Pruning Cassia Leptophylla
Gardening Question From Suzanne:
We have one of these trees in the front yard of our Huntington Beach home. It has grown rather large and unruly. Can we have it pruned now or must we wait until autumn?
Answer From Pat:
Cassia leptophylla should be pruned only when necessary to correct shape or control spread. It is a tropical plant and thus can safely be pruned in spring or summer.
I planted my 8 foot Cassia Leptophylla tree a year ago, and it doesn’t seem to be doing much growing. I deep water it, and I have used Humid Acid and root stimulator to try to establish it, but I’m not seeing much more growth on it now than when I planted it.
It has one very long heavy branch off of one side., which dwarfs the others, Should I trim this off, to allow the nutrients to create more leaves and growth on new wood? Am I forgetting something, or is the Cassia just a slower grower than I gathered from my reading?
Many thanks.
First, yes you should cut back that long branch to a joint in order to give the tree a symmetrical shape. Leave no stub. Secondly I believe you need to fertilize the tree. Ideally at planting time you should have put plant tabs in the bottom of the hole surrounding the roots according to package directions. Humic acid is great for root growth but it is not a fertilizer in the usual sense of the word. It is a root stimulant. Additionally you should feed the entire root zone with a balanced fertilizer, in other words equal amounts of NPK. Though I am an organic gardener, in this case I would use a slow-release such as Osmocote 14-14-14. I recommend a cup of Osmocote sprinkled over the entire root zone beginning one foot from the trunk to the drip line and watered in. This way every time you water your tree will be fed. If you see no results in three months, feed again. After that, feed annually in March with an organic fertilizer for landscape plants according to package directions or, alternatively, cover the root zone with horse manure every October and let the rains wash the nutrients into the ground.