FEARLESS PRUNING - THE BASICS

Prepared by: Lee Reich, PhD, Horticultural Consultant, garden@leereich.com
Reference: THE PRUNING BOOK, by Lee Reich, Taunton Press, 1997

Why prune your plants at all?
    To keep them healthy
    To keep them beautiful
    To keep them from growing too big
    For special effects: bonsai, espalier, topiary
    For productivity: size & number of flowers, stems, leaves, or fruit

How do plants respond to pruning?
    Any stem pruning dwarfs plant as a whole.
    Heading cut = shortening a stem
            Effect: Buds remaining near cut are stimulated to grow
            Use: Increases branching, makes a plant more bushy
    Thinning cut = removing a stem completely, to its base
            Effect: No response near cut
            Use: Opens up plant where growth too dense
    Response to heading varies; more severe heading...fewer and longer branches

And now to the real world of pruning
    General rules for pruning any woody plant:
            Cut away diseased stems
            Cut back damaged stems cleanly
            Cut misplaced stems: those that rub or look out of place
    Pruning deciduous bushes grown as shrubs
            At planting: Minimum or no pruning
            Regular pruning once mature
                1.Timing: Right after bloom for spring flowering shrubs
                                 Late winter for summer flowering shrubs
                2. Use lopper or saw, cutting oldest stems to ground
                3. Shorten lanky stems
                4. Thin suckers
                5. How much to remove depends on specific growth habits
    Pruning deciduous bushes grown as hedges
            Prune mostly with lopper, just like individual shrubs
            Formal shrubs: Start shearing when young
                                       Shape so narrower at top than bottom
    Deciduous landscape trees
            Young tree
                1. Minimize pruning and use mostly thinning cuts
                2. Develop single trunk only (with exceptions)
                3. Space scaffold limbs
                4. Leave temporary stems to thicken trunk
    Evergreens
            Generally, little pruning needed, especially if suited to site
    Fruit and berries
            Pruning is very important for health, light, and annual bearing
            Train trees for strength and light
            Train bushes by renewal method, just like ornamentals
            Fruit thinning is also needed for some fruits
            Amount of pruning varies with each fruit’s bearing habit