More dumb ass questions to the annoyance of the good people on here

I got a Hawthorn piece from a nice chap name of Pete Whitcombe. Good size, nice root structure, bargain at £25. Couple of questions:

1) If I chop it back below the existing branches will it shuffle off this mortal coil as I was warned would happen to my larch?

2) If I do reduce it to Shohin size how do I reduce the size of the leaves? Will this happen naturally or is there a technique to it? I suspect fertilsers may come into it.

3) Really dumb question, which I've asked before, but got answers which assumed I'm NOT a total dipstick: will branches thicken if I cut them to the length I want, or do I leave them to grow out until the right dimensions are reched.

Answers in VERY simple (preferrably monosyllabic) terms please. I struggle to breathe and fasten my laces here folks.

Hi Bobby. Nothing dumb assed aboutyour questions. Deciduous trees can be treated differently from evergreens[ hardwood from softwood.] If your hawthorn is healthy and well established, you should be able to cut it anywhere, regardless of foliage.
Leaves will reduce with ramification.
Branches will thicken, if you cut back but not as quickly.

I thank you.

My experience with hawthorn is that they will bud everywhere when cut back hard, even on really old wood, be ruthless!

see how stupid I am? I meant Hornbeam. what an arse I am.

Hornbeam bud back pretty well, too -- but maybe not a prolifically as the hawthorn would have.

Hornbeam as a woodland tree has been coppiced for centuries [ cut down to the ground] Along with most of our hardwood trees, hornbeam will shoot readily from old wood.Are you sure its hornbeam this time???

yup. Sure. Like I said got it from a nice fella call pete whitcombe at the BTA in cov in the spring. A bit baffled about what to do with it because it's a bloody funny shape, so thinking of reducing it dramatically.

Show us a pic.

Yeah, please, I wanna see some "bloody funny"

will baddeley wrote:Show us a pic.

I'll try but I've only got a mobile phone that I can use, and the artistic eye of a bullfrog.

bobby little wrote:

will baddeley wrote:Show us a pic.

I'll try but I've only got a mobile phone that I can use, and the artistic eye of a bullfrog.

nah. for some reason my p.c. is refusing to acknowledge the pictures of the offending hornbeam and won't upload them. suffice to say it's a darned whacky shape. I'm assuming it's best to do major choppage early spring same time as root work as the tree will be throwing lots of sap about and whatnot?

As long as you perform your chopage before you work the roots so its nice and stable inn the pot. If you just consentrate on the top and leave the roots for the following year, you will get better calousing and branch growth.

will baddeley wrote:As long as you perform your chopage before you work the roots so its nice and stable inn the pot. If you just consentrate on the top and leave the roots for the following year, you will get better calousing and branch growth.

cheers. It's potbound though, so I'll have to hoy it into a bigger tub for the year and attend to the roots the year after.