That sort of growth is called fasciation; in other words, cristate. If left to its own devices it might turn out very interesting.

Beyond that, the tree is far too close to the fence.

This post was edited by jean001a on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 0:49

I'd wait to graft this one until you see what the others you grafted do. Also, since you'd have to top this one, that would give me pause. Now, if some side shoots fasciate again, then I'd have at it.

tj

PS I've heard of shearing a 'Peve Mineret' like that, but never had the nerve to do that. Looks like it works well. How narrow does that keep it when it leafs out?

i would like to see it leafed out.. either last year.. of this year .... if you dont have a current pic

please and thx

ken

Jean Thanks for your placement recommendation/critique. It's at least 4 foot away from the 8 foot fence. It was intentionally planted close to the fence because I shear it yearly and it'll never touch the fence. It takes 5 minutes. I have a 20 foot ladder and a 20 foot pole saw so I'll keep it narrow for some time to come.

Taxodium takes shearing/pruning very well. I have several other Taxodium cultivars that I shear too. In early spring, the 'Peve Minaret' looks really unique as leaves push before any new stem growth. Everyone always wants to know what kind of tree it is. I'll try to remember to get some early spring pictures. The following pictures, from last September, are the same 'Peve Minaret' 7 months after shearing last February. It's starting to fill in better every year. It takes several cycles of shearing for it to start being more full. Each sheared branch will push 1-2 new branches.

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beautiful tree

that is pretty aggressive for Taxodium distichum 'Peve Minaret'

almost as aggressive as my PM ... which was pointed out as not such by someone with a lot of joy .. lol

i like the pruning idea... the weirder the better.. eh??? ... lol

and with the pruning.. who cares what it really is ...

i might have to try this on my PM ... simply because i dont need a Td where it stands ....

ken

I apologize. After going to my greenhouse, I realized my weeping cultivar with cristate growth is 'Cascade Falls' instead of 'Falling Water' as previously mentioned. Last year I grafted the abnormal growth and it continued to show in the 1st seasons growth as can be seen on the branch tips in the following pictures. Hopefully it will continue to show this type of growth.

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I have same thing with 3 of different MC-BC hybrids. It's rather annoying to tell you the truth because I wanted a single dominant central leader. I chopped central leaders on two of them and will find out soon enough if it works or not.

Anyone know why they do that?

Great work, Patrick. Do you fertilizer the PM to get that kind growth each year? Its hard to imagine each of those branches was last year's growth.

tj

Your first pic with foliage looks like a monkey puzzle tree to me. Way cool effect with that pruning!

From a distance, it looks like giant marijuana buds to me.
Mike

Seeing that I have two BC dwarf "Jim's Little Guy", I'm going to play with one to see if ABC's way will produce similar results for the fun of it. It looks pretty cool!

The September pics look great!

I have a Lindsey's Skyward- would it be a candidate for this? It is almost the same form as PM.

I have a small 'Lindsey's Skyward' that I pruned to the trunk in the exact way as above. I did it once to refresh the tree. It might look weird if you shear it for a few years and then allow the high, unreachable top portion of the tree to grow naturally. The tree would be tight and congested at the bottom and more open and loose at the top....not attractive in my opinion. If you plan on yearly shearing, then go for it. It must be dormant when pruning.

do you guys want me to start sending out applications for my club: THE WEIRDER THE BETTER club???

and mike.. botan .... why do you know what those buds look like?? ... lol ...

ken

On the Internet, Ken!
It's fairly legal here. I don't grow it myself because I'm not sick enough (my wife disagrees) for a medical license to grow it. That's the way I understand it, but haven't checked up on the exact rules. No need to. Besides, I grow trees and shrubs, not perennials. :-)
Mike

Here is the same Taxodium 'Peve Minaret' as of May 20, 2014. Less than 3 months ago I completely sheared the tree. It's starting to fill in nicely.

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Very interesting pruning of your 'Peve Minaret". I've never heard of doing that with a Taxodium. I love it and want to try it when my tree goes dormant this fall/winter. My question is - Will this work on my PM that has never been pruned? Mine is about 20 feet tall and about four feet wide.

Thanks for posting and any advice that you can give.

Conon, southern Indiana,

abciximab, Please keep us posted with progress photos...very interesting.
Looks like yours is in full sun? Possibly going on 9'?

Thanks
Al

Works on larches, too.

Looks good, Patrick. You'll have to keep us posted on the cristate growth as well.

Thanks.

tj

Looks excellent!

Good to know also about the larches unpro, I might like to try that with an occidentalis.

abciximab,
Looking good. Your pics from last Sept are awesome. We always appreciate the pics. Thanks again for the tour.

Arktrees

Hahaha, Oh wow. Looks pretty funky but I like it!

Interestingly, SFASU arboretum posted a picture of MC-BC hybrid T-502s being pruned to the trunk over the winter and now showing current picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: T-502

It appears a new Peve Minaret I purchased this weekend has a cristate or fasciation leader as well. Looking at the current form of the tree, I would like to encourage it to become more uniform in the branching structure like the photos above. I plan to stake the tree and pull it back to straighten it as it has a slight bow towards the house. I planted it this way to encourage more growth on the side which is kind of thin since it will get more sun from that direction. I'm just now beginning to learn about these trees so tell me if my plan is correct: Wait until winter when the leaves have dropped to prune back the branches and then prune to within 1-2 inches from the main leader.

Questions:

1.) Since this tree is newly planted and establishing a root system, would it be best to give it a full year (year and a half in this case since it was just planted) before starting to prune?

2.) Would you leave the tristate on the top or will this prevent the tree from growing much taller? There is plenty of room for the tree to grow up past the eves on the house.

3.) Will this tree ever grow new branches down low on the right side where it is missing branches right now? I would like the tree to look more symmetrical. This was the best specimen they had left out of the group which was delivered to the nursery.

Thanks for your help!

why didnt you start your own post.. about your own tree???

why didnt you just plant the root ball a bit askew.. so the trunk would be straitght.. maybe you could do that right now ...

no pruning for a year or two.. every leaf is a food making machine.. since you need root growth.. dont cut off the food making machines ...

you have to start thinking in tree time ... which involves ignoring the needs of instant gratification ...

when its roots get settled in.. it will sort itself out.. and THEN you can start thinking about pruning it to some shape or form ...

check out the pic at the first link .. you have not given this thing much space ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Peve+Minaret&t=ffcm&iax=1&ia=images

i posted in this thread since it was on the same topic of having a cristate leader which was one of my main questions. The first 1/3 of the trunk is straight. It starts to bend farther up the trunk and I will support the tree down low and then stake the other side with a support pulling the rest of the trunk back to straighten it out. I've done this with a bald cypress which had a bow in the trunk and it straightened it out after a year of being staked. There is plenty of room to grow if I keep it trimmed like the original poster has done which is the look I'm going for.

Tree looks fine and I'd let it grow for now without pruning. It may back bud on the bare side and that may not be a issue.

tj