What’s the chances of this tree recovering?

OU812

Several years of ivy and some sort of winding we’d (with a white flower) have pretty much killed off the upper half of this conifer.

There’s only green growth around the bottom with almost no growth (just tangled branches) at the top quarter and brown sparse growth in between

If I was to cut back the ivy. Do you think there’s any chance of it recovering?

What if I cut the trunk at the top of the green and took away the top part altogether, would it recover and start growing again?

Or should I throw in the towel & remove it altogether?

looksee

OP, a pic would help, but in general conifers do not improve once they have started to go brown and die. It may stay alive if you cut off the top, but it will not grow again. You would probably be better to remove it.

Just a point - you have 4 versions of this post. If you go to the edit button, then to advanced I think you will be able to remove three of them.

New Home

I've had a couple of "miracle" red firs that survived incredibly bad odds. One was hit by lightning, fell, was re-erected, secured with stakes for a couple of years, and only died over 40 years later (parasites). The other one has a top that died off, then a second top started growing beside it (I'll try and post a pic tomorrow). It looks like it's between life and death, but every spring the new top grows another bit, and the branches produce lots of new buds, flowers and then pinecones. The trunk is also plagued by thick ivy, but I cut it off at the base (without removing the vines) last winter, and it seems to have contained the problem for another while.

But, like I said, those are "miracle" trees, it's very much not the norm.

Like LookSee said, a picture would really help. Maybe, though, your best option would be to ask a proper tree surgeon for advice.

OU812

image of tree. was too large to attach from phone.

Cant delete the other threads, apologies.

Mumm_ra

Come back tomorrow after a few hours with a knife and clippers - would be good to see

New Home

That looks like a giant clump of ivy!!! :eek:

It all depends on the conditions of the tree underneath all that. I'd start by cutting into the ivy vines as much as possible so that you can see at least a small fraction of the trunk (I cut a ring into the ivy a few centimetres high, but I used large carpenter's pincers like these to get a grip on the vines to be able to cut through them using branch cutters/loppers without harming the bark of the tree. Once they've died back, they'll fall off by themselves but it'll take years; however, it should be much easier to remove them then. Obviously, the more ivy you remove, the better it is for the tree. Just DO NOT do it in springtime, because blackbirds love it for building their nests, and it's illegal to disturb nesting birds or to damage their nests.

If you get a chance, would you please try and post a photo of the top of the tree?

OU812

Got to cut away some more of the Ivy. It appears to be worse than I first thought. The brown growth just turns to dust when pulled at (with a rake).

Advice gratefully received.

New Home

Keep in mind that I'm a bit of a sap, and I always try and give plants a chance, even if they're on their last leg.

If the green part at the bottom is the tree, then I think it does have a chance, because that looks quite healthy. Now, there won't be much growth during the colder seasons, and it'll probably take more than one year for the brown part of the tree to recover, but it might yet do so - it'll be quite a while before you can consider doing any topiary on it, though.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, that to me seems to be more like a thuja than a pine or a fir, and they're pretty tough plants. I'd say "combing" the dead parts with a rake is the way to go to clear some more of the dead bits without damaging the plant too much. I think it just needed light, which the ivy was blocking. If you can, try and trim back the bits of ivy at the top, too, but if it's too high up or if it's in a neighbours' garden, then cutting the ivy vines at the bottom of the tree would work too - the dead ivy will eventually fall off a bit at the time as it dies and as time and weather break it down. If you get a chance, check and see if the little branches under the brown part of the tree are still alive.

New Home

BTW, this is my "miracle" red fir. You can clearly see the dead top, and the new top growing next to it.

OU812

Thanks New Home.

I'm hesitant to write it off as it has the growth at the bottom. To be honest, I let the ivy get away from me the last couple of years & there's an invasive creeping weed coming from one of the neighbours gardens (the one with the white flower) that's all over mine as well as another type of ivy they're growing that differs to mine.

The whole garden has been a write off this year due to works being done last year on an extension. I'm considering putting in a brick border the whole way round, some new sod & a proper landscaping effort on the Ivy I have. I'm not very green fingered (killed every internal plant I've ever had & am hoping for a very low maintenance garden.

New Home

Whatever you decide to do, I hope the tree will recover. You'll get such a kick out of it, that it'll have you hooked.

standardg60

It's a cupressus macrocarpa 'goldcrest' and I would just remove it and plant another as it will never recover any shape. They cost peanuts and are fairly quick to mature too. The white flowered creeper you refer to is probably bindweed, you'll probably never fully eradicate it if it's in the neighbours garden so best pulled out as it grows.

Lumen

I don't see the point in saving ugly trees.