Trim Shrubs
The artwork and creativity of trimming shrubs can be learned even by someone unused to trimming shrubs. The health of a plant is important and one of the main reasons to understand how to trim shrubs. Here is how to trim shrubs with confidence.
Steps
- Know the 5 basic techniques of trimming shrubs. Depending on the plant, one or more techniques may be necessary. Ideal trimming is a compilation of several of the methods.
- Pinching removes the terminal part of a green shoot before it is firm and woody. Pinch anytime, except late summer, by pinching or cutting an excessively long shoot so that side branching is promoted.
- Heading back removes the terminal part of a woody branch all the way to the healthy branch or bud. Shape is influenced by heading back so the plant grows denser. Cut bottom buds to stifle growth and allow top buds to encourage growth.
- Thinning occurs by cutting the branch at the point of origin of the parent stem to a branch that is lateral at the ground level, or at the Y of the branch section. Trim 1/3 the diameter of the branch to be removed. Use pruning shears, a saw or lopper to thin the tallest and oldest stems.
- Renewal pruning, also known as rejuvenation, is the removal of the oldest branches to the ground, small stems and lively plants can also be cut back. This method can also include cutting all branches back to the same height every year.
- Shearing is the cutting of terminal shoots with hedge clippers or shearers. Foundation plants tend to have this technique used on them but shearing should not be done when creating formal hedges. The natural shape of the shrub is destroyed when shearing is executed.
- Learn how to trim a shrub correctly because the life and health of the plant is at stake. Too little, too late or too often trimming can all have dire consequences for the shrub.
- Gardeners wrongly wait to trim when the shrub outgrows the space it's currently located in. Other gardeners trim annually in the spring even if the shrub does not require cuts. Some gardeners neglect to trim until the shrub is overcome with diseased, dying or dead parts.
- Prune regularly when the shrub needs upkeep. Timely maintenance prevents corrective trimming later. When shrubs are trimmed, plant health is reinvigorated and remedial trimming is averted.
- Shrub health is maintained by trimming the diseased, dead or dying branches or wood. When portions of the shrub are not healthy, disease and insects enter through that weakened plant section and then may spread to other parts of the shrub. A trim is the best protection to prevent a shrub from becoming infected with disease.
- Remember that trimming includes pruning branches, removing flower buds, seed pods and roots. If the portion of the plant is dying, diseased or dead, wherever the weakened shrub is located, it should be trimmed.
- Cut the portion of the shrub with a blade that is sterile. A sterile blade removes the hazard of infecting a shrub further with disease. The cut should also be made in the healthy portion of the branch rather than in the infected or dead area.
- Clean the blade after every cut. The blade should be dipped into a disinfectant of 1 part chlorine bleach for every 9 parts of water or 70 percent wood alcohol. Disease is spread if the blade is not disinfected after each cut.
- Aspire to create tree form plants or espalier. This special effect borders on shrub preventative maintenance and art. Trial and error as well as practice and patience are necessary when entering the creative world of tree forming.
- Stimulate shrub recovery when it is suffering from transplant shock through trimming. Shrubs that are damaged from construction work can also be refreshed with trimming.
- Eliminate low-growth of branches in case of nearby traffic.
- Thin branches so that sunlight reaches plants underneath the shrubs.
- Enhance the flowering of shrubs. Mature plants produce smaller flowers more often. Wood is reduced when trimming occurs. The lesser amount of wood prevents energy so that flowers are fewer but larger.
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