Pruning Norfolk Pine
I have beautiful, healthy Norfolk Pine that has grown close to 7 ft tall & about 6 ft wide. Can I trim off the top without causing damage to this tree??
Unfortunately, Norfolk Pine does not take well to pruning. The tip is the growing point of your tree and once you cut that off, your tree will still grow sideways but not upright. It will be misshapen and loose its pyramidal shape. Sometimes a tree can send out another tip from a different growing point. Cut only the lower dead branches.
More info on Norfolk pine care.
My Norfolk Pine is about 10 years old and about 15 feet high. Over the past year, it has lost a fair number of lower inner branches. I believe it needs a bigger pot. It has a “side tree” that is on a separate trunk and is about 5 feet tall. The managers of the building it is current in told me I have to get rid of it because it doesn’t look beautiful anymore. It is also leaning. But overall it looks quiet good and the top half is very lush. What are my options? I will try to find it a new home, but it is HUGE. I will try to repot it. I could also trim the big tree back to the size of the small tree and see what happens. It is getting so huge it is difficult to move at all.
I am so angry right now I could throttle my dog. I left for work this morning and crated my dog. Somehow, the dog managed to move the crate over beside my beautiful, wide norfolk pine and proceeded to shred almost half of the branches off of it. It was originally very full and wide.
Will the shock of this kill my pine? Is there any way to get back the fullness it once had?
My Norfolk Pine is going on 62 years old. I inherited it from my neighbor who was moved to a nursing home. He said it was from his father’s funeral in 1956. I have some new growth and smaller branches at the top but no large branches at the bottom. Is there any way I can get new branches to start midway down the trunk? I’ve had the tree for about 6 years now. I’ve considered propagating some of the smaller branches and giving them to other neighbors. The tree is about 8′-9′ tall. It has been topped off in recent years. I just wanted new branches to form lower on the base if possible.
I inherited my Norfolk pine and it had some cold damage. I removed all the brown stems and left the 4 long stems near the top. These were almost bald except for the fronds at the end of the stems…looked like a poodle. I started watering each time the topsoil went dry, moved it out of the corner closer to a sunny window and named it “FiFi”. FiFi is doing better.
I have few questions (one I think is already answered)…
The tops to 2 of my trees were chopped off by the cable company without notification to me….
1.) Will the tops ever grow back to them?
2.)Will this kill the tree?
3.) They left the cut tops laying on the ground, is it possible to plant the tops to grow a new tree? Or no, because there isn’t a root?
Thanks,
Stephanie
Hi… I have a friend who was aggressively petting my Norfolk to the point where he broke a branch. I tried two layers of duct tape as a stint to try and get it to heal, and the idiot took the tape off! (I seriously need to keep him away from small plants.)
I have the branch that broke off in water. Is there any way to propogate it or reattach it? It’s a fairly clean break. I hope the branch regrows…. grrrr
Propagate Norfolk pine cutting
I have a norfolk pine and most of the branches have lost most of their needles and the others are turning brown. Will those needles grow back or is it destined to look spindly unless I prune it???
Hello, i transplanted my Norfolk Pine tree from a pot directly to Soil, but before i planted it, I cut first some of the old roots and a little of the main root, the root in the middle that is hard. I am worried because i might get hurt it, I want to ask if will it continue to grow? or would the tree die or continue to live, but not grow? Please help me. Thank you.
We received a Norfolk pine that had several stems in the same pot. Unfortunately, I think they were all competing for light and water, and many of them got yellow and perished. Tonight I was pruning away these old dead stems and accidentally snipped off the only living stem. Anyway to repot it and save it?
Hi Sue
Most likely it will not regrow.
I cut off my entire NIP leaving behind just a branch with its roots still intact in the soil.Will it survive?
We live in Hawaii & have a 50-60′ Norfolk Pine in our backyard. This last weekend we had a windstorm that ripped off one of the 4 main branch/trunks that come out of the main trunk at about 20′. 2 questions: what kind of first aid do we need to do to keep the rest of the tree healthy- there is a large missing section (about 2′ diameter) where the trunk/branch pulled away- a big sappy jagged mess. We are afraid that this will cause the rest of tree to die? AND during the clean up we found many attached green seed pods- can they be saved or encouraged to finish the seeding process …what can we do to raise more of these beautiful trees from the seed pods or are they not viable? thanks so much! Michelle & Jim
Air layering Norfolk pine top
My Norfolk Pine got shock. It has been losing lower branches, but showing strong life at the top. Whereas base is not as healthy as top. Can a plant of this nature be lopped off like other plants and grow new roots ? I would hate to think that it will eventually croak….
Propagating Norfolk pine
I have a Norfolk pine that my in laws brought with them when they come to live with us for a while. They have had it for many years and just moved far away and had to leave it with us. It had a lot of sentimental value to my father in law as it was a special gift from his wife.
Anyway, just wondering if there was a way to clip and regrow a new one from the existing tree so we can take it to them and have room for it in the car vs lugging around this big tree. I want them to have a piece of it since we cannot get the big one to them. Any suggestions?
I have a Norfolk pine that’s about 25′ tall and will reach it’s limit in about 4″. From the many comments about the bad idea of topping the tree it sounds like i’l have to do as I’ve been teasing my friends and lower the floor.
Thanks for providing this information online.
I inherited a Norfolk Pine and when they gave it to me they said that it got a freeze and now the tips are brown and it is drooping. Any answers what I should do?
Crowded plants
Hello, I have had a Norfolk Island Pine for about two years… It is about 4-ft tall and made up of 4 main plants/roots (or trunks that come up out of the soil). My problem is that, (unlike everyone else here), I want it to grow bigger! I feel like the fact that there are 4 plants in one, means it is taking extremely slow to get taller.
What can I do to promote growth more quickly. I was thinking to either cut down one or two of the trunks…. OR prune the top off of one or two of the smaller plants. Would doing this give more growth to the other plants?
Ok, thank you for the tip. I was thinking just to prune the the top and a few limbs of a couple of the smaller plants, as opposed to trying to separate them, since they appear to be intertwined and tangled at the roots. Do you think that would be ok, or would I be better off just cutting an entire single plant off at the soil. I just don’t want to risk losing the bigger plants.
Air layering
I too have a nofolk island pine that is getting too tall. My plan is to cut out the lower portion with no branches and graft it back to itself. I havent done it yet and need to research grafting but I hate to throw away a 20 yr old plant. This should also solve my lower branch loss issue.
Broken stem
one of the main lateral branches of my beautiful 6′ tall Norfolk pine was broken off, in a jagged way – I tried pushing it back together and splinting it to see if it would mend… Is this crazy? It is a couple of days ago and the branch looks a bit limp but… would appreciate your ideas – it’s a shame that it may lose its symmetry…
Pruning the branches
My Norfolk Pine is healthy and still has room to grow upward. The problem is, that the tips of the branches continue to grow and are beginning to get in the way. I’ve considered nipping the branches off a ways, as gracefully as possible. I understand that there will be no further growth from these areas, but will it harm the tree in any other way? I don’t want to give it up, just make it a bit more manageable!
Broken tip
i have a new baby NIP and the top stem tip broke off accidentally…will it continue to grow?
Too big to keep
I have inherited a NIP that had outgrown the space it grew up in and now is given to me. It is 15 -16 ft and pushes the boundaries of our entry way. I cannot let it get any taller as it will abut a chandelier. I see from the posts that it does not tolerate pruning well but what option would I have? It will receive limited direct light but likely adequate indirect light in its new environment.
Pruning Norfolk Pine
We have a Norfolk Pine that will be too tall to fit in our greenhouse after the next growing season (~15′ tall and 15 years old). We are in zone 7b and don’t believe that it will survive a winter outdoors and would hate to throw it out, so I was wondering if it is possible to cut the top out of the tree to intentionally stop its growth? Would the tree die or continue to live, but not grow?
PRUNING NORFOLK PINE
I live in Old Town, Florida. I have several Norfolk pines in my yard. We just had a cold front and 6 inches of the tip were burned. Is it OK to cut the burned tips off without damaging the tree?
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My Norfork Pine was doing So good, now Whole Branchs are falling off. They are not brown, just fall off the tree. Please help me, thank you, Jean
Can a Norfolk Pine be put out side in the shade during the summer?
I have a 9ft.Norfolk pine. It is growing to tall
where it is. If I transplant it to a pot I would
like to know the size of the pot and how large
the root system is and is it advisable. The
pine is approx 4 yeas old.
Thank You
I have a Norfolk Pine in my living room…..it about touches my ceiling. There are three “trees”….the second and third trees are smaller in height. Could I cut the tall tree down?…or separate the tall tree from the second and third tree and give it away???
Thanks!
Joan
joan.ashton@augie.edu
Joan P. Ashton
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