Manihot grahamii

[Patrick]

Hi folks

So, my manihot is getting ready to flower and fruit soon. Great. The problem that i'm facing now is that the flowers are coming from the central "stalk" of the plant and 5 new branches are at the base of the flower stalk. This will produce a rather bushy looking tree that starts to spread out at too low of a height for my tastes. The tree is only 3' now ad I'd like to have it at least 6-7' before it starts making a canopy.

As far as pruning goes, should I trim all the shoots except for one or do you think I should wait a few weeks before deciding what to do. I think I'm going to have to cut something regardless of whether I do it now or later.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of growth. Scheffleras might have the same growth habits so maybe anyone with experience with those can help.

Any pruning advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

PAt

[Patrick]

here's a side shot of the thing. Hope you can make out what I'm talking about!

Tanks a boonch!

[Kris]

Dear Pat  

its a beautiful plant and i have no idea of the pruning methods of this plant.

but the plant leaf arrangement looks like a papaya tree ! and

if a papaya tree is pruned it dies...? so are you shure that the

plant in discussion is pruneable ?

thanks & Love,

Kris  

[Patrick]

Hi Kris,

Well, I'm 95 percent sure that this plant will not die if I prune it- and besides, I'm planning on leaving the flowers. But even still I don't think that Manihots produce terminal inflorescences. And besides, anything that can take my winters and come back every year is one tough cookie!

But, at least I know of a source to buy a new one just in case!

[doubravsky]

Patrick,

I'm no pruning expert, but I can show you the results I've had in pruning my Manihot Grahamii. I pruned last year after the leaves dropped in November. Here's the two trees:

And the next three pics show where they were pruned. Last year I pruned to themiddle of the main branches. This year I pruned just past the start of last year's growth (I'm not making much sense..). Anyways, the new growth is pretty vertical, and it canopied out pretty well this year... the tree is 2 yrs old from a 5 gal. I got tons of sprouts this spring...  

The main trunk is about 5' high....

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I have no experience with Manihot but my gut says to wait for the sprouts to push another leaf bud out then pinch back all but the strongest.  This will keep them supplying strength to the trunk but not become the leader.  You can prune them off later, one at a time.

Jerry

[feijoa]

Cool looking tropical-unusual tree. I just did a google search and was delighted to see it's zone 7 hardy.

This is what I love about the forum, the discovery of unusual plants!

[iwan]

Thanks for posting this Patrick.  I need to track down a couple of these!

[Patrick]

check out plantdelights.com. That's who I got mine from. Believe me, I searched! They've got a lot of nice tropicals as well......

[Paul S]

They are a relatively new introduction into England but it seems they grow in our cool summers just fine, as well as lasting through our long miserable winters (with a certain amount of tip die back).  Great plant.

[Matt N- Dallas]

I have one of these that has grown into a monster.  I bought it from Plant Delights three years ago expecting it to be a dieback here in Dallas, TX.  It has not experienced any dieback and is now 18' tall.  I usually prune it back after the leaves drop in Nov.  This year, I pruned again last month because the growth has been so vigorous that it began to shade a s. riverside.  When the fruit ripens and turns brown- it explodes open and shoots the seeds up to 30' away.  The seedlings have come up everywhere and I have given many away.  It also roots very easily from stem cuttings.  It really makes a nice canopy tree.   I don't think it matters if it is pruned now or later.  Yours will probably reach at least 6' to 8' tall by fall.