Simple Ways to Avoid Pruning Mistakes

The important part of maintaining any landscape or garden is pruning. Well today we're going to talk about the 3 biggest mistakes that gardeners and Weekend Warriors make when it comes to pruning in simple ways to avoid them. 

The first mistake is pruning at the wrong time of year

On flowering shrubs. One of the most common questions from gardener that want to know why it's not blooming?. Well, it's typically one of two things either it's not getting enough sun or they pruned it at the wrong time. And that's usually the case

For example, an Oak Leaf hydrangea it blooms on old wood and blooms in the summer time. Once it sets flower if you come after that and cut it back. You're probably cutting off a bloom. So we're set right after it flowered. 

Cut off the flower blooms because those forms last year and yet, You don't see the flower blooms except for maybe just this one, but they're here so you don't want to cut it back after the flower buds are set in The previous year on plants that bloom on old wood.

The second mistake when it comes to pruning is using the wrong equipment for the job, 

Now pruners come in two basic Styles bypass pruners that work very much like scissors where you have a very sharp blade that passes by a hook. This isn't a bladed section but it cuts cleanly through live tissue and that's when you want to use bypass pruners through live tissue. 

Now, the other type of crooner is called an anvil to anvil pruners are used to cut with dead wood because it has a blade that lands onto a plate and it basically crushes what's between it. An example of that would be dead wood and an easy cut, now Anvil pruners are wonderful for Deadwood, but you would not want to use anvil pruners on live tissue because it crushes it can cause damage to the remainder of the live plant and you don't want that now You could use bypass pruners to cut into dead wood, but it doesn't cut as well. It's harder and it's not as clean but you never want to use Anvil style to cut live or new tissue because what's remaining A clean cut and it will expose it to pests and diseases. 

So you always want to use your faithful bypass pruners to make that clean cut likely

The third most common mistake when it comes to pruning is not knowing how much to cut or where to make that cut. So let's start with a general rule and that is the rule of thirds the more you cut a plant down the more stress you induce on that plant and now there are exceptions to every rule but if you can just stick to the general rule of thirds start at the tip of the plant and work down from the top about a third and try to make your cut their or above that's the best you can do for that plan. 

Now another thing about pruning that a lot of people don't realize when you make a cut you actually stimulate new growth and I don't want to get into all the signs of it that tells you actually induce a plant to grow and get bigger is that you cut it back but knowing where to make that cut makes all the difference in the world. So stick to the rule of thirds to minimize the amount of stress on the plant and then nowhere to make the cut if it's opposite dormant Leaf Bud, which means a bud on each side of the branch make the cut about a quarter to a third of an inch above straight across but if it's a shrub that has alternate Leaf Buds where they're not opposite each other, but they alternate one here and then the other on the other side. Make the cut about the same distance above but cut it at an angle and look for the one that has the leaf Bud going to the outside because that will form a new Branch going out and that's what you want. You don't really want to stimulate New Growth going into the plant you want to get full and go to the outside. So there you have it. Now that you know, the three most common pruning mistakes and how to avoid them. You're well on your way to being a better smarter Gardener or a weekend warrior. 

Share this post