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Little red robin tree shaping

Karenchilton2000Karenchilton2000 Posts: 23
in Plants
Hello

I've been given this little red robin tree by mistake and was wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to grow it into the little bushy 'ball' shape it's apparently supposed to have please? 

A lot of sites I look at seem to only cover hedges . 

K

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I have little red robin and it's growing as a small ball all by itself. That one looks as if it's meant to be a mini standard, a ball on a stick. If there's a graft at the top of the stem, any growth from below there will be from the rootstock not the variety so you can't cut it back below that point. I can't see whether it's grafted or not from the photo.

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Karenchilton2000Karenchilton2000 Posts: 23
    edited May 2022
    Thanks Jenni. 

    I expected it to be a bit fuller. And I'm not sure whether I should trim back those branches stretching out.. it says online to wait for the first new red growth to turn green but I can't tell if the green leaves are from last years growth or this year. 
  • Karenchilton2000Karenchilton2000 Posts: 23
    edited May 2022
    I can't see an obvious graft scar... there is a possible graft at the base but it's so dirty it's hard to tell.  There are no leaves which look like they are from the root stock.
  • anoble4147wfqUuDaGanoble4147wfqUuDaG Posts: 26
    I have had my red robin for many years. It’s is (too big) over 9ft.

    I recently felt it was getting too big so was a bit brutal and have pruned back quite a lot. I also red that you shouldn’t prune until red leaves gone- but like you wasn’t sure what was new. It’s been three weeks and I’ve noticed new buds coming through- so I think you could prune to shape.

    strangely mine is quite old and has always grown tall and into a ball shape on its own 🤷‍♂️ 
  • Karenchilton2000Karenchilton2000 Posts: 23
    Thank you! It certainly is bigger than I expected.  I'll shape it tomorrow and hope for the best.  It was sent by accident from garden express. I ordered a red robin dwarf!!! They are sending that on but they said I can keep the tree. So all a bonus. 
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