Garden Plant Pruning Methods: All at Once, Mark Quickly!

Pruning is an essential part of plant maintenance. By mastering the correct pruning methods, you can cultivate beautiful tree shapes.

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1. Proper pruning helps in the reasonable distribution of nutrients, inhibits excessive growth, promotes flower bud differentiation, and enables young trees to flower and bear fruit earlier.
2. It extends the peak flowering and fruiting periods.
3. It can also rejuvenate old trees.

Pruning During the Growing Season

Pruning should not be delayed, as late pruning can lead to the growth of secondary shoots, which consume nutrients and hinder the growth of new shoots. Additionally, the amount of pruning should be moderate, as excessive pruning can reduce nutrient accumulation and negatively impact plant growth.

Dormant Season Pruning

Deciduous trees are mostly pruned during this period. Evergreen trees, which do not have a distinct dormant period, can be adversely affected by winter pruning. Typically, pruning is done in late spring after the harsh winter season has passed.

Routine Pruning

Routine pruning aims to maintain the natural tree shape, following the principle of "more thinning, less cutting." This involves timely removal of buds and suckers, reasonable short cutting, and thinning of interior branches, overlapping branches, cross branches, drooping branches, dead branches, diseased and pest-infested branches, excessively long branches, weak branches, and damaged branches. This ensures good ventilation and light penetration inside the canopy and a full tree crown.

Pruning for Shaped Trees

Shaped tree pruning uses techniques such as cutting, sawing, binding, and tying to shape the tree crown into specific forms. The goal is to achieve a clear outline, a smooth and even surface, with no visible gaps, branches, or binding materials.

For trees, only routine pruning is usually performed. For trees with unformed main and lateral branches, the technique of short cutting can be used annually to gradually form a three-tiered branch structure.

Shrub Pruning

The branching point of shade trees should gradually rise as the tree grows, with the ratio of the crown to trunk height being between 7:3 and 6:4. Pruning of shrubs generally aims to maintain their natural form, thinning out dense branches to ensure good ventilation and light penetration inside the plant.

For the aging main branches of multi-stemmed shrubs, the principle of "retaining the new and removing the old" should be followed. This involves cultivating new long shoots or gradually cutting back old branches to renew the plant.

Pruning Flowering Shrubs and Small Trees

The pruning of flowering shrubs and small flowering trees should be based on the flower bud development cycle. For flowering plants that bloom on new shoots of the current year, pruning should be done before early spring sprouting. Cut back the flowering branches from the previous year to encourage new shoot growth.

For plants that form flower buds in the current year and bloom in early spring of the following year, moderate pruning should be done after flowering. Old branches with low flowering rates should be renewed annually. For plants that bloom on perennial branches, old branches should be preserved and overly dense new shoots should be pruned.

Hedge and Shaped Shrub Pruning

Pruning of hedges and shaped shrubs (including colored block shrubs) generally follows the methods of shaped pruning, trimming according to the specified shape and height.

Each pruning should maintain clear shape outlines, smooth, even surfaces. When new shoots grow over 10 cm, a second pruning should be performed. If growth is too dense, affecting ventilation and light penetration, interior thinning should be done. When the growth height affects the landscape effect, intensive pruning should be carried out, preferably during the dormant period.

Vine Pruning

Vines should be pruned routinely once a year, with a thorough arrangement every 2-3 years. This involves completely removing dead vines and arranging the direction of growth to ensure even leaf canopy

distribution and uniform thickness.

Lawn Mowing

Lawn mowing should adhere to the one-third rule, maintaining a height of 5-6 cm. When the grass height exceeds 8-10 cm, mowing is necessary. Mixed grass lawns should be mowed at least 20 times a year, while zoysia grass lawns should be mowed at least 5 times a year.

Precautions

General Pruning Procedure:

1. Observe: Examine the inherent growth habits and specific site conditions of the pruning target. Assess whether the distribution structure of the main and lateral branches is reasonable, whether the growth vigor between the main and lateral branches and the upper and lower parts of the crown is balanced, and whether the relationship between vegetative growth and reproductive growth is coordinated. After a comprehensive analysis, determine the appropriate pruning techniques.
2. Remove: Cut off some of the large, perennial branches that affect the growth and development of the tree, disrupt the tree structure, or are damaged by pests and diseases, including major branches if necessary. This helps the tree achieve the basic goals and requirements of shaping pruning.
3. Prune: Once the basic structural form of the tree meets the desired requirements, perform detailed pruning on each main and lateral branch. Follow the principles of retaining strong and healthy branches over weak ones, and preserving outward-facing branches over inward-facing ones. Use techniques like shortening and thinning to further refine the tree's shape.
4. Inspect: After completing the basic pruning, conduct a thorough re-inspection of the entire tree. Correct any miscuts or missed cuts and make additional prunings as necessary. From a group perspective, check for interactions between neighboring trees and make adjustments to ensure overall harmony.