 Pruning The difference between a good and bad haircut is about two weeks. Would that it were so simple with tree trimming. A badly pruned tree can take years to recover from the damage - one of our camellias is still recovering from the ambitious pruning we gave it a couple years ago after a heavy infestation of tussock moth caterpillars.Many plants require no trimming and some should NOT be pruned. We would not have pruned our fragrant olive, for example, if our neighbors had not complained (unnecessarily) that the branches were hanging into their yard. Others, such as flowering plums and roses, need regular attention to prevent them from becoming an unsightly mass of tangled branches. Box, enkianthus, and other varieties used for hedges need to be trained. Gardening books provide tips on whether, when, and how to prune individual plants. Tools should be sharp and clean - blunt implements make the job more difficult and ragged cuts weaken the plant and encourage disease. Secateurs are used for pruning small stems, a saw for larger branches, and shears for trimming hedges. Clean and oil tools after use.  As a general rule, branches with alternating buds (roses, for example) should be pruned with an angled cut, while stems with opposite pairs of buds should be cut straight across. Cutting away dead wood will keep a plant vigorous and reduce the possibility of disease.Fruit trees bear better fruit with the proper pruning and training, but care is required to avoid damage. Partly because of its poor location in a corner of the yard that is now shady thanks to our neighbors' large house that blocks the sun, our citron tends to send out straggly shoots that require regular trimming and when we pruned its center branches to allow better ventilation and more sun it responded by dropping half its leaves. We also learned that when plums are incorrectly trimmed they tend to become more, not less, crowded with small shoots that grow in every direction. We are still learning, but try to eliminate branches that rub against each other and prune to encourage a few strong branches and an open shape. As noted above, we have learned from experience to check our gardening references before hacking away at our plants. Trimming plants at the wrong time of year or in the wrong place can eliminate that year's flowers, as we discovered by cutting our lilacs back too vigorously. Years ago, someone pruned one of the Japanese maples too enthusiastically and it ended up with its main branches growing in a bizarre "U" shape. So sometimes it's best to call on a professional. A huge, ancient black pine stands in the center of our yard against the wall (and our neighbors' pine's branches brush against our second floor windows) and even if we were able to borrow a ladder long enough to reach all the branches, we would probably do more harm than good if we tried to do the job ourselves. |