Help with pruning of balcony plants Thuja Occidentalis AKA Smaragd.

Reminder, you are talking to an absolute beginner, never tried anything like it to grow on my balcony.


I have the following Thuja Occidentalis on my balcony, well two, in a pot. See pics. They have been doing very well and now the point has come to prune a bit here and there. My main worry is to stop them from getting any taller or wider, and how to prune it or shape it. See I want to keep the cone shape of the plant, having it get not any wider and make sure it still looks natural and, in a cone-shape. And maybe there is a time of year that is better than others. I assume spring or autumn.


Both, one more than the other, have sort of several tops, does anybody know if I could bring those more into a cone shape by putting on some training wires that pull them together a bit like with a bonsai as it is trained? For this I would use old strips of inner bicycle tubing. I do this also with an indoor Ficus I have since 25 years which is ±2.6 Meter high and ±1.20 Meter wide. What would be the best method according to your knowledge? Or does anybody have any other ideas?


So dear experts out there, how to do this? Love to hear your tips and ideas.

 

o dear forgot the pics...

 

Hello @ChangeAgent and welcome to the forum! I haven't got a clue about shrubs but lots here are experts on that subject.

Someone will probably pop in shortly to give you some great advice!

Oh, and if you have time, you can add your general location so that the suggestions will be appropriate to your area

 

thanks canadianlori

 

I have a sneaking suspicion it might be somewhere in Scotland.