Transplanting buxus sempervirens

Hi, my first post. I'm new to here but been growing Bonsai for nearly 30 years. Be gentle!

I need advice on transplanting Buxus, I have access to some nice specimens but the foilage is very sparse near the trunk line and the branches are very leggy as they've been grown very close together, I want to cut back hard when I transplant to stimulate back budding. As I've never grown this species before i'm not certain whether they can be cut back to old wood or not?

Some say yes others no! Have any of you had experience of cutting back past green growth? If so what is the likely response?

thanks

Nick

I've not had much success in getting buxus sempervirens to back bud on old wood. Certainly didn't bud where I wanted it, and then only one or two buds sprouted.

Got so frustrated I eventually grafted a branch where I needed it.

Get the tree healthy and try it on a sacrifice branch.

Good luck with it

Paul

Hi Paul, thanks for the info, So Box can bud on old wood but are not guaranteed to? Don't think i'll dig them up knowing that! Pity as its a plantation clearance and they are going cheap!

Oh well.

Thanks anyway

Nick

Hi Nick, contrary wise, it's been my experience that buxus back bud very well when chopped hard. They are very hardy in regards to transplanting and removal of the aerial parts. Plants that are grown in a hedge generally need most of the old interior branches removed to generate growth of smaller workable stems. The wood is very hard and mature branches are very difficult to reposition. You can't go wrong if you can get them cheap. There's two ways to trim a buxus, each causing a different effect. Cutting the leading tip of a branch, as when they're sheared in a hedge, will cause the tip to split and grow out from there. Repeatedly this will create a thick outer shell of foliage, just what you want in a hedge. If you leave the tip and pluck the leaves from the stem, the stem will produce new shoots where the leaves were. Then you can remove the tip leaving a mass of smaller twigs. You can push the foliage trunkward by doing this repeatedly creating a nice thick pad. This is one tree I would consider goof proof, very user friendly, I say go for it!

RKatzin wrote: it's been my experience that buxus back bud very well when chopped hard. There's two ways to trim a buxus, each causing a different effect. Cutting the leading tip of a branch, as when they're sheared in a hedge, will cause the tip to split and grow out from there. Repeatedly this will create a thick outer shell of foliage, just what you want in a hedge. If you leave the tip and pluck the leaves from the stem, the stem will produce new shoots where the leaves were. Then you can remove the tip leaving a mass of smaller twigs. You can push the foliage trunkward by doing this repeatedly creating a nice thick pad. This is one tree I would consider goof proof, very user friendly, I say go for it!

RKatzin
I 100% agree.

Aha, hope springs eternal. I am really keen to get these trees, they're about 6ft in height very healthy and bushy with thick trunks and plenty of branches even low down so to my way of thinking there must be dormant buds in those areas? What I don't want to do is kill them with a hard chop back!

As you have experience of hard pruning Box would I get away with total foliage removal? i.e. take the branches back to the trunk and start again? This would seem the best option in terms of styling but may be a bit too far horticulturally?

Thanks for your help

Nick

chagoi10 wrote:

As you have experience of hard pruning Box would I get away with total foliage removal? i.e. take the branches back to the trunk and start again? This would seem the best option in terms of styling but may be a bit too far horticulturally?

Thanks for your help

Nick

I don't know about pruning past growth, but I usually get great results leaving some leaves on each branch. I usually cut mine back to one or two sets of leaves and they do just fine. Not so sure about all the way back to the trunk though....

What Rkatzin wrote is fine for developing ramification, but it won't stimulate buds on old bare wood lower down on trunk and branches. Box do hedge up very tightly, but I've found they don't like to bud out on old wood, especially if they have that nice white bark.

Paul

I don't have an answer for you but do have a suggestion.

Why not take two, cutting the first back hard leaving no foliage, and pruning the second back to the lowest set of leaves on each branch...Wait for budding on old wood then prune again to a touch above the lowest bud on each branch. Repeat until desired height is reached.

This way you're guaranteed to have at least one survive, AND you'll have an answer to the question you posed.

In autumn earlier this year I bought a single nursery boxwood, about 3 feet tall, at a premium but it had a super trunk. I chased the foliage back all the way into old hardwood over a six month period using the above-mentioned method, and the tree is now about 8 inches tall with growth everywhere.

I'm loving my Buxus, and highly recommend them.

63pmp wrote:What Rkatzin wrote is fine for developing ramification, but it won't stimulate buds on old bare wood lower down on trunk and branches. Box do hedge up very tightly, but I've found they don't like to bud out on old wood, especially if they have that nice white bark.
Paul

Hi,
Could that be a regional / climate variation?
Mine bud very well from old white wood. to the extent i have an ongoing task of rubbing them off regulary.

I have buxus microphylla (?--Kingsville) which is about 40 yrs old and it was a small hedge. I thinned the outer layer of foliage quite a lot which yeilded a pom-pom look. I put it back in the ground and due to getting light down into the structure of the tree it has grown a lot of foliage near the trunk on nearly all the branches. In my case I think the sunlight was the difference.