Tetrapanax pruning /cutting back
Last post 14-10-2009 11:22 PM by AlexS. 10 replies.
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09/03/2008 01:27 PM
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- IanB
- 09 Mar 2008
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This is just to ask if anyone with more experience than me with tetrapanax papyrifer can advise on pruning/ cutting down. I've tried so many books etc to get this advice but in vain.
I planted a tetrapanax about 5 years ago and it has grown very well in our small 'tropical' garden ( on the banks of the river Mersey across from Liverpool). It has, in a sense, grown too well and not been cut down by frosts in the winter as expected. Although I love the plant , or should I say tree!, I need to cut it down a bit as it's in a restricted space . It is now a small tree with a single trunk about 6 cm diameter and height 2 metres with no branches. Leaves die away most years and new ones come through. I have read that if it's cut down year by year by frosts then it will re-shoot in the spring. This never happened and we now have more of tree than a shrub
Will cutting the trunk down to the ground kill the plant or will it give out new shoots , which is the aim , in this way reverting to a shrub? We do this with the Pawlonia and the Melianthus major
Any advice greatly welcomed with thanks . Ian
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09/03/2008 02:37 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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Out of all my gardening books only one has Tetrapanax in it, (RHS Pruning and Training) it says "Deadhead and remove any suckers; no other special needs".
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09/03/2008 02:46 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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To my shame I have not heard of this plant
digger 
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09/03/2008 02:48 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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If it's any consolation digger, I hadn't heard of it either and only one of my books has.
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09/03/2008 09:35 PM
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- Phot's-Moll
- The sunny South coast.
- 06 Jan 2007
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3,347
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I thought I recognised the name, but when I looked it up it wasn't the plant I was thinking of. I was imagining something like a phormium.
Sorry, no idea what to do with it.
Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.
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09/03/2008 10:33 PM
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Gardening is, I am sorry to say, very simple. This plant is an evergreen shrub albeit a potentially large one. Shrubs are toughies, that grow where conditions are too nasty for trees to thrive. They therefore have to have good powers of recovery, so respond well to hard pruning in all but a few cases. Evergreen shrubs are all best pruned just before growth start in the spring which probably means March in Liverpool. Finally this plant is closely related to Fatsia and doing what you might to Fatsia should help here too.
And one other thing, it is too big so you have to cut it back or move house - therefore you have no choice, just go and do it and then pour yourself a nice stiff drink. By the time the alcohol has worn off another problem will almost certainly have arisen and you will forget all about your Tetrapanax.
One word of warning; it might start producing suckers if cut back, which may or may not suit your needs, but on the other hand you can give rooted plants to your friends who I am sure will be grateful to get this rather nice shrub.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
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10/03/2008 10:44 AM
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- IanB
- 09 Mar 2008
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2
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Boggy , many thanks for the encouragement to to do what I suppose I knew I had to do -needs must , it'll either live or die. But the large drink is already poured!
For thosewho don't know the plant and who like big foliage effect plants there's nothing better. Christopher Lloyd loved it and it features a lot in his last book 'Exotic planting for adventurous gardeners'-it's even on the front cover
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12/01/2009 06:04 PM
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- Victoria
- Wandsworth
- 12 Jan 2009
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10
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How did you get on with cutting down your tetrapanax? Mine have really been hit by the frost (I've got one in the ground, one in a pot) so I'm going to have to wield the pruning saw come spring. I chickened out last year, because they breezed through the winter. It's a gorgeous plant, isn't it? I love the rusty look of the new shoots and the fur on the back of the leaves.
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11/02/2009 11:04 PM
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- StephenW
- Kennington, London
- 11 Feb 2009
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1
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I'm also very interested in advice on this. I have two tetrapanax plants in my small city garden. I love the leaves and all the points made above. Through the recent snows all the leaves have died and falled off one, and only a few small sprouting leaves have been left on the other. But both plants are now about 2m tall with bare, narrow trunks (about 3 cm in diameter) and look very unattractive. Will new leaves grow on the bare trunks in the spring? Normally new leaves only grow from the top, so I'm considering cutting them down to the ground. I had understood that they would die back to the ground like herbaceous plants. Grateful for any more advice.
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14/10/2009 11:02 AM
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- Mariettabf
- N Somerset
- 14 Oct 2009
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1
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Re: Tetrapanex papyrifera 'Rex'
Hello, I'm looking for a little advice. I have a 3 year old Tetrapanex papyrifera 'Rex' which has approx 2m single trunk and forming a tree very nicely. However, over the last month instead of producing more fabulous leaves it has formed 4 flower heads. Does this mean that the plant is dying? Should I let it flower or cut the large flower buds off?
Any advice you can give me I would be grateful as I would hate to loose this magnificent plant from my garden.
Many thanks
Marietta
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14/10/2009 11:22 PM
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- AlexS
- Reading
- 06 Sep 2009
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58
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I doubt it's dying - but then I've never grown one so what do I know? But: "Flowers are produced in the autumn. They are long and cream in colour. The flowers are passably attractive but can be removed if preferred, so conserving all the plant's energy for the splendid foliage. In colder areas, the foliage will always be cut back by the frost,but as long as it is planted directly into the ground, the plant usually regenerates from the roots each spring." - that's a quote from 'Architectural Plants' by Christine Shaw, Collins 2003.
I was enormously impressed by the huge tetrapanax grown against the house wall at Nymans, the fabulous garden in Sussex, well worth a visit for all sorts of reasons. On the same day you could visit the 'Architectural Plants' nursery where they sell tetrapanax and loads of other lovely big outrageous plants, the sort of thing I can only dream of!
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