Over-Pruned Cherry Plum - will it survive?
July 14, 2015 4:09 PM   Subscribe

We had some landscape type people come in to trim back the bushes and such in our yard and part of that involved trimming back our cherry plum tree. I came home and found that they left nothing but the largest primary branches , having taken EVERYTHING else off. Will this sad thing make it through the summer?

It's been really hot here in the PNW and I'm super concerned with how it will survive without any leaves in the hot weather we've been having. It's now just three large branch things, with a few little leaf things around the edges. It's a purple leaf variety like this one.

Is there anything I should be doing now that it's been denuded?

Other than needing a prune it looked totally healthy, there's no bugs or anything living in it. I'll call the landscape company forthwith and ask "WTF???" so I don't need suggestions on how to deal with them, just advice on how to make sure it keeps living.
posted by fiercekitten to Home & Garden (17 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Before you make that call, check out this video about removing water sprouts.

You can probably use that term to do more investigation on your part. I'd be more concerned if they pruned by chopping off at the top (as opposed to at a joint or taking off water sprouts).

Then give a call and ask about their methods and voice your concerns. They should be able to answer your questions with expertise and give you some education about the local trees, etc. That's what I'd be looking for: an intelligent answer.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:32 PM on July 14, 2015


Best answer: Call your local Master Gardeners / Extension Office for a second opinion.
posted by jrobin276 at 4:38 PM on July 14, 2015


Could you post a photo of the aftermath? It might help give answerers a better idea of what you're dealing with.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:55 PM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


We are about to have a very dead plum tree removed from our front yard due to this exact situation happening last year. We were told it would come back in the spring fuller than ever. It didn't.
posted by erst at 5:05 PM on July 14, 2015


Response by poster: sad tree
posted by fiercekitten at 5:27 PM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


That poor tree has been butchered.
posted by Lexica at 5:33 PM on July 14, 2015 [5 favorites]


I have seen trees in the past that have been hacked back pretty ferociously that have leafed up again and that in a few years have looked much the same as before. That said, they tended to be bigger than this one so may have had greater reserves. It would also depend on the season and how actively the tree was growing I would think. If it's warm where you are, water well and maybe find a decent tree fertiliser, again if it's the growing season.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 5:55 PM on July 14, 2015


I think a WTF call to the company is in order. That is not a pruning.
posted by lydhre at 6:53 PM on July 14, 2015 [3 favorites]


Even if it survives (which I think is very unlikely), it will never recover anything like a natural shape/distribution of branches. What a shame.
posted by jon1270 at 6:56 PM on July 14, 2015


I'm also in Portland and I feel like there's a problem with landscaping/tree servicing companies where the one who comes out and scopes the work is nowhere in sight when the work is done. So, you have this detailed conversation about what you need and then a stranger shows up. For myself and anyone else in the future, it's probably good to ask: who will be doing the work? Will you be there when the workers arrive? What if I have concerns while the work is going on?

Not that this helps you now other than it may be a fair point to bring up when you call this company. If the person who came out and gave you a quote was not there, you'd want to know what was conveyed. Also, sadly, one person's "pruning" is another person's "topping," etc..
posted by amanda at 8:33 PM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


You might want to demand they remove the rest of this. Make them clean up the mess.
And maybe provide a replacement.
posted by littlewater at 8:37 PM on July 14, 2015


I'm so sorry. They totally mutilated your tree and it's never going to look right again. They need to come back out, cut it down, grind the stump, and then plant a replacement. Free of charge.
posted by HotToddy at 10:04 PM on July 14, 2015 [5 favorites]


I would complain the hell out of it, but take comfort - your tree will most likely grow back (at least in some form) in time, assuming adequate light levels, water etc. Healthy trees are almost aggressively resilient, though it's a shame they didn't do this in say winter, rather than the height of summer.
posted by smoke at 4:36 AM on July 15, 2015


The almond trees at our daycare were "pruned" as in your picture (almonds and plums are closely related). I was shocked, but they began to leaf out within a month. It depends on the tree and its health, but I wouldn't go nuclear yet.
posted by wnissen at 9:10 AM on July 15, 2015


Response by poster: I emailed a family member who volunteers with the Master Gardeners (as a pruning and native plants expert) and while it's not pruned correctly, it should come back next year. I asked the arborist "what is up with my plum" and she said it's because it was leaning too much toward the light (the neighbor's tree is on the other side of the fence) and had to be cut back so it could grow more upright.

I guess if it's dead next year there's always a CCB complaint.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:23 PM on July 15, 2015


I asked the arborist "what is up with my plum" and she said it's because it was leaning too much toward the light (the neighbor's tree is on the other side of the fence) and had to be cut back so it could grow more upright.

This makes no sense. Unless they cut the neighbors' tree down, yours will grow just as lopsided the second time around.
posted by jon1270 at 5:49 AM on July 16, 2015


Response by poster: I was checking out the tree yesterday and found that it's put out quite a few new shoots so it looks like it's not dead. Weirdly, the neighbors are now cutting down their tree entirely (maybe because they can now see it's dead on one side) so my tree will be the only thing over there. Oh well.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:40 AM on August 13, 2015


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