Pyracantha Work for Spring

[Clblay]

Long time viewer, 1st time poster. I plan on doing some work on this Pyracantha I bought a few years ago. Has been growing in half wine barrel for a couple years. Would like to root prune and do some trim work in a few weeks. Looking to place in an Anderson flat for training. It's just far too heavy to move around in the wine barrel.

I took a couple pics with planned cuts i'd like to make. It has an unfavorable 'U curve' as you can view in 2.jpg. Please provide feedback on the planned cuts or propose other ideas. Really appreciate all the good posts on here and help from the forum.

 

[Tieball]

Yea! .....welcome to posting and participating!
Hmmmm....I don’t know much about the growth habits of this tree. However, my first reaction seeing what you have was two fold. One thought was to keep the main trunk and that secondary trunk to the left....where I covered up your cut mark. I think that secondary branch is connected to the main trunk and will help thicken the base. After thickening I’d even consider keeping that second trunk. I also thought that you might consider just letting that whole trunk thicken...a lot....and chop in a few years. It still looks quite slim to me. Needs growth. After massive thickening I’d chop much lower on the main trunk and start a next section...then another after that. I just didn’t think there was great hope in the upper bend (the right or the left of the slingshot)....it seemed nearly the same thickness as the main trunk. Eventually, when thicker, those current side branches would likely be cut back to branch stumps....keeping the collar. That help rough up the trunk with character. Well.....that’s what I’d do anyway.

That’s what I figured was a good path to a mighty tree in the future. Chop now and you’ve pretty much stopped the lower trunk thickening (speaking from mishap chopping on other trees I have....chopped to soon...way to soon). I like a nice massive trunk base for this type of tree. The blue chop lines I show would be future chopping....not right now.

 

[JosephCooper]

I'd say remove the major left branch higher up (to stop inverse swelling), and of the 4 trunks remove 2 of the straightest later on. Just take out one right now.

I agree with Tieball, and he is way better at these kinds of things than I am.

Best of luck!

 

[sorce]

Airlayer it.

The base of the tree is at your red line at the top.

Removing the other branches there starts your "ringbarking".

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[BrianBay9]

Airlayer it.

The base of the tree is at your red line at the top.

Removing the other branches there starts your "ringbarking".

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

These guys airlayer very easily. The challenge is to overcome pyracantha's natural tendency to grow long and straight. Airlayering where Sorce suggests gets your base started with some movement. Then brutally cut back so you can put some movement in branches while they're growing out.

 

[Clblay]

Thanks for replies! I am thinking I can do both suggestions and pick up an additional tree to work with if the airlayer is successful. I should have stated my primary goal is thickening the primary trunk.

Tieball: I will root prune in a few weeks and place in Anderson Flat. I will not make any of my initial proposed chops since having the 3 smaller trunks will promote growth of the primary trunk.

Sorce: Concerning the air layer: will the tree be healthy enough to proceed this growing season with a layer since I do plan on root pruning and moving to a flat? Should I wait until next year to begin that process?

Lastly, I added an image to indicate if this would be where you would make the 2 parallel cuts for the air layer (1b.jpg)

 

[BrianBay9]

I would lower the cut for the airlayer just a bit, to the resulting lower trunk a bend.

 

[sorce]

airlayer very easily.

Good to hear!

Concerning the air layer: will the tree be healthy enough to proceed this growing season with a layer since I do plan on root pruning and moving to a flat? Should I wait until next year to begin that process?

That lil layer is going to provide you with a quicker dope tree than this base.

So I would leave it in that pot and soil.

Collect that layer.

Oh Damn...just seen that other red....

The base of the tree is at your red line at the top

I'm back home so I can upload pics now!

Removing the other branches there starts your "ringbarking".

There may be a better direction...
But that red line seems the fattest base with a nice short bit before a turn...
Can't see the turn results much but it don't matter since you can cut back a lot, and back to a lot in there.

You really want the first part of your trunk to leave the soil at an angle...

And be fat as possible.

Shoot for that!

Sorce

 

[Clblay]

Okay, so i'll make my top cut for the air layer at the red line in your picture and then scrape down the bark in the yellow area you indicated. It should be interesting. It's a tight space to get in there. I'll likely have to trim around it to get in. I'll be sure to take pics along the way to help others. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated!

 

[BrianBay9]

Cut off the thorns in that area first.....

 

[ConorDash]

From my experience, having 2 large pyracantha trees in my garden that have been there at least 2 decades + air layered a part off, 2 years ago (currently in a pot, simply growing).
They are very strong growers, in my climate at least. Mines gone mad after the air layering.

They also don’t really develop taper, or thicken much. So, have fun with that lol.
Apart from that, other little thing I can think of is new green growth won’t put on berries till the year after, once woody.