Shaping my Japanese Yew

c.humphreys712 · August 2023

Hi

My Japanese Yew is quickly losing shape, each time it rains all the upper branches droop down. I can probably trim some off the height but importantly, I'd like it to be more tightly packed. Apart from pruning, which I think I may have now missed the season for doing, I thought of using some sort of restraining "belt" to wrap around it and bind it together. Is this a good idea and if so where I can buy this sort of thing please?

Many thanks!
Charles

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/8e/ch4vpr8n9t61.jpg

Pete.8 · August 2023

It's not a tree I have any experience of, but years ago I had a conifer do the same sort of thing after a snowy winter.
I just used ordinary green garden twine - the plastic type - to pull it all back together.
I did do a good job - but I used no stake, so the top was never vertical again. I never removed the twine as subsequent growth made it disappear.
Like most 'dwarf' conifers that were so popular in the 80's it got so big it had to go.
I came across this which may help-
https://www.green-tech.co.uk/tree-planting-products/tree-belting-and-blocks/rubber-tree-support-belting#:~:text=Holdfast%20Rubber%20Tree%20Belting%20ideal,a%20cross%20bar%20or%20stake.

The alternative I suppose would be to cut back to the ground some of the outside growth leaving a more slender look but maybe bare wood at the bottom.
I know yew will regrow from hard pruning, but I don't know if it'll re-shoot from bare wood.

c.humphreys712 · August 2023

Thanks Pete!

Fairygirl · August 2023

I'm a bit late to the conversation, but many people use wire to keep a shape on that type of plant or conifers etc. Ordinary string will break so it would have to be a plastic type if you use that, as @Pete.8 says. I think it's better to do it from an early stage though, but worth trying after a prune, and then you can cut back to that as closely as possible each time

Shaping my Japanese Yew

Posts