When growing shrub plants in the local area, cottage or garden, special attention is paid to proper care. Pruning shrubs often goes by the wayside, and in vain. After growing, the bushes become voluminous, their crowns lose their attractive appearance. Therefore, their pruning is an important agrotechnical measure. It is carried out in compliance with the deadlines and taking into account the characteristics of different types of cultures. Read about it in the article.
How is cropping done?
There are two ways to carry out the procedure:
- Shortening branches.
- Thinning bush.
Both methods have the same goal - to redistribute nutrients across all branches. This stimulates the plant, shoots begin to grow rapidly. During the pruning process, the buds become smaller, resulting in a shortened path from roots to leaves, and increased plant growth.
Shortening of branches is carried out when it is necessary to partially remove the upper part of the shoot. Thanks to this procedure, the thickness of the branches increases, the young shoots grow rapidly, and the buds develop intensively. Thinning is carried out when all branches need to be removed. Such pruning of shrubs does not allow them to thicken, preventing the appearance of pests in them and the development of various diseases.
What types of pruning are there?
It depends on what result is expected from this procedure. In general, there are several types of pruning shrubs:
- Sanitary.
- Forming.
- Rejuvenating.
In order for the shrub to enjoy lush flowering, lush greenery, and a beautiful crown for a long time, it is important to perform all types of pruning, alternating them depending on the timing.
Pruning sanitary
All shrub plants are exposed to this procedure. It is held in autumn. Its main purpose is to prevent infectious processes that plants are exposed to and prevent them from rotting. The procedure for pruning shrubs is simple. It is necessary to remove all damaged and broken branches, and in order for the crown to be well ventilated, it should be thinned out. To do this, part of the unripe branches growing inside the bush must be cut at a level of two to three centimeters above the kidney.
Shaping trim
In autumn, this procedure is carried out only for shrubs blooming in summer. If you prune spring-blooming plants, they will deteriorate significantly.decorative, as flowers are formed on the shoots of last year. With the help of molding pruning of shrubs, ordinary plants are turned into ornamental ones, for which several shoots with great growth force are added to the key branches every year.
In some shrubs, the root growth grows quickly, which makes them too wide, so shoots around the perimeter must be removed during formation. But you should not be too zealous, as this can affect the density of the crown of the plant, it will become loose and unsightly. First of all, weak branches coming from the roots are removed. It is also allowed to cut off strong shoots directed inside the bush, interfering with strong branches growing nearby. The most correct thing would be to leave those shoots that will replace sick or old ones in the future.
In shrubs with poor winter hardiness, the formation of dry branches is a frequent occurrence. They should be removed during pruning. The cut must be made above the level of the second from the base of the kidney. If individual branches have died and spoil the decorative effect of the bush, they need to be disposed of. During wintering, the upper shoots may freeze slightly, although the frost did not affect the lodging branches. In this case, you just need to tie them up and leave.
Rejuvenating pruning
It is carried out on adult shrubs in order to make their flowering more lush. Anti-aging pruning is also carried out on plants with an annual growth of less than seven centimeters. This procedure consists in shortening old branches. After it, dormant and adnexal kidneys activate theirgrowth. The timing of pruning shrubs stretched over time. This can be done from the last month of winter to April, as well as in August and September.
Rejuvenating procedure consists in cutting off branches by 30% from the very top after the end of the flowering period. To make it even more abundant, remove one, the oldest branch in the bush. Shrubs should be rejuvenated once every two years.
Indications for radical rejuvenation
This procedure is necessary if the shrub is no longer able to produce both strong and weak shoots. In this case, all branches are cut at the same level with the ground. But if the formation of the plant took place on the rootstock, then the cut is made 10-15 cm above the graft. This is the only way to make the kidneys become more active and give a new growth of shoots. After one or two seasons, pruning of weak, as well as unsuccessfully located branches is carried out.
Ornamental Shrubs
They are grown for use in landscape design. Pruning ornamental shrubs is carried out to give them an attractive appearance. The first procedure is carried out during the planting period, in the spring. The shoots of young seedlings are shortened by 10-15 cm. Three to five buds are left on each. Of these, new shoots will grow during the first year. During the autumn pruning of shrubs, they get rid of broken, diseased, dry and lying shoots on the ground. If during the first year the growth of the shrub was weak, all shoots are cut off at the level of three to five centimeters above the ground.
On the secondyear of life, the shrub forms powerful branches in the amount of several pieces. In the autumn it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning. The cut must be made at the very base. If necessary, such pruning is repeated in the spring. But it should be done before the buds swell and the juice begins to move.
In the future, when pruning, it should be remembered that only during the first year of life the branches grow rapidly, then their growth rate decreases, and by the age of five or six it stops altogether. The formation of the crown of shrubs ends in the fourth or fifth year after planting.
Ratio of shoots on an artisanal plant
Looking at a bush, it is very difficult to "by eye" determine how many and what kind of shoots it has. But to know their ratio by age, perhaps, does not hurt. Each bush has annual branches in the amount of four or five pieces, two-year-old - three-four, three-four-five summer - two or three. Old branches that are more than five or six years old are removed completely.
When forming an ornamental shrub, it should be remembered that when removing shoots, their physiological state, strength and direction of growth are taken into account. Therefore, the above ratio can always change, but this does not mean that the bush is formed incorrectly.
Hedge trimming
The appearance of such a structure from a growing shrub depends on how it will be formed during the first year after planting. Gardeners often do not attach any importance to this and do not prune plants for several years, leaving this procedurefor later.
Without pruning at the beginning of growth, the branches of the shrub will stretch upwards, and the hedge in its lower part will be bare. To prevent this from happening, during the first year of planting life, all shoots should be cut at a level of 15 cm above the ground surface. Powerful basal layering will begin to grow.
A year later, you need to do the same pruning again, which will help to form the crown correctly. If its density is insufficient, strong pruning will be required next year. In the third year of the shrub's life and in all subsequent years, only cosmetic pruning should be done, since a strong basal growth will finally form.
Curly cut
Alpine slides and manicured lawns were once the most fashionable in landscape design. But as time goes on, the fashion for the arrangement of the territory is changing. Currently, a new trend in this direction has gained great popularity - curly pruning of shrubs, which is one of the types of garden creativity and is called topiary. Skillful hands of craftsmen turn shrubs into masterpieces that adorn not only gardens and parks, but also palaces. Unusual figures are created, as a rule, from evergreen or small-leaved plants. The crowns of shrubs and trees are pruned using geometric shapes.
Cone
This shape is the easiest to trim. It will be easier to give it to the plant if it is naturally cone-shaped. Haircut should start from the crown, from its top, gradually going down. For the cone to beproportional, use poles. They are placed next to the trunk on four sides, and the tops are collected slightly above the crown. It turns out a pyramid. Those branches that have gone beyond its contour are cut off. This geometric shape is suitable for barberry, juniper.
Ball
This geometric figure can be obtained by cutting shrubs such as laurel, gooseberries. The process is laborious, but it can be facilitated if a wire template is made in advance, which is a ring with a handle. The main condition is that the device in width should be less than the crown. The ring is attached to the bush, and the extra branches are cut off. If the plant is naturally spherical, it just needs to be maintained.
Spiral
This element is very effective, but also quite difficult. It can be used on shrubs that have a cone shape. There are two ways to cut the plant so that a spiral is obtained:
- Using a regular ribbon to wrap around the crown. The sections of the plant located between the turns are cut off. Great care is needed here.
- Another way is by using a stick that is inserted into the ground at a close distance from the bush and tied to it. You need to take the rope, fix it at the very top of the stick and lower it in a spiral down. The shoots must be cut to the trunk, which is considered the main one, observing the shape outlined by the rope.
Garden tools
They are needed for"haircuts" of plants whose branches have different thicknesses. Therefore, tools for pruning shrubs are for various purposes.
Secateurs are devices with which branches with a diameter of up to two and a half centimeters are cut. They are of two types: with curved and straight blades. The principle of operation of the first type is like that of scissors. The main goal in working with him is to cut a thick shoot with high quality, without gaps. To do this, the tool must be well sharpened and have a gap between the blades. In the second type of secateurs, the blade is straight; during operation, it rests against the plate, more precisely, against its end. The advantage of this mechanism is that there is no need to check the gap between the blades, and the disadvantage is the inability to get to hard-to-reach places
- Lopper. This tool easily copes with thick shoots with a diameter of five centimeters. With it, you can remove branches in the depths of a lush crown, where other tools cannot reach. Its variety is the rope pruner, which is used to cut branches growing at a sufficiently high height.
- Saw. It is used to remove too thick branches. The teeth of the saw reach a height of five to seven millimeters and are set wide enough, so they do not clog with wood during operation.
- Knife is the most sought-after garden tool, it is used to cut and trim thin branches, cut bark, and correct crooked cuts.
- Scissors for pruning shrubs. They are usedgardeners for the formation of a curly crown, decorative hedge. With their help, shrubs are given an interesting shape.
- Step-ladder is a garden tool, without which it is difficult to take care of the bush. The ladder should be stable and its legs should be wide apart. This will make her more stable.
What to feed after pruning?
Regardless of the season of the procedure, plants need enhanced nutrition, since it is at this time that the vegetative mass increases. An indication for soil fertilization is a decrease in the concentration of nutrients in it. Plants at this time especially need nitrogen and potassium. You can use a solution prepared by yourself. Potassium nitrate (three spoons) and water (10 liters) are taken. Everything is mixed, after which this composition is used to water the shrub to the very root. You can use nitrophoska or a mixture of urea and ash in the proportion of 30 and 100 g, respectively, per bucket of water.
If pruning is carried out in August or September, the plants are in dire need of phosphorus, since during this period the active formation of the root system occurs. Fertilizer is scattered over the surface of the soil in the near-stem circles of plants. Its application is combined with watering.
The most effective top dressing for both ornamental and fruit shrubs is compost infusion. To do this, half a kilogram of organic matter is diluted in 10 liters of water, insisted for two or three days and watered the plants in the evening when the sun has set. If the summer is hot and the drought continues for a long time, firstnear-stem circles are watered with ordinary water, and then with a solution.
