Date: Fri 22-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-12

Quick Words:

Gardener-Bleach-spring-pruning

Full Text:

(Suburban Gardener on importance, techniques- spring pruning, 3/22/96)

Suburban Gardener-

The Shear Magnificence of Pruning!

By Anthony C. Bleach

"A cold coming we had of it

Just the worst time of the year

For a journey and such a journey."

-"Journey of the Magi"

Anyway, it's almost spring at last and as Anne Raven advised in The New York

Times , just get out there and prune before it's too late and the buds break

out and all that energy pours into making new leaves. Always be discreet,

perhaps even reverent, but remember that a plant's capacity for composatory

growth will hide our small mistakes in half a season.

There are two kinds of pruning. When you head back you cut the tops of the

twigs off; thinning out is the removal of entire canes. Heading back

stimulates the development of more growing points and gives a bushier, more

attractive plant. Thinning out improves the health of the plant as well as

giving a more open, untangled appearance. Cutting out old, diseased canes or

cross-over canes will open up the center for light and air, and help new ones

develop.

How does heading back stimulate more growing points? In the terminal, or top

buds, are hormones that prevent the development of the lateral, or side, buds.

When the terminals are cut off, the flow of growth-inhibiting hormone ceases,

and one or more lateral buds produce shoots further down the stem.

It is vital you hold back on pruning some shrubs. Spring flowering forsythia,

azalea, lilac and viburnum have already formed their flower buds. Pruning

these now will eliminate flowers for this year. Wait until after blooming.

Summer bloomers like Rose of Sharon and the hydrangeas can be pruned now

without hazarding the flowers. Evergreens may not need much done except to

take out branches broken or damaged by winter.

Firs, hemlock, pine and spruce can have the terminal buds of side branches

trimmed off. They look like creamy little candles. You snap off two-thirds

with your fingers and this will keep them looking bushy. Junipers, yews,

arborvitaes can be pruned in two ways: Overgrown ones can be sheared back

severely to keep their formal shape; or if you prefer the more natural look,

just take off the ends of the largest terminal branches, but reach inside the

bush so the cut ends are hidden by the foliage.

So as soon as you can, prune everything from grape vines to summer-flowering

shrubs, overgrown hedges to small trees.

Wisteria vines, with their glorious blue pannicles, can become nasty unless

they are properly pruned. They will crush any trellis or support unless they

are controlled. You have to prune heavily!

Choose one branch as your main trunk and cut off any other shoots. Cut one

trunk to the level you would like the lowest branch to appear. Next summer a

few lateral branches will grow. During the second winter, continue shaping the

main framework, taking out unwanted laterals and cutting or leaving others

where you want to direct more growth.

Once you have a lateral established, prune any growth from it back to two or

three buds. This is like spur pruning, which produces flower buds rather than

shoots, which will force new growth. Prune the new growth back to six inches

during the summer. The more lateral pruning is done, the more laterals will

come.

Prune floribunda and hybrid tea roses from between 12 and 18 inches (taller

growing hybrid teas and most grandifloras may be left at two feet, however).

Make pruning cuts at a 45-degree angle above a strong bud that is growing on

the outside of a cane to encourage growth outward.

Dead canes must be removed. Those succulent canes turned black from frost kill

are easy to identify; less easy is freezing damage to mature canes. It cannot

be assumed that green cane is alive and healthy. The cane may be alive, but

not necessarily healthy enough to produce good blooms.

The only way to tell if a rose cane is healthy is to cut it off a quarter of

an inch above a bud. Look for a white center to the cane. If it is there, that

is live wood and the dead wood has been removed.

Finally, clean out the bush from small scraggy canes whose diameter is less

than a quarter of an inch, and any that are crossing or rubbing against each

other. These will eventually suffer abrasions, which allow entry to the fungus

that causes brown canker.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates and teaches the horticulture programs at

Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College in Waterbury.)