Should I prune Italian cypress down to single trunk

[yellarcat]

Hello, I planted 5 Italian cypresses last summer that were about 8 foot tall. I am having trouble with spider mites on a couple of them. Some of the trees have the main trunk branching out into multiple trunks starting about 4.5 feet up, while the ones that weren't really affected by the spider mites still appear to have a single main trunk almost to the top.

My question is, should I prune off the extra trunks that are developing so they are back to a single trunk or just leave them?

I worry about stressing the trees more that are still dealing with spider mites by pruning off the new trunks and I don't know whether this is natural for them to have/develop more than a single main trunk over time as the grow, or if this is a problem that has been caused by the spider mites, although one of the healthy trees that doesn't appear to have spider mites is also developing multiple trunks as well.

Any help would be appreciated as I can not find an answer to my question by searching.

Joel

 

[yellarcat]

Silly me, asking an arborist site a tree pruning question. What was I thinking...

 

[Loraxguy]

Prune or not to prune

Post a few jpg's of the trees so we can visualize what your talking about

 

[Grouchy old man]

Silly me, asking an arborist site a tree pruning question. What was I thinking...

Arborists don't just cut down trees you know. Anybody that calls themselves an arborist certainly should be proficient in proper pruning.

 

[yellarcat]

Arborists don't just cut down trees you know. Anybody that calls themselves an arborist certainly should be proficient in proper pruning.

Which is why I thought it was a simple question for an "arborist" to answer: Is it natural for the common Italian cypress try to form multiple trunks or is this a problem that is caused by the spider mites which I should correct by pruning the newly forming trunks?

 

[laneyhess]

Arborists don't just cut down trees you know. Anybody that calls themselves an arborist certainly should be proficient in proper pruning.

Can someone please answer the question about whether or not to trim extra trunks on Italian Cypress?

 

[laneyhess]

Can someone please answer the question about whether or not to trim extra trunks on Italian Cypress? I have less than two-year-old cypress that I grew from seed. A couple are starting to develop multiple trunks and I wonder if I should be controlling it or letting them grow naturally.

 

[BeatCJ]

@laneyhess Multiple stems is a common trait for Italian Cypress. It depends on what you want?

If you want a tall straight narrow crown, with a tree up to about 50 feet tall, you can prune off to a single stem. You may have to do this several times until you get a single dominant leader.

If you want a wider crown, you can remove the top 6 inches at the height you desire to create something more like a hedge.

Photos are always helpful.

Of note, the thread you resurrected is 12 years old, so you probably won't get much from any of the previous conversation.

 

[Seachaser]

Holy 12 year old thread, Batman!

All trees do better with a central leader and no narrow crotch angles. Regardless of species. Except for fruit or small trees.

 

[BeatCJ]

Seems like it's getting relatively common. Something about the way search is working, and the desire to start new threads. I almost always remember to look at dates before I decide to reply.