This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Broken smoke bush
joannajmiller
Posts: 45
The builders crashed through our smoke bush. They didnt break it totally and everything seemed to be living so I followed some advice on a video I found and used gorilla glue and a support to try and repair the break. All seems good - that was about 3 weeks ago.
now the top really looks poorly! What can I do? Is there any way to save it or am I going to have to prune the top totally off? The break is right through the main central stem.
growth appears to be non existent though the top...
0
Posts
I wouldn't panic
I would use it as an opportunity to coppice it ....... Cotinus responds really well to coppicing, producing larger better coloured leaves and many gardeners grow them this way.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/publications/magazines/the-garden/2013-issues/january/How-to-pollard-and-coppice-shrubs.pdf
Last edited: 28 May 2017 14:17:20
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
So just lop it off below the break?
Yes, it will recover and as has been said, they will take a really hard prune.
Instead of gorilla glue, you should have tried just binding it together with twine and supporting it. Gorilla glue has stoppped the moisture etc going up and down the stem. It is not suitable for plants.
Yes, cut the whole plant hard back, give it a bit of fertiliser (I'd use Fish Blood & Bone as it's slow acting), water well and mulch.
Let us know how it goes
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.