When to prune woody plants?

pruning woody plants

Many of us believe that the suitable season for pruning woody plants and others is winter, since at that time they enter a stage of renewal and change of foliage.

However, nothing better than do pruning when your foliage is in full swingin fact, doing it at that time allows the plant to be shaped into the desired shape and keeps it at the appropriate or desired size, also contributes to keeping it healthy. It is worth remembering that in summer we can better appreciate the splendor of our plants and that we have more time to care for them.

What should we take into account before pruning in summer

before summer pruning

In principle know well which group of plants ours belong to know how it will respond when pruning and is that those plants that by their nature accumulate liquids should not be pruned in summer since they wither and die, so in order for them to grow in a controlled way, other types of techniques must be applied.

Starting from this principle, we must know that when plants are in a controlled environmentas is our garden, they are probably exempt from receiving the attacks of certain herbivores that like to consume their leaves; it is there where our intervention is conducive in order to select and remove branches and shoots. This is called thinning, the process of which is of the utmost importance for the plant and its health without counting on the fact that we will maintain the aesthetic garden harmony.

As a general rule, pruning when the woody plant is at the peak of its foliage or vegetation makes new branches sprout abundantlywhich is often used by gardening experts to recreate some shapes, make sculptures and other decorations.

Other points to consider for prune woody plants in summerare related to the instruments to be used.

For example, if the intention is remove dead or dry branches It is recommended to use a handsaw, always respecting the live leaves that you still have. If we are going to cut other branches, the use of sharp scissors is recommended. In any case we must take care to apply some healing in each cut that is made to the plant and disinfect scissors and saws before proceeding to prune the next plant; thus we avoid the spread of any infection from one plant to another.

Before pruning, it is convenient visualize how we want our plant to look Once we finish pruning it, placing some signs or marks will help a lot to achieve the objective and of course observe and correct as we cut the branches.

Reasons to prune

To keep the plant healthy or for ornamental purposes, the truth is that knowing how to carry out the pruning work is essential.

A good pruning strengthens the plant, improves its development and provides a healthy appearanceneat and compact, it helps to control its growth to strengthen its structure in such a way that it supports its fruits and flowers, it improves the nutrition of the plant since its branches will not grow indiscriminately and this in turn will allow sunlight to reach the whole plant equally, in the case of fruit trees accelerates fruit production and the flowers and any infected branch that may subsequently damage it is removed in time.

Types of pruning

pruning types

Formation pruning: It is applied from the birth of the plant so that its branches grow harmoniously and balanced.

Conservation pruning: It is done paying attention to keeping fit achieved in its formation stage, at this stage the dry branches must be removed to keep the plant young and benefit its growth.

Thinning Pruning: Used for remove branches from the highest areas of the plant and privilege access to sunlight.

Ornamentation Pruning: as the name implies, for garden decoration purposes through the creation or imitation of shapes.

When to prune woody plants?

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