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Separating Cordelines?

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  • 05-03-2008 10:56pm
    #1
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭


    I've got two cordelines, planted side by side, that have grown so much they are tangling up. I need to separate them. How do I do it? I'd be afraid I'll kill them both by disturbing the roots. The soil is very wet at the moment - I'm tempted to just grab one and yank it out. They are both about 4' high now.

    Thanks for any information.


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    #2
    Aeneas
    Registered Users Posts: 245 ✭✭Aeneas


    sueme wrote: »
    I've got two cordelines, planted side by side, that have grown so much they are tangling up. I need to separate them. How do I do it? I'd be afraid I'll kill them both by disturbing the roots. The soil is very wet at the moment - I'm tempted to just grab one and yank it out. They are both about 4' high now.

    Thanks for any information.
    Cordylines are very hard to kill. I cut down one that I thought had died several years ago, and I now have four new ones in its place - all budded from the single stump that I left underground!. So first be sure you have two separate plants and not two growths off the same plant. If the plants are separate and only 4ft high you could probably get one out without severely damaging the other by working down around the roots and taking it out. Try not to disburb too much the root ball of the tree you want to keep. Yanking it runs the risk of bringing the other tree with it, but even so it MIGHT survive if you replanted it immediately. If the trees are off the same root you could cut out one, but you will probably get two or more coming up in its place in a year or so.
    Finally consider whether you really need to take one out. Cordylines look well grouped together and some people deliberately plant several together or cut them down to promote the budding that I describe above.


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    #3
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    Aeneas wrote: »
    Cordylines are very hard to kill. I cut down one that I thought had died several years ago, and I now have four new ones in its place - all budded from the single stump that I left underground!. So first be sure you have two separate plants and not two growths off the same plant. If the plants are separate and only 4ft high you could probably get one out without severely damaging the other by working down around the roots and taking it out. Try not to disburb too much the root ball of the tree you want to keep. Yanking it runs the risk of bringing the other tree with it, but even so it MIGHT survive if you replanted it immediately. If the trees are off the same root you could cut out one, but you will probably get two or more coming up in its place in a year or so.
    Finally consider whether you really need to take one out. Cordylines look well grouped together and some people deliberately plant several together or cut them down to promote the budding that I describe above.

    Many thanks for that. I will try to dig one out - glad to hear they are not too easy to kill. They were two separate plants, that I planted too close together a few years ago. There is only around a foot between them and I have a good spot ready for the one I'll remove.


    Thanks again!


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