thinning yew

[treemeup]

Just looked at a medium yew, the client wants more light to reach the house as its quite, but not too close. they like the tree, which is lopsided which i'm gonna balance up, but i said i would attempt a thin with light in mind. what're my chances of a decent outcome. never tried to do this spec to a yew

[tommer9]

Yew comes back very vigourously after cutting.

[Beezy]

Hi mate,

 

I looked at a pretty similar spec myself on a Yew today. In my experience, an already healthy Yew can usually tolerate a 'fairly' decent reduction (maybe 15-20%), although if possible always try to reduce back to live secondary internal growth points to form a balanced new framework.

 

Also a light internal thin, concentrating on dead, crowded orcrossing branches is advantages too, just clears out the internal crown a wee bit, and gives better airflow through.

 

That said, each tree, and location varies, but i have reduced a fair few Yews in this way, and they generally throw up a load of new growth the next season, which can then be managed with hedge trimmers if required.

 

Good luck mate, hope this helps.

Beezy

[treemeup]

Cheers guys. Yews can be hot harder than most in my experience, it's just the re growth can only be dealt with viably with hedgies, this was my dilemma, reduce by alot and write off the remaining shadow as forever dark or attempt a thin. I don't generally like major reductions unless there is a major structural problem, so steered the customer in the direction of a thin and lift ( not having done a yew thin b4) then stood back from a different angle ant the tree has a two tree definition pretty much 50/50, one side growing much faster than the other. I'll get some pics to show what I mean.....this leant me in the direction of a balance by reduction...something i had just lobbied against.......hmmm dilemmas major red or thin or thin and balance reduction on one side of tree? Def gonna photo yhis one, maybe every 6mths to monitor progress ( it's on the site of my yard)

Edited September 22, 2010 by treemeup