Taking a gamble, I chopped Irwin down to about 16 inches. Seeing that it was pushing out flowers, I took a chance that it had enough reserve to maybe push out leaves after pruning. I must admit chopping all these trees today made me feel guilty; as though I had committed some great evil against the plant kingdom.
Coconut Cream chopped down to about 16 inches as well. It was slowly pushing out new growth so I thought it would be okay. I put a plastic sleeve over it after cutting it. Coconut Cream & Spirit of '76 now reside at my office.
Spirit of '76 got chopped down to a little over 14 inches. This was a big gamble as its last flush of leaves still looked light green and I'm not sure if it got a chance to build back up its reserves for pushing out new growth? I really hope it doesn't die. I also covered it with a plastic sleeve after pruning.
When I look at the chopped off pieces (below), I think to myself, "what have I done?!"
I'm trying to think of grafting the material but I have no seedlings to graft onto. How sad.
Well, I hope it all works.
