Sunshine Nursery & Arboretum
Pruning Guide-Part II

This is a companion guide to our Tree Pruning Guide - Part I and is intended to answer questions not addressed in the first, to give additional details not included in the first, and to address issues specific to pruning shrubs and evergreens.

Pruning Trees During Winter
When deciduous plants are fully dormant, it is easier to see the branching structure and makes for easier pruning.  Your goal is to guide young trees into a strong scaffold of branches to prevent breakage as they grow larger.  Look for wide angles where the branches are attached to the trunk.  Narrow angles are much more likely to split later as the branch grows heavier.  Use your hand as a guide: the angle between your first two fingers would be considered a narrow angle.  The angle between your thumb and finger would be a nice wide angle. 

With some trees, it is easy to pick out evenly spaced, wide-angled branches that will balance the weight of the tree evenly.  Other branches can be gradually eliminated, opening up the canopy for wind to blow through the tree with less resistance. This can help prevent your tree from blowing over in a storm.  In addition to removing narrow angled branches, you may want to remove branches

Other things to look for when pruning are branches that are crossing each other, rubbing on one another, or areas where there is an excessive number of branches. A branch heading straight toward your roof could be eliminated.

Pruning Shrubs
Early spring blooming shrubs will be opening flowers that were formed late the previous summer.  Severe pruning during the winter will cut off these potential flowers.  Delay pruning Forsythia, Spring Spireas, Snowball Bushes, and other Viburnums, Lilacs, and Flowering Quince until after they have bloomed. Prune to control the size of the plant and most importantly to get rid of old wood so that the plant continues to flower well.  Each year or two cut out some of the oldest wood to the ground, leaving the younger branches (but never more than a third of the bush).  

Making a pruning cut just past a leaf node results in more side branches forming.  This produces a bushier shrub and can control the height of the plant.  Continued shearing over time can leave the plant looking dense and very formal.  With this method, keep in mind that leaves form where they can receive light. Shape the plant slightly slanted so that light reaches the lower branches too.

To have a more informal shape to your plants, trim by individual cuts rather than quick, overall shearing. It takes more time but keeps a natural look longer.  Shorten some branches while letting others grow normally to be trimmed next year.

Pruning Evergreens
Shrubs that keep their leaves during the winter can require a different pruning method than those that shed to bare branches.  Very extensive pruning will leave your shrub with a "bad haircut" to look at all winter.  Anything but a light trim might be better left to do in late February so that new growth will soon follow to fill the bare spots quickly.

Copyright 2002 Sunshine Nursery
 Clinton,OK

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