.

Incidentally Attadale is a fabulous garden, one of the best in
Scotland imho, well worth a detour to visit by urglers in Wester Ross.
Good restaurant close by :-)

http://www.attadale.com/attadale_gardens.html

tour tabs at the bottom

Janet.

"david taylor" wrote in message
...
When I said auracarias were beautiful, I had in mind the monkey puzzle at
Wrexham crematorium~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~Even as a client of the crematorium I would not appreciate it!!
Brian.





















which is well over 60ft. high and smaller trees with
regularly spaced branches. The two I mentioned are unusual with around
20seasons growth crammed into the last 10 feet.
Norfolk Island pines are splendid trees.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "david taylor" contains these words:

Trees in the auracaria family are very beautiful when growing well-

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This beholder doesn't find them
beautiful, especially when grown as specimens in an expanse of mown
lawn.

we have a
small monkey puzzle growing out of doors and two Norfolk Island pine in
a
conservatory.
My elder daughter's in laws have two monkey puzzles groing in and
exposed
position in Cheshire.
These tree have developed a ugly mushroom shapes with top branches
densely
crowded. I think this is where the tree has grown above the shelter of
a
tall hedge and become exposed to strong winds blowing in from the
marshes

No, that's it's normal habit as it matures :-(. The bottom branches
drop off leaving a tall naked trunk with all the remaining branches
bunched together at the top end like a giant inverted lavatory brush.
Hillier's Manual attributes this to araucarias grown in industrial
areas, but I've observed it in many very rural auracarias in unpolluted
areas. My neighbour has one dwarfing a rural cottage and adjacent
farmyard. The ghastly tree is about 60 ft high, 40 ft of which is bare
trunk.

Last week, for the first time, I saw a monkey puzzle that looked
strikingly good, but this will only be a temporary effect I fear. It was
in Attadale garden near Strathcarron in Wester Ross. The tree was a
young one, about 20 ft high, growing amid a dense "jungle" of very
striking foliage which included gunneras, bamboo, and huge skunk
cabbages. The whole effect was wildly exotic.

Incidentally Attadale is a fabulous garden, one of the best in
Scotland imho, well worth a detour to visit by urglers in Wester Ross.
Good restaurant close by :-)

http://www.attadale.com/attadale_gardens.html

tour tabs at the bottom

Janet.