Pruning Orchid Tree After Freeze

5 years ago

We had a devastating freeze in Texas and lost our beautiful 20 foot bauhinia. We had to prune most of it down. It is sprouting back from the ground and from one part of the trunk. Should I go ahead and cut the remaining trunk to the ground and restart the tree from the ground or let the sprouts grow from the trunk? Worried about having an odd shaped tree.

Here are some pics of before and after.

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Comments (5)

L Clark (zone 4 WY)
5 years ago
I think the freeze changed the color of your dog
peachmousse
Original Author
5 years ago
Sadly she passed right before the pandemic so I adopted a new pup from the SPCA.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
Worried about having an odd shaped tree.

==>>>>

first off.. whats to worry about ... its already odd .. lol ... so forget about worrying ...

the issue is ... and i know nothing about these trees .. is whether it was grafted ... are the shoots from down low.. going to be the same flower ... and is that important ...

if not ... then 6 of this .. half dozen of the other.. your choice..

but my choice would probably be to just take the large old trunk down as low as you can ... without breaking off all the new shoots ...

in fact.. a pic of such might be nice... if you want to go back to tree form.. you would probably reduce the low shoots to one.. over the next few years ... at this point.. every leaf is an energy making machine.. so you want the plant to have as many leaves as possible to grow the tree ... but if you had to remove a few to get the old trunk out.. so be it ... but maybe it would be better to do that in fall ...

the other issue is whether this plant will stop suckering from below.. and will you be able to return it to tree form.. rather than a shrub ... again.. i dont know with this plant ... some trees dont just like to cooperate with such ...

and finally ... is this thing going to piss you off every time you look at it.. then just get rid of it ...

on the other hand.. if you are up for the challenge.. and it will be the most interesting thing you ever did with a tree .. then keep it around ..

flip the coin.. and make your decision ...

lol on the dog comment .. i didnt even see the dog in the pix .. lol

ken
peachmousse
Original Author
5 years ago
It is not grafted. I'm thinking to take the trunk down as well. Someone on here posted pics of a similar orchid tree and it took them 3 ish years to get back to a decent size rather than a shrub. I guess I just feel guilty about sawing the trunk down but maybe then it can devote all the energy to the new shoot it is sending up. I will try and get a better photo. This tree is a PIA. It drops seed pods too so you have these things coming up everywhere. If it weren't so pretty I'd just plant something totally different. Here's their post and pics Can/Should this Hong Kong Orchid tree be saved? (houzz.com)
UpperBayGardener (zone 7)
5 years ago
I would let it start from the ground (so yes, cut the trunk) and limit it to a few shoots.