How to Prune a Yaupon Holly Tree

The yaupon holly is a shrub or tree, depending on methods of cultivation, native to the United States. It grows well throughout the South as far north as Virginia and along the West Coast to Canada. Native Americans and some early settlers once dried the leaves of the yaupon holly to make tea. The curious scientific name for the yaupon holly, ilex vomitoria, derives from the unpleasant effects of ingesting the leaves of the tree without first drying them completely.

Bypass pruning shears

Lopping pruner

Pruning saw

Gloves

Wear gloves to prune your yaupon holly. While the plant does not have thorns, the leaves tend to be tough and their slightly serrated edges can scratch.

Consider pruning your yaupon holly into tree form to reveal its unique contorted trunk or trunks. When the plant is young, you might decide whether to allow multiple relatively equal-sized trunks to develop or to train the plant to a single trunk. Either is capable of producing a strong plant. It is best to begin trimming plants into tree form in early spring.

To reveal the trunks of larger trees, select the most robust branches to develop as trunks and remove the others at ground level. Next, trim away lower branches on the selected trunks.

Remove dead wood from your tree regardless of the season. Branches that appear to be diseased or damaged should be cut back to the next healthy lateral offshoot. If this involves removing more than a third of the foliage from the branch, cut away the entire branch to the trunk.

Expect pruning of your yaupon holly to produce vigorous new growth. Eventually, prudent annual thinning will produce a lush and well-shaped crown. To thin, select the longest branches and prune them back to a lateral branch within the crown rather than at the periphery of the crown. Examine your work carefully and prune judiciously to thin as evenly as possible around the entire circumference of the tree.

The root system of the yaupon holly sends up multiple small shoots that will grow into new plants if not pruned away. Watch for these throughout the year and prune as needed to maintain a clean appearance at the base of the tree.

Dwarf varieties of the yaupon holly are popular for cultivation as bonsai in part because of their tolerance of heavy pruning.

If you want your tree to produce berries, ask when purchasing your holly whether it was propagated from a female plant. Both male and female plants produce flowers, but these are followed by berries only on the female plant.

Always prune your trees using sharp, clean and sterilized equipment. Dull or dirty pruning tools can cause disease and permanent damage.