no direct experience... but the key words for me: We have a bunch

cut the worse one of the bunch to 3 inches... and report back ...

is winterBEERy different than winterbeRry??? ... making me thirsty.. and the hockey game is starting.. lol ...

ken

why 3 inches and not to the ground?
Marshall

no clue.. lol ....

i have always done shrub rejuvenation as such ... the short stumps never rot.. and just stands there ... assuming it sprouts ....

i always suspected it was to keep the stump dry ....

otherwise i never asked... maybe someone else can tell us

ken

ps: maybe also.. it sprouts from the trunk.. rather than the roots ....

I don't care for "short stumps". And I would think if it sprouts from the stem one would want more than 3 inches. Looks like I've posed a question that can't be answered here.
Thanks for the attempt
Marshall

Marshall, I don't know about verticillata, but I have cut Ilex crenata, 'Convexa' to the ground and it sprouted from the roots. In fact it sprouts near the base even without cutting back. I have about fifty plants so I have a lot of experience with them.
I will take a picture of the sprouts tomorrow when it's light.
Mike

Here they are in front of the kids playhouse. They were as tall as the playhouse and I had to cut them down so I could get the house out of there and scrap it. Pretty obvious why. The girls are 29 and 30 now. It's been a long time happening and I still haven't removed it. The Ilex was cut down last year. It came up all over. Some branches were layered, but not all that came up.
Mike

{{gwi:285298}}

Botann, your crenata are much larger than the verticillata I'm dealing with. We acquired a bunch three years ago from Simpson Nursery in Indiana and they were mostly 24inch stems with a few laterals at the top. We planted them out a year ago and they look like a bunch of sticks in the ground. I have grown many from cuttings and was always able to produce a bushy plant with selective pruning during their second year, but these Simpson plant are challenging me to do something with them. As I mentioned before, I've great success with pruning to the ground - I use a saw - and getting nice bushy plants on numerous other shrub and thought I might try it on these verticillata. My real concern is do they have enough root mass to provide the re-sprouting I'm looking for. I may try a few and then do some stem cutback on some others to see what works. We have them planted in an area which we hope to have a good display of fall red color along some borders of the grounds.
Marshall

"We acquired a bunch three years ago from Simpson Nursery in Indiana and they were mostly 24 inch stems with a few laterals at the top."

You must've gotten the rest of the ones I didn't buy - or I got what you left behind.

I have the exact same situation as you are describing, but I have most of my plants still in containers as I wanted to develop a decent sized root mass before going to the field. Most have been shy to produce new shoots from the base (so far), but have produced some suckers from the edge of the pot on the larger (5G) containers.

I did plant a dozen or so of the original bare root plants directly in the ground ('Oosterwijk', 'Maryland Beauty', 'Shaver'). These produced shoots from the base this growing season (2011) after planting out in 2009.

What to say, but I think in your last post that you have stated a reasonable approach for an arboretum setting. Take a variety of treatments over your collection, and document the results so that everyone can learn something. I would believe that with reasonably healthy roots below, the cutting back of the top will stimulate dormant buds to break around the base of the stem, and produce a flush of new stems. The aesthetics are yours to decide, but I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to display the differences in a one-foot stub; 6 inch stub; 3 inch stub; and flush to the ground - versus a "do nothing" control specimen.

I would be prepared to supplement with moisture and several doses of nitrogen through the season after you make the cuts, to boost the new growth and recovery of leaf surface for photosynthesis. Knowledgeable holly growers recommend this treatment for Winterberry Holly after fruit set on established plants, for best growth and fruit display.

I'm certain you are aware of Fred Galle's text on holly. The Holly Society of America is another source of information, and they welcome questions of this nature at their website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Holly Society of America home page