What is pruning and when should you do it?

This is a must have if you have a garden or even a few plants. Bigger is not a factor when it comes to crops. This is where pruning comes in: to improve the health of your tree or plant and help control and shape growth. But how and when should you be pruning your tree or plant? And how will pruning your trees encourage them to grow back bigger and stronger?

Learn the basics of pruning, from what it is to how to do it and when to do it.

What is pruning?

Pruning involves carefully trimming the branches or trimming the stems of your trees or shrubs to improve their health, increase the number of flowers, and shape them to better fit the garden space effectively.

This includes not only cutting off diseased, damaged or dead branches, but also trying to stop them from growing in order to allow the lower branches to receive sunlight, preventing large branches from blocking the path, and cutting away branches that can be infected.

What tools do you use to prune plants?

Tree pruning may require different types of gardening tools, depending on the type of tree you are pruning. For small trees and shrubs, a pruner – a tool like scissors – can handle branches less than an inch in diameter. A wooden knife, with a strong handle and a long, scissor-like blade, is used to shape wood. A tree pruner has a long pole with a blade attached to it and is ideal for cutting down large and hard-to-reach branches. You may also want a pruning saw, which has a long blade, which can be used for branches close to the ground.

Pruning tools should be cleaned with bleach, isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. If all your plants are healthy, you can clean them as needed, at least once a year. If you are pruning unhealthy parts of plants that are prone to powdery mildew, blight, or other common plant diseases, you should clean them before moving to the healthy part of the plant. are other plants that are good to avoid spreading the disease.

<< READ ALSO ON: Vaccination: A Crucial Aspect of Healthy and Sustainable Livestock Farming >>

How to prune a tree

Pruning is not difficult, but you must be careful to follow the instructions for your particular plant to ensure that you do not damage your plant by pruning it incorrectly.

Know the right timing

The best time to prune and maintain your trees and shrubs depends on the tree or plants in question.

You can remove dead or diseased branches whenever you see them, as well as wilted and dead flowers to beautify your garden.

Pruning instructions can vary depending on the type of plant: for example, some butterfly bushes require pruning, while others do not. You will want to check the recommendations for your garden plants to ensure that your plants are growing properly.

Most plants need to be pruned in winter or early spring to promote new growth. In the summer, you will probably only have to cut off spent flowers from shrubs and flowering plants, or pruned trees that have finished blooming for the season.

Time when you should avoid pruning: late summer through fall. The new growth then may not be strong enough to survive the cold, and the cut may not have time to heal, leaving you with an exposed plant.

Start small

Just like when you’re trying to cut your bangs, it’s best to start small: you can go back and cut more later.

Go for the obvious trims

The first obvious cuts: dead or damaged branches, yellow or dried leaves, and withered flowers.

Next, check the structure of the tree. Look for uneven growing areas with lots of branches, as you may want the plant to not allow sunlight to reach the lower part of the plant. Branches that overlap and rub each other should be trimmed, to avoid dust that can introduce insects or disease to your tree.

Next, follow the pruning requirements of your gardener. Some plants require heavy pruning, almost to the ground level, while others require a one-third reduction in growth.

Cut in the right place

You want to cut the growing area, like the tip of a leaf or where another branch comes off the branch, or down to the bottom line.

Which trees need pruning?

Some plants require early pruning, such as pruning in early spring or winter, while others may require regular maintenance to remove spent or underdeveloped flowers. Learn about some common garden plants that need regular pruning and when to put them on your to-do list.

Butterfly bush (late winter or early spring)

Crepe Myrtle (late winter)

Forsythia (late spring)

Fruit trees (mid-winter)

Hydrangea (spring for mop head hydrangeas,summer fr lacecap hydrangea)

Lilac (spring after blooming)

Perennial flowers (usually after the flowering season, but check your variety)

Roses (depending on variety)

Read also:10 BEST COMPANION PLANTS FOR ZUCCHINI

What plants do not need a lot of pruning?

Some trees don’t need much pruning to keep them looking good, so feel free to leave them alone, unless you want some style, you need to cut back branches that are blocking the walkway, or other trees, but whether there is a branch or a flower. died or showed signs of illness.

Some plants that don’t require regular pruning include: