Needle Whorls On Hemlock

Question

Hello, and thank you for taking my question. I have hemlock shrubs in front of my house–an entire row of them that runs the full length of the sidewalk. They are starting to encroach on the sidewalk area, and I need to prune them back. I want to be cautious, however, because I can see bare spots in the bushes, likely from when they were over-pruned at some point previously. I read Heather Rhoades’ article on how to prune hemlock and will wait until spring to touch these, but she mentions in the article that the proper place to cut them is “just above the needle whorls.” Can you explain what that means? Also, in the spring the hemlock will show quite a bit of new growth. Is it OK to cut back further than that new growth, or would that be too far? I’m just hoping you can provide some more clarity for me since I don’t know much about how to best care for these wonderful bushes. Thanks very much for your time.

Answer 1

I believe by "needle whorls," she means the small stem of needles that attach to the branch on each side. You can make cuts just above these at any point but do not cut into any dead areas. Try to make cuts that leave the tree looking natural. You also can shear hemlock shrubs.

Here are fact sheets with more information:

https://www.savegeorgiashemlocks.org/Downloads/Resources_page/Other_SGH_Instructions_&_Reference_Materials/SGH_Pruning_Hemlocks_2-8-23.pdf

https://extension.psu.edu/pruning-needled-evergreens

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/pruning-evergreens/