Yew. Ideas/comments

I dug this 20 -30 year old (very approximately) yew out of a hedge in my garden some years ago.


It has survived in its tub despite rather than because of my attentions but I plan to start doing something this year.



I suspect that this will mainly be shortening branches, cutting out straggly growth and trying to get some more useful foliage growing but suggestions are very welcome.

For the future I'm thinking of something a little more radical.

There are 4 trunks, a small one arising from ground level and 3 larger ones from a trifurcation.





The trifurcation point is, unfortunately, a rather aesthetically displeasing height above soil level so I'm wondering if some sort of air-layering procedure could be carried out just below the origin of the large trunks.  Any ideas/advice?

Well.. Air layering is always an option. However, I would start by giving this plant some attention for a year or maybe even more. Right now, I would not work on it. it is not nearly healthy enough by the looks of the needle length, colour & density..

Are the primary branches too thick in relation to trunk thickness, perhaps? I've not worked with yew, so I don't know how it would respond to a trunk chop, but it seems to back bud pretty well.

A few branches are a little too thick but the main problem is that most of them grow in the same direction giving a very lop-sided shape with a lot of branches crossing in front of one trunk as you can see in the top picture.  This shows the side of the tree which was up against the hedge and which I've left facing south in an attempt to get a few buds appearing.

My general plan at the moment is something along these lines;



but that may well change as I see what the tree does.  Yews seem to me to be a very variable feast as far as shape and style goes.

I think you will find it will grow a lot better if you move it away from the wall. It certainly will help with the three-dimensionality of the plant.

leatherback wrote:Well.. Air layering is always an option. However, I would start by giving this plant some attention for a year or maybe even more. Right now, I would not work on it. it is not nearly healthy enough by the looks of the needle length, colour & density..

Absolutely correct. The tree has not been getting enough light and probably not enough water. Fertilizing is likely and issue as well. No work should be done on an unhealthy tree. There are a lot of possibilities with a tree like this but not in its current condition.