Holly Trees - how to prune

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I’ve got a row of Holly at the end of my garden. Seven in all. Two of them I’ve always kept as a ‘bush’ style with branches all the way down as they screen the corner where the compost is. I prune the sides to keep them in check and they are very full, about 15-20ft tall, they’re behind an out building and get only the very earliest of the morning sun, then shaded all day. They look very healthy and are doing the job I want them to do. The other five are at the end of a South facing garden. They agent a bit of sun all day but not too much, they’re protected from the scorching heat at the height of summer for instance. They are more ‘tree’ style - ie bare trunk until about 5 ft up. Two are about 40ft the other three about 30ft. I really want them to grow a bit ‘thicker’ throughout to screen the new build that has been built just behind the boundary fence. Height wise, from the perspective of my house, they’re tall enough to screen a lot of what I don’t want to see but the three shorter trees are a bit more sparse than I’d like. I’m not sure how, or when, to prune them to encourage a bit more bushyness. I prune the overhang on them when I do the ‘bush’ Holly but they don’t seem to be filling out as well as those. Any Holly experts who can give me a pointer?

Not an expert, but holly doesn't respond to pruning by growing more bushy, unfortunately.

Holly is a group 1 shrub/tree. A bit of light pruning is only done to tidy up bits that stick out and look messy or any that are diseased/dead or damaged by crossing another branch and rubbing each other.

I did ponder about filling in the gaps with climbers, but I don't think there are many that reach the kind of heights you're looking for, sorry. You might just have to wait for the hollies to expand into the gaps.

Hopefully someone else will have some good ideas...

I disagree with the above poster. If you don't prune a holly tree it's branches get long and straggly and if you want to thicken the foliage for privacy reasons for example you can just go over lightly with a hedge cutter and it will thicken up. We've also got lots of holly trees, along our drive where it is cut regularly to stop it encroaching on the width it's very dense. In our woods where it is never pruned it's just long branches with fewer leaves.

I agree with above poster. I 'saved' a strangly holly from the bargain section which had long branches with nothing on them. Regular feeding and pruning and two years later it's a plump, bushy little chap now.

Now is a good time of year to do it, I think.

Yes, long and straggly perfectly describes the branches, I think I will try a bit of light pruning and see what happens, I don’t think I can do too much damage if I go about it carefully. Thanks all

When you've pruned those trees before have you cut off individual branches (eg with a lopper) or used a hedge cutter on the ends? Maybe try sort of shearing all over, or in the area where you want it thicker. Don't take off a lot, just the ends.