Japanese Lilac Tree Prunning

4 years ago

Hi guys, I have been having the most difficulty with trying to find the right tree to plant in a specific spot. I already had a crab apple that died and had to be removed due to fire blight. Most of the susceptible trees (crab apple, pear, etc.) in my area got hit with it a few years ago and I didn't want to replace it with another.

I am now trying a Japanese Lilac Tree. I have no idea of the variety, but from a photo taken last year you can see that it is multi-stemmed. It got enormous this year and I wanted to make it more into a multi-stem (max 3) tree. I wanted the canopy high so you can see throughout the garden, and it wouldn't impede mowing. My brother did the job for me. Do you think this looks okay? There are some trunks still rubbing together (total 4 all together) that I think one more needs to be removed but my brother didn't want to kill the tree. I told him I don't think you can kill this but I'm not 100% sure of that. Honestly, I really hate this tree and was considering just chain sawing it out, but my brother persuaded me to try this first. Anyway, what do you recommend? Does it look okay to you now or should I keep going and get it down to 3 trunks or down to 1? Any info greatly appreciated.

Picture last year before pruning.

After pruning.

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Comments (3)

laceyvail 6A, WV
4 years ago
Looks fine to me. You can always remove more next year. But if you take off too much this year you can't put it back.
lovetogarden thanked laceyvail 6A, WV
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years ago
id like better pic or two of the actual pruning down low .. did he leave stubs??

ken
lovetogarden thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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lovetogarden
Original Author
4 years ago
Hi Ken, yes, there are stubs which he is going to remove with a hand saw later. Just for more info, he never touched anything at the top. First, he removed leaves by hand to expose the trunk, and then he started separating the trunks, first removing the whips, then any crossing trunks, but he did leave one crossing that he said if he removed would screw up the look of the canopy. There would be an open space in the canopy, like a big dent or a line. As you can see on the left side that did happen a little bit when he removed one trunk.

Though I wanted the canopy high I didn't realize it would be that high as it looks a little leggy to me now. But he assured me that as the tree gets older the trunks will get thicker and it will put out some more branches and leaves lower down under the canopy. Not to mention the canopy itself will drop a little bit as it gets weightier. He's done this many times on his own property and his trees look amazing. He said in future to always remove any branches coming out of the lower trunk and whips as soon as they show up.

I'm just curious when this is going to flower. It is in its 3rd. year already.

I took the picture walking around the tree and shooting at different angles.