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Cutting holly tree back to stump to straighten it

lreeslrees Posts: 4
I have a mature holly tree with one main trunk.  Over the years it has begun to lean, and is now at a very acute angle.  I don't want to kill it, but I would like to cut it right back to the stump hoping it will regrow in an upwards direction.  Is this possible?

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    An interesting question.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    holly does regrow if you cut it back but do you know why yours is leaning? If it's leaning to get to light it will be the same next time. It will grow more than one shoot, you need to pick the best and remover the rest unless you want a bush rather than a tree


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • lreeslrees Posts: 4
    Thank you for your replies...It has plenty of light; I think it began leaning due to strong winds when it was quite small, but unfortunately I didn't notice for several years.   I didn't do much in the garden at that time, as you can tell.  It then started to grow upright so it's a sort of Z shape, and covers a large amount of space in my small garden.  It's very healthy, and i would like to keep it.  I bought it because it was advertised as a miniature holly!
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  • lreeslrees Posts: 4
    It's so bushy it's hard to see the trunk shape, but I'll have a go.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited May 2018
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • lreeslrees Posts: 4
    I hadn't thought of that, I'll see if its shape suggests anything.....
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