WELL, DAY 10 still has no frost and the mild temperatures are pushing several of your landscape plants to “break dormancy.”
With that in mind, I started pruning fruit trees this week. Today, I will explain why we prune and for what results.
Pruning and its techniques are a most difficult process to comprehend. And since we are now approaching the time when major pruning chores need to be done, let’s review the seven purposes of pruning. All your pruning will fall into one or more of these categories.
1. To remove dead, dying, injured errant members. Any month is the correct time to remove plant parts that are doing poorly. Diseases flourish in dead tissue and many times dead branches rot back into the trunk, killing the tree or causing major limbs to come crashing down in the wind. Insects love damaged areas because they bleed succulent sap and luscious plant juices, perfect for laying eggs. Branches that cross over or through the middle of a plant or rub against each other should be pruned away as soon as they are discovered. Nutrient-robbing rapidly growing sucker shoots, root shoots and water sprouts should be removed as well.
2. To check growth where space is limited. This is most likely the No. 1 reason why most people prune. A particular plant that is growing into the house, across the sidewalk, over the driveway, onto the garage or through the fence is causing a variety of problems. We trim back plants because they are too big for the area or intended use. This is where many of us commit our most horrendous mistakes, pruning away the plant at an arbitrary place. This line is usually at the driveway edge or windowsill height, giving no thought to the correct spot on the plant.
3. To thin plants that have become thick, overgrown or neglected. Here is an extremely beneficial purpose of pruning and one that many people should be doing — but alas, don’t. Thinning plants really helps them grow lush, strong and healthy. As plants are pruned over successive years, they become extremely thick. These overgrown plants can become so dense that air movement may cease inside the plant. It becomes very dark and damp as organic debris piles up in the entangled branches. The darker it is, the more interior shoots die off. This environment breeds numerous problems as bugs and pestilence thrive. Thinning keeps the environment around the plant bright, loose and airy — a great combination.
4. To encourage root growth. Yes, we actually prune to get roots growing. First, using a shovel, a root prune is ideal for old orchard trees that haven’t produced well for years. Old vines, such as wisteria or trumpet vine, also are stimulated by a root prune. Take your shovel at the drip line (outer foliage line) and cut an unbroken, solid line 18 inches down. A long thin trench shovel is best for this because of rocks, hardpan or clay. This pruning stimulates all new feeder roots to grow at the point of the severance. On big vines, create half a 6- to 8-foot circle. Apply bone meal or some other great root-feeding fertilizer to all plants. Also, prune back top growth on fruit trees or vines the first year in order to have the roots develop a good enough system to support future growth or production.
5. To alter the form intelligently. This is my favorite one to become a true pruner — when you realize every cut should have a purpose and create a current or future form. Most easily associated forms of this type of pruning would be hedges, topiaries, roses, bonsai, fruit trees or plants above the window. You are totally in control when you prune. All future growth is directly the result of the exact point you choose to prune. Artful plants are achieved by intelligently altering their form, as well as easy-to-pick apple trees.
6. To encourage fruit, flower and foliage production. For most of us, this is our ultimate desire. We all secretly hope for dozens of cut-flower roses, bushels of apples, buckets of dahlias, quarts and quarts of blueberries and lilac drooping under the weight of their blooms. None of these happen naturally but require certain pruning techniques at correct times or places. Pruning is an absolute requirement in order to create new growth in attractive bushes. Many noted stem-colored bushes and trees only display that great color on 1-year-old wood, so proper pruning creates hundreds of new one-year stems. How we prune also can increase fruit size, as well as flower size and strength.
7. To rehabilitate plants that suffer neglect. I always explain to my clients and in classes that rehabilitation is many times the alternative to backhoe and compost pile. When plants become old, seriously entwined, too tall, very spindly or just disgusting, rehabilitation is the answer. This type of pruning is not for the faint-hearted. It usually involves 60 to 90 percent of the plant coming down. Large, tall rhododendrons with a few yellowish leaves on the outer façade are great candidates for this type of pruning. Yesterday they were 12 feet tall, today they are 3 feet tall and then, in two or three years, they will be gorgeous, dark green, lush 4- to 5-foot plants full of flowers. Ideal candidates for rehabilitation pruning are clematis, lilacs, rhododendrons, azaleas, dogwood shrubs, potentilla, wisteria, climbing roses and mountain laurel as well as most hedge-type plants.
Again, get your pruners sharpened and do … stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
