Twin privets hugging - to separate or to keep?

[GiChoc]

Good evening,


Recently (about three weeks ago) I landscaped my balcony to add a little touch of green to the gray Athenian landscape.
One of the plants I got was a privet. It’s planted in a 100 L pot, at the left corner; I have planted a small bay laurel at the right side.

The privet arrived from the nursery in a pot that contained two plants (in fact, one is yellowish-green and the other is deep green).

My question is: should I keep the two plants side-by-side as they are, or should I separate them?

If I separate them, should I remove the plants from the planter and try to untangle the roots, or can I use a pruning saw to cut the roots in situ, in the planter and then relocate the smaller plant elsewhere?


A third option I considered is to completely cut down the smaller (green) privet completely so that the two plants don’t choke each other.


What do you recommend?

Thank you,
George

 

[Meadowlark]

They certainly need more space than 2 inches. I think I would pull both plants from the container simultaneously (after soaking in water) and then gently pull on the smaller one to separate it from the larger one preserving as much of the roots as possible in both plants.

Then replant both with plenty of space.

When you get them pulled, if the smaller plant is so entwined with the larger that separation isn't possible without significant root damage, then your option three would come into play and sacrifice the smaller one without impacting the roots of the larger one. That's what I would try.

 

[oneeye]

That will work best if you don't mind waiting for the plant to recover. IF you do a division you will set the plants back from tranplant shock. To keep the plant growing without any disruption you can simply snip one and leave the other. Pick the best plant and cut the other off at the soil line and let one grow in the pot. In late Winter when you bring the plant out you can remove the dead plant and change soils.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Privet is robust. If root entanglement is too much, rather than tug with force use a razor. The cut will be less problem than stretched and bent root pathways. Think crunching up a straw. I bet you have no problem if they have good sun.

 

[Danaya]

I personally wouldn't separate them, they look beautiful together and in general, the trees and shrubs from the same species don't strangle eachother but share nutrients and support one another. If they are close enough, they may join at the trunk and create one strong shrub/tree. In my opinion, if you try to separate them, you will just ruin the beautiful shape they have at the moment and the trauma will significantly set them back. Better leave them together.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That will work best if you don't mind waiting for the plant to recover. IF you do a division you will set the plants back from tranplant shock. To keep the plant growing without any disruption you can simply snip one and leave the other. Pick the best plant and cut the other off at the soil line and let one grow in the pot. In late Winter when you bring the plant out you can remove the dead plant and change soils.

Privet is tough as old boots. I have cut an overgrown privet hedge with no leaves on the first couple of feet down to the ground. It grew back and withing a couple of years of regular cutting it had become a decent hedge. You can do just about anything with privet, turn it into a two colour topiary, cut sticks off it an push them in the ground for new plants, just about anything but kill it in my experience.

 

[Meadowlark]

.. in general, the trees and shrubs from the same species don't strangle eachother but share nutrients and support one another.

Sorry, but my experience differs. What scientific study has determined that they "share nutrients" or "support" one another?

I just have not ever seen this in Nature, from veggies to flowers to shrubs and trees, it is everyone for themselves.

 

[cpp gardener]

They root graft themselves when grown close enough together. They don’t so much ‘help’ each other as share water and nutrients. Root grafts are one way Dutch Elm Disease spreads. Aboveground it is called inosculation and is used to create ‘Circus Trees’.

 

[Danaya]

Here is the link to the bbc explanation of how trees support eachother, especially the ones from the same family. That's why as a general rule, you can plant for example different varieties of cherry trees, much closer to eachother than usual. My neighbour at the allotment have two fully grown cherry trees 1.5m apart and they are doing great.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I just have not ever seen this in Nature, from veggies to flowers to shrubs and trees, it is everyone for themselves.

One starts with all out everyone for themselves chaos, but there are 'behaviours' that benefit both parties and will therefore be selected for by both. For example, young oak trees which grow close to the parent will make root contact with it and receive a hormone that keeps them small. They are protected from storms by the canopy above, small enough they don't compete with each other and they suppress other growth, good for the tree. When the parent tree dies it is back to everyone for themselves as they race for the blue spot in the canopy, one will fill it and curtains for its siblings.
A similar example was a forester in Austria who realised that a circle of moss covered stones were not stones, but living wood. Surrounding trees were maintaining life in the severed trunk of a large tree taken down by a storm. The size of the circle showed it was a big tree, that nothing remained of it indicated the support had been going on for hundreds of years. I can't see what the supporters get out of this, but behaviour selected for in one set of circumstances can adapt itself to another, so it almost appears altruistic, 'keeping Granny alive for a few hundred years'.
Also, how about things like gut bacteria, or lichens? They are extreme examples of interdependence, but one organism simply won't make it on it's own, every living thing depends on other living things, if only to maintain the O2 - CO2
balance in the air.
Altruism is a difficult sort of a concept in any circumstances, I tend to see it as looking for mutual benefit rather than personal.

 

[Danaya]

If you'd like to know more about high-density planting (HDP), there are some good videos on YouTube, showing how to successfully plant 2, 3, or even 4 trees approx 2-3ft apart.

 

[Meadowlark]

... successfully plant 2, 3, or even 4 trees approx 2-3ft apart.

Ummm this situation is 2 inches...far, far different than 2-3 ft.

 

[Danaya]

Yes and no. There's plenty of examples of hedges where the hedge forming plants are 2 inches apart and they are doing great & looking amazing.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Yes and no. There's plenty of examples of hedges where the hedge forming plants are 2 inches apart and they are doing great & looking amazing.

One might consider all the plant variety in the context of the various soils and climates they originated in and how that would have implication toward the modern moment and the soil of lawn or container and climate in which they are intended to prosper. Its a tough discussion on the internet without the context. One has the shallow wide root and a large spacial bubble and another the deep penetrator root and does not mind rubbing shoulders.

 

[Danaya]

One might consider all the plant variety in the context of the various soils and climates they originated in and how that would have implication toward the modern moment and the soil of lawn or container and climate in which they are intended to prosper. Its a tough discussion on the internet without the context. One has the shallow wide root and a large spacial bubble and another the deep penetrator root and does not mind rubbing shoulders.

Sounds logical, how does this apply to privet? What are the plant needs in terms of a root system, soil, climate, etc, taking into account it is in a container and will be watered and fed regularly, so it's not that climate and soil dependent? My other note for consideration would be that it came like this from the nursery, it has grown nicely so far, the nurserymen let it and didn't remove the other stem. They should know how to care for the plants they sell and they considered it safe that way while the plant was with them. Also, all shrubs and trees in pots and containers can generally be considered bonsai trees, soil type, compost, etc, are up to the gardener. Hope this makes sense.