tbourner Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 I'm pretty sure it's a Cherry Laurel anyway, I'm no good with trees and shrubs, there seems to be two trunks though, one has smaller narrower leaves but has the white Budleia-esque blooms on it, and the other has much larger leaves of which the description got me to Laurels? Confused! Anyway, assume it is a Cherry Laurel, it's about 15 foot high and lives in a block of earth about 5 feet wide down the side of our house (running N-S), there's a path on the east side and my neighbours drive (which is 3-4 feet higher than ours) on the west side. South side of it there's a fence then some foundations, North end the row of earth continues all the way out to the road. What I want to do is dig out the earth from the road to the shrub, but not sure how close I can go without digging up all the roots and killing the tree? Not a very good description I'm sure, basically can a Cherry Laurel live in a patch of earth 2' x 2' provided it's deep enough? Or does it need 6' x 6'? Or more? etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminator Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 It will be hard to say, until you start digging. It depends on the depth of your top soil and what is underneath it. The roots my go down deep or they may be mainly at the surface. I would say you could cut roots back to 1/2" thick or slighlty more if digging round it for 360 degrees with out damaging the tree. if you can leave 1/3 undisturbed you may get away with cutting closer on what is remaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leet45single Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 after a confusing converstion with my mate (to much info) whos a gardener, he says that 2' x 2' is fine and if you would like it to be busher lol then just cut out the top. thats just the bits i understud before i hung up because he was boring me. o and if hes wrong and it does die dont blame me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 It will be hard to say, until you start digging. It depends on the depth of your top soil and what is underneath it. The roots my go down deep or they may be mainly at the surface. I would say you could cut roots back to 1/2" thick or slighlty more if digging round it for 360 degrees with out damaging the tree. if you can leave 1/3 undisturbed you may get away with cutting closer on what is remaining. It's only about 6" of top soil I reckon, with clay underneath. after a confusing converstion with my mate (to much info) whos a gardener, he says that 2' x 2' is fine and if you would like it to be busher lol then just cut out the top. thats just the bits i understud before i hung up because he was boring me. o and if hes wrong and it does die dont blame me Is he talking about cutting back the branches? The top side can grow as much as it likes as it's a good privacy screen to next door, and covers the back fence nicely, it's the roots I'm not sure about. Thanks for ringing him though, if it's OK to have it in a 2'x2' pot then that's amazing! I'll be digging out some of the earth first before I need to finalise, so I can see how far out the roots come and try to make an uneducated guess from there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leet45single Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 ye he said if you want it to grow busher then just cut the top out and it can be choped right back and will still grow back. and as for the roots 2' x 2' will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leet45single Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 got a another mate that does landscaping so just txt him to get another opinion but hes got a low battery so he will ring me back later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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