Purple Smoke Bush (tree form) dieback, pruning advice needed

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Cybrczch Lincoln, NE(Zone 5b) May 13, 2014

I have a purple smoke bush, approximately 8 years in the location, which has been trained in tree form (single trunk to about 4 foot with multiple branches, reaching up to 15 foot). After this horribly dry winter we had, apparently only a single branch has survived and is leafing out, although I can see buds lower down on the trunk and base of the branches starting to leaf out. I want to cut the dead branches out, should I also cut or trim down the living branch - if I don't, I will end up with a very lopsided looking plant with one large branch sticking out. I want to basically restart the branching from the top of the single trunk. Is that feasible? I would like to try and save it, but if my cuts kill it, I can accommodate losing it in that area.

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Mipii (Robin) Blissfield, MI(Zone 6a) May 13, 2014

Cybrczch, can you provide pictures? I would hold off on pruning just yet, it just started leafing out.

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Weerobin Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a) May 13, 2014

You can severely prune smoke trees early in the season.
I used to cut mine all the way to the ground to get brighter/bigger young leaves.
It sacrifices the flowers, but I didn't care. I quit doing it out of laziness.
I presume you can cut it at the top of the standard,
but you won't have any control over where the buds will want to emerge along the stem.
I wouldn't want to wait too long after leafing out - if it's already leafed out,
I'd be hesitant to do it now.
If you're OK with maybe losing the tree, you can try it and take your chances.
I'll be interested in other opinions.

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Sequoiadendron4 Lititz, PA(Zone 6b) May 14, 2014

Without seeing a pic, I would cut out all the dead after doing a scratch test to make sure it is indeed dead. Then I would also prune the living branch way back. I would try to retain branches that would make it look symmetrical.

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Cybrczch Lincoln, NE(Zone 5b) May 17, 2014

Definitely could tell the difference between live and dead wood - the live wood was gushing with sticky sap, the dead wood wasn't. Four of the 6 main branches were dead all the way down to the main stem, a fifth was approximately 50% dead wood, and the sixth was live. I ended up trimming them all down to the main stem. If it grows back I'll have a cute little lollipop tree. If not, my co-worker gets more hobby wood.
The neighbor had a smaller one grown as a bush, it died down to the ground and is sprouting from the base.
This was a dry, windy winter, and there is a lot of tree and shrub death around, now that things are growing it's becoming very obvious.

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Mipii (Robin) Blissfield, MI(Zone 6a) May 17, 2014

Thanks for the update. It's always good to know what was done and how it turned out. I hope you'll give us a follow -up later in the growing season, to track the progress.

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