Anybody have experience with Erica Arborea?

I have just severe pruned my ancient Erica Arborea. It will be at least 40 years old and I've taken about 7ft off it. I only discovered last year that Erica Arborea will break from old wood unlike most other Ericas and indeed a large branch which broke under the weight of a heavy snow fall a few years back did sprout new growth. I'm hoping I haven't pruned it too much at 1 go rather than delay prune but sort of got carried away!
Now that I've pruned the majority down to approx 2 ft from soil level would it be an idea to feed it? I've never fed it before in the 16 years we have been here but having given it a severe shock maybe I should. Being acid loving most feed won't be suitable but wondered if it would benefit from some manure. I have grown many Ericas over the years but not Erica Arborea which we inherited when moving here. I thought it was somewhat tender but it survived a bad winter a few years back when we went down to -15 oC for a few weeks. It's a really nice background shrub but had got incredibly leggy and would have benefited from being pruned less severely years ago but i didn't think it would respond,

 

Morning Silu
I have pruned Alberts Gold quite hard and it responded well. From a height of 150 cm to about 75cm so not as drastic as yours. That is quite a trim so wait and see how it responds to that
No, I would not use manure but prefer a mulch of pine needles or even ericaceous compost.
I would also spray with epsom salts and seaweed fertiliser

 

Thanks @Verdun. Do you know what my garden looks like?! because very close to the Erica I have a Cedar Atlantica Glauca which has just done it's annual dump of needles all over the driveway, you can see about 1/50th of her in the attached photo on the right hand edge .These need sweeping up and disposed of. The tree is massive so there are a LOT of needles. If they would be ok to use instead of pine needles how thick a mulch?, say about 4 ins? If so that would be somewhat handy for disposing of them. I'm slightly regretting that I got quite so carried away with the pruning the Erica so severely in 1 go and it would no doubt have been better to have pruned the Erica earlier in the season but like others who have big gardens you sort of have to do things when you have the time! I have some Epsom salts which I use now and again in the bath after an exhausting day in the garden. How strong a solution do I use or do I just sprinkle a few handfuls about the place. The area the Erica takes up is about 8ft square as it has layered itself extensively. If (hopefully) the response to the heavy prune is positive I may well dig up some of the layers as the area occupied is slightly larger than ideal Some of the branches were too thick to prune with my very good and strong loppers so the chainsaw had to come out. Who would think an Erica could be such a big beast?

 

Yes Silu, I remember you posting that picture before....(about Sutherland Gold I think). Looks excellent.
I would sever a couple of those layered stems, trim them and pot up or plant out.
Quantity of epsom salts? I use a tablespoon in 5 litres of water but you cannot really overdose. Apart from the magnesium element epsom salts are a great plant tonic.
I see no reason not to use those needles but maybe a couple of inches deep

 

Wow you have some memory @Verdun and quite correct. I am somewhat limited re old photos of the garden as my computer which had loads on it broke....well ok I dropped it and it gave up the ghost along with loads of my other photos all very annoyingThanks for the help re needles and Epsom salts, will do. Re the layers hummm well they are what I had to tackle with a chainsaw! not joking the girth of the stems must be about 5 to 6 ins in diameter so don't think a pot will do the job. What I have done is sever them and not been quite so severe in pruning them. If the main plant decides to pack it in I hopefully will have the layers which I'm sure is what you were alluding to, having them as a back up if necessary and quite correct.
Re the mystery of The Sutherland's Gold. I am still at a loss as to why 3 of my 4, 5 or 6 year old cuttings have died. I left them in situ to see if by chance they would spring back into life but no, absolutely dead as Dodos! The original 1 a la the photo is fine as is the remaining cutting plus all my Sambucas Black Lace are 100% as well. all very strange. My only thought is that Sambucas does have quite a soft corky type internal core to it's woody stems and we did have a severe frost when they were coming into growth. perhaps they died through a version of bark split but it still doesn't explain why it was only some that were affected. I am going to take more cuttings of the Sutherland's Gold to replace the lost ones. They to my mind are a very good, well normally!, hardy tolerant of wind alternative to Japanese Acers, which I do manage to grow but only in favoured spots AND Sambucas is fast growing which is good when you have large spaces to fill. I'll try to remember to post photos of the Erica next season showing how well it has responded to my somewhat brutal treatment.

 

Take cuttings Silu. If those layered stems are large they wont be great to re plant. For conifers I tend to take heel cuttings and then trim them but most cuttings will take well right now.