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Will our Brackens Brown Souther Magnolia tree survive and recover from an aggressive pruning scalping on one side? Our mason says we need to cut it down to repair the chimney, I'd like to prune it aggressively instead
In Arboriculture

Will our Brackens Brown Souther Magnolia tree survive and recover from an aggressive pruning scalping on one side? Our mason says we need to cut it down to repair the chimney, I’d like to prune it aggressively instead


Hi — we have a Brackens Brown Southern Magnolia tree planted 3.5 feet from our house and chimney (don't blame me, we bought it this way!)

Our chimney needs masonry repairs and the mason said he cannot set up scaffolding or a ladder with the existing branches. He recommended removing the tree.

If possible, I'd like to save the tree and prune it, but it would require a pretty aggressive pruning/scalping. Do you think the tree could survive cutting out a "pie slice" of branches all the way back to the trunk?

Any recommendations? Thank you!

by homeschooled

4 Comments

  1. Any_Skin_7435

    Yes it will be fine other than it looking weird for a few years. I’ve seen magnolias pruned back pretty aggressively but they fill back in.

  2. laborfriendly

    It’s too close to the house. Should come out, anyway. Magnolia roots are known to be up to 4x as wide as the canopy.

  3. Bludiamond56

    Prune to the trunk. It will come back. Seen magnolias planted close to houses. Doesn’t seem to be an issue. Took out arborvitae that was planted 2 ft from concrete block foundation. Saw the cracks in the wall inside basement wall. Took them out and that fixed the problem as far as more damage.

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