Acacia dealbata Pruning

Has anyone pruned an Acacia dealbata into more of a bush than a tree. Mine is about 20 feet now in just two seasons and its just too bendy. I want to pollard it so the branches are more planted on a thicker trunk so to speak.

I found this...

"Regenerates well from cut stumps and coppices from dormant buds under bark after cutting or burning."

...but is this true have you tried it ?

BM :D

 

Not tried dealbata BM, but I cut my pravissima back hard after flowering each year and likewise the Melanoxylon which I cut really hard.
Both seem to recover well.
Not tried coppicing though, sounds drastic.
:D

 

Hi Pete, I was waiting for you to answer really :D

Not sure about coppicing either :eek: Just after the gales it is develoing a bend. It always was bendy but the taller it gets the more it is in danger of damaging something. I have rectified trees like sorbus which can go a bit whippy by altering the balance between trunk and branches, so I wondered if you had tried it as I am going to get the saw out in April and see what happens.

That acacia which seeded in my tree fern is about 5 feet now and continues to be hardy and evergreen. I will take a picture at the weekend and put it in this post for you to see.

Cheers Pete

 

It had to be Pete or Strongy for this one..... isn't it great to have to have exotic experts here! :D

I reckon your own experience with plants and trees in general will be your best advice, BM - sometimes you just have to venture nto the unknown, armed only with the experience you have and a hope that it'll work this time too..... :rolleyes: All the best with it!

 

It is densely planted as you would expect, so if it does complain you won't notice it has gone except for the skyline. I am going to chop it at 5 feet and see what happens. :D

 

I've just cut two feet off each branch of my A. Baileyana as it has just finished flowering even though there was new growth on it. I have seen Dealbata cut down to the ground and bushed out from the stump.

 

I had to replant an A. dealbata that was totally (and I mean totally)uprooted before Christmas. It was about 20ft high and wide and had a girth of maybe 40-50cm. I thought 'fat chance of this surviving'but my poor client was very upset so I had a go and cut it to about 30% of its previous crown size mostly on the larger branches.

Guess what? It is steaming away! I think it fair to say they must be TOUGH, so go for it BM, give it a go.