In today’s episode, we will learn some useful methods and concepts on pruning or trimming
your plants the right way, for better plant growth and boost flowering and fruiting.
We will learn useful topics like which season to prune, how to prune, types of Pruning like
Hard and Soft Pruning and lastly which Pruning Tools to choose.
Pruning means cutting or trimming the plant organs like branches, stems or even leaves
for the sake of your plants health and sometimes to maintain plant shape and form.
It is a very important task in gardening specially if you want your plants to perform well like
to promote a bushy growth and improve flowering or fruiting.
Another advantage of pruning is it allows you to remove the damaged or infected branches
and leaves which can further spread and cause more damage.
In this episode, we will briefly look into some questions about pruning like:
a) Which season to perform pruning?
b) Types of Pruning c) How to Prune and Why?
d) Pruning Tools e) And many important concepts and tips on pruning.
Pruning your tree or cutting your tree branches is actually wounding your plant.
It is actually a Plant Surgery similar to human or animal surgery, done either to save
a plant from disease and also to make it look neat and good.
Like the surgical wound, pruning also induces a wound or injury at the point of incision
and this wound has to heal properly.
So Let’s begin:
1.
When to prune which plants?
Let me start with a comparison.
The best time to perform a surgery on a person is when they are in sleep, that’s during
anaesthesia.
This is the same for plants as well.
As a general rule for most plants including flowering and fruiting plants they need to
be pruned, specially hard pruning to be done while they are in a period of dormancy (that’s
when they are asleep or inactive).
This usually falls in late winter through early spring like in the month of January
depending on the climatic zone your live in.
Another reason to perform this surgery in winter is the healing of wound is better in
this cold season due to many scientific reasons.
But some other plants need to be continuously pruned or trimmed I mean deadheaded or soft
pruned, to maintain growth and flowering.
We shall discuss what is hard pruning, soft pruning, dead heading etc, shortly.
Please watch till the end.
Also remember to disinfect the cutting tools before your start snipping your plants.
You can wipe the blades with any household disinfectant or you can also use hydrogen
peroxide 3 or 6 percent and this is easily available at your local medical store.
2.
Types of Pruning for house plants?
Here we will learn Hard Pruning, Soft Pruning, Rejuvenation Pruning, Dead Heading and many
other useful tips.
What is the difference between Hard Pruning and Soft Pruning?
Hard pruning or Annual Pruning as I discussed earlier is done in the dormant or inactive
growth period of a plant during the late winter or early spring.
In hard pruning, we cut off most of the plant stems and branches, at least 50 percent to
promote all new productive plant growth in the growing season.
Whereas, Soft Pruning can be performed any time of the year.
Here we just trim the plant to one-third to half, the best example is periodic pruning
or trimming of a rose bush.
This also includes dead heading.
Deadheading means removal of dead or dried flowers from a plant which has just flowered.
Sometimes it has to be a constant process and this diverts the plant energy into new
growth and more flowering rather than drying up and consuming this energy into the seed
formation process.
3.
How to Prune?
And Types of Pruning Cuts?
We will learn two important cuts here: Heading and Thinning Cuts which can make your plant
more bushy and increase flowering and fruiting.
Heading is the process of cutting or trimming branch tips; the cut is made anywhere on the
branch or stem just half an inch above a node where it produces multiple branching usually
two branches from a node and this process makes your plant more bushy in the long run.
One very important tip here: The cut is to be made at an angle of 45 degrees to allow
water to run off.
Because if a flat cut is made, water can stay on top of the wound which increases the chances
of fungal or bacterial infection.
It’s also a good idea to Seal the wound with some stuff like wax or an antifungal
powder or anything - even some recommend fevicol paste.
If you can buy a tree paint or any commercially available pruning sealer, that’s still better.
Some experts say it’s better to leave it open and let the plant heal itself specially
for larger trees.
Well, Thinning is the process of removing entire branches from a main stem by making
a cut at its collar or just outside of the collar.
Collar is the area where the branch connects with its main stem.
Thinning helps sunlight to penetrate to interior foliage and promotes good air circulation
and thus avoids fungus and bacterial growth.
If you are not sure how to and when to prune a particular plant, I still suggest you to
atleast perform soft pruning at least once in its growth cycle.
Now, the next topic is on Choosing the right Pruning Tools, You can watch that episode
from this end-screen link circled right here.
You can watch that episode from a link in description below.
Please, Like, Share and Comment below with your feedback and queries.
Happy Gardening!