What would happen if I topped this tree-plant?

The tree would look like crap if you topped it. Plant it outside or sell it. Or get a great big pot to plant it in and leave it outside. But you’d be better off to replant it outside before it gets too big to transplant.

That’s a Cedar tree variety, maybe a Redwood. Just plant it and it will grow and grow and grow. They both grow pretty fast. Nice tree, that puppy would cost you several hundred dollars at a nursery.

If I am correct that the plant is a Norfolk Island pine, it won’t survive being transplanted outside unless you live in a very temperate area. All of the care guidelines that I can find do not recommend pruning. We had a rather scraggly 11 footer in the lobby where I used to work.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t hold up under pruning. Some plants, like ficus (the rubber tree plant you can see beside him, out the living room window) and philodendron, do, and thrive. I didn’t think this one would.

@Coloma I live in Kansas. The winters can be brutal. I agree with @syz that this particular pine wouldn’t survive.

I’ll be interested in a more certain verdict of what kind of pine it is. I’ll take closer pictures tomorrow.

Shew. This is a scary challenge for me. I consider my plants family. I’ve had some of them longer than I’ve had my children, and the oldest will be 37. I used to joke that in case of fire, I wouldn’t know who to get out first!

Thanks you guys.

@Dutchess_III Let us know what happens.

@Dutchess_III Cedars and redwoods survive in the harsh Sierras here in winter, no problemo. Snow, freezing or below freezing temps. Take a sample to a nursery and get a positive ID.

I don’t think it’s a cedar or a redwood. We have a nursery close by, so I’ll do that. Or make them come here.

Dang, man. Now I’m thinking I need to move it to the back deck, which gets a lot of light from the east…but we spend little to no time out there. On the up side, I have decided to revamp my dining room during the winter to put it in front of the sliding glass doors, which face east, and lead out to the unused back deck. So a switch inside wouldn’t be too much of a change in the winter. It’s been my experience that plants appreciate being put in the same place in the house every year. I’ll just have to have someone haul that antique chair in front of the window, upstairs every fall.

Photos please. Next year.

You bet. I hope he’s with us next year. Ferngalee (that’s his name) invaded my dreams last night. He is not going to get enough light where he is now.

I’m thinking of burying him, pot and all, somewhere in the yard, where he can get lots of sun, then just digging up the pot and bringing him in in winter…..

It’s a Norfolk Island Pine. You may trim the top but it will respond by generating another upward growing shoot in a sideways direction and look weird. They grow very slowly so it would be easy to trim it all over and maintain it as a big bushy house plant.

If your winter outside temperatures are cooler then 65ºF then the Norfolk Island Pine will not likely survive outside.

I personally would give it away to some poor family at Christmas time.

Good luck.

I know it’s a Norfolk Pine. I know it won’t survive Kansas winters out side. The people who my son got it from had it for many years, here in Kansas, as a strictly indoor plant. I’m just trying to figure out the best schedule and places for him so he can adapt to my plant habits.

I’m really regretting, and not for the first time, the loss of west facing living room window. My husband decided to install a fireplace there instead. I just don’t have the light I’ve had in years past, but I’m studying on it.

Um, I really don’t want to sacrifice the tree. I may consider giving it away, but not to someone who is likely to kill it by hanging shit on it. I tried using one of my tree plants as a Christmas tree one year, when we were too poor to buy one. It was a ficus, a weeping fig. Damn near killed the poor thing! But the kids loved it and never forgot it. And the tree went on to live another 30 years.