Aftercare for Yews - Taxus

[leatherback]

Today I had an oppertunity: A long-ago abandonded Yew / Taxus nursery has been sold and the new owner was cleaning out the plot. Over 600 plants were removed and tossed in containers. In exchange for a few hours of work, I brought home 5 decent-sized trees (about 20cm/8inch trunks on the biggest), cut down to stumps just above the main trunk splits, with no foliage..

They now sit in contaiers, with well-draining substrate, root system washed out completely. Will post pics later/tomorrow. (Too buggered now; 12 hours working trees).

What is the best route to take?

Some advice sun,. others shade. Some say water daily. Others advice to let the substrate dry out completely to encourge root development.

Who knows..?

 

[leatherback]

Wow.. Would have expected at least one person responding.
In any case.. Meet the victims

 

[0soyoung]

I had no idea that one could chop off all the foliage and have the yew survive.

All I know about yews are that they are conifers, are cold hardy and are shade tolerant. Their wood is very 'springy' and was used to make English longbows, IIRC.

Didn't know that all the green can be cut off. Did not now that.

 

[CWTurner]

Well if 600 plants were tossed in the dumpster, I know that would have brought home more than 5!

I don't have a lot of experience with these, but I'm trying the same thing on some yew that I dug from an overgrown area of a nursery, and some others that were dug up and tossed on the trash pile at a local cemetery. I've had some success (more with the yew that I dug) and found that misting seems to help. So keep the foliage/trunks moist.

You've got 1-2 interesting starters there.

Keep us posted.

CW

 

[Dav4]

Yews back bud as good as any conifer, and can push new growth after having all the foliage removed. Having said that, I might have tried to leave a little green on the stumps. Going forward, I think all you can do is keep the soil moist- not sodden- and give them some morning sun...then post pictures in 2 months...then we will know. Good luck.

 

[leatherback]

had no idea that one could chop off all the foliage and have the yew survive.

Part one accomplished. Part two.. Well that is all in the future . But the chopping off of all folages was easy, considering the foliage was several feet away from the trunk

Well if 600 plants were tossed in the dumpster, I know that would have brought home more than 5

Hm.. I know I was tempted but.. Problem is.. I spent over 100E now on materials to get these potted up, and it took a full day getting them cleaned and potted; Now they have to recover for years before I can work them.. Getting the plants is one thing. But I think it is better to try to get a few good ones (I found 3, and 2 less suitable) and take care of them really well, instead of filling my yard with trees that are only half taken care of? Also, I do have enough trees (~60 reasonable plants)

Having said that, I might have tried to leave a little green on the stumps. Going forward, I think all you can do is keep the soil moist- not sodden- and give them some morning sun...then post pictures in 2 months

I would have loved to, but I had to take them IN my car, so I had to recuce them to about 3ft. No foliage within that range. It was a very dense plantation
I hope to be able to post pictures of stumps with green all over in 4 weeks. We'll see. Temps have dropped here, and night are actually moist enough to get dew, which is perfect!

 

[Cypress187]

Wow, i also didn't know, i 'burned' my yew which still looks alive (new growth is still living and green and the old foilage is dead). When i see this chopping i'm getting high hopes that mine will survive

 

[GrimLore]

When I collected that large one I placed it in 50/50 Pumice and Topsoil. It took 6 weeks to bud back but once it started it went from 1/2 buds to 4 and 5 inch in another 2 weeks or so. All I do is water it every morning and evening without fail. I do notice though the side that gets a couple hours of evening sun is not budding as well as the shaded side of the stump. For that reason only I would recommend very limited sun. I also noticed the few small branches 2 inches or smaller are not budding much at all so I might take them off as well this fall. I left only 3 - 5 small pieces of foliage on it at collection and it died off as I was told it would. I am hopeful this one will Winter well and really take off in the Spring.
Nice score - looks like a good amount of decent material to start with

Grimmy

 

[BobbyLane]

Interested to see how these get on, keep us updated...

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

How did i missed this one. should have buds by now...

 

[leatherback]

should have buds by now...

Yup. Best of all.. A week later I went back because they had not finished, and grabbed 2 more. Those had been exposed to sun & rain for the week. theose already have popping buds. THe others which I dug fiurst, have buds, nbut have not heard any of them pop yet!

 

[Stickroot]

Yup. Best of all.. A week later I went back because they had not finished, and grabbed 2 more. Those had been exposed to sun & rain for the week. theose already have popping buds. THe others which I dug fiurst, have buds, nbut have not heard any of them pop yet!

How are these Yews doing ?

 

[Alain]

That's actually a funny coincidence that you publish this thread the day I have the opportunity to collect chop to nothing yews

Cool thread and thanks for the tips and it's timing!

Btw: mine (next mine ) look a lot like your 5th one in term of branch pattern.

 

[leatherback]

How are these Yews doing ?

I am travelling at the moment. When I saw them last, about a week ago, all of them had some regrowth on them, but except for one, none of them had branches with more than 10 needles. So still critical, and these will be overwintering in the greenhouse.

That's actually a funny coincidence that you publish this thread the day I have the opportunity to collect chop to nothing yews

Hm.. I thought you were collecting them this week? The thread is a bit older than that.

thanks for the tips and it's timing!

Just note that I am not a yew expert, so do take your own course of action. What worked for me, does not have to work for all.

look a lot like your 5th one in term of branch pattern

That would mae it a very cool potensai

 

[Alain]

Hm.. I thought you were collecting them this week? The thread is a bit older than that.

Just note that I am not a yew expert, so do take your own course of action. What worked for me, does not have to work for all.

That would mae it a very cool potensai

Well I am 'collecting them' (i.e. try to go to synchronize my cigarette breaks outside with the work of the landscaping guys in order to get the yews before they hit the dump) today but I saw your post only yesterday.
My 'course of action' will be more than basic in fact: put whatever the landscaping guys will remove from the ground in garbage bags and pot them this evening hoping for the best.
And yes there are a couple of really sweet potential trunks
Which could become potential very sweet dead trunks to hold a tanuki, so win-win even if they all die

 

[john b]

Any updates Leatherback?

 

[Mike123]

I collected this yew from my neighbor in march of 2014. It was about 10'. Chopped and potted it up. Then in October of 2014 it grew a lot on top of course. So I choose to chop the top some more,and I took a good amount of foliage off also. Let it grow freely and this is it currently. In my experience they bud back very well.

 

[leatherback]

Any updates Leatherback?

Still on the road. Brazil & Mexico, 10 fairs, 6 universities, 2 highschools and lots of meetings. Won't be home till early october.

So if they die, I have that excuse. They have been rained upon for a while now. Just hoping for the best; When I left summer was in full swing, so could not put them in the greenhouse yet.

 

[leatherback]

OK..

1 dead
2 wobbling
1 stable but not growing (Unfortunately, the best one)
3 growing, breakning buds this week

Not too bad for a mid-summer collect at 35+ celcius (near 100F) temps..

The stable-not-growing:

 

[leatherback]

I am down to 1 surviving. So.. My conclusions / take home lessons..:

- Although Yews CAN be transplanted and have their foliage removed, mid-summer probably was not the best time; I did not get root growth (Checked with the dead stumps)
- Do not try to do a rootball cleaning at the same time (Many roottips near the trunk were lost in the cleaning)
- Do keep a good amount of foliage if you have passed the main spring flush when collecting

Feel free to add some lessons if you have things to add. This may help others in the future.