I and A Mag Jan20

Gardening
PRUNING PERFECTION
Winter is perfect for pruning and cutting back
woody plants, so take advantage of the fact that
deciduous trees, shrubs, hedges and climbers are
now bare of leaves and get stuck in. It is only in
really icy or frosty weather that you need to hold
back.
Remember that for your pruning to really benefit the plant, you
need the right tools.
For a relatively small expanse of hedge or a shrub that needs
roughly reshaping, a good, sharp pair of well-oiled shears should
do the job. When cutting along a hedge top, a guide line – such
as a taut string – will help you get a neat, level surface. For larger
hedges a powered hedge cutter or hedge trimmer is preferable,
though make sure it is not too heavy and you can use it safely.
For removal of stems at various heights and of varying thicknesses
it is worth using ‘loppers’. These are available with various handle
lengths (some even have telescopic handles), so that you can
reach up higher without having to use a ladder or platform. They
are much better at cutting through relatively thick stems than
shears or secateurs and yet also allow for accurate positioning
of the cut. Wear goggles and ideally protective headgear if you
have to cut back branches above your head.
Everybody with even just a single shrub in their garden needs
a pair of secateurs for pruning of smaller woody stems, and
the better their quality the better the job you can do. Provided
they are good and sharp, you can make a perfectly clean, neat
and accurate cut. Always cut to an outward-facing bud (so
that the new growth produced from that bud grows outwards).
Secateurs are good for removing dead and dying stems as well
as for formative pruning (where you are helping to ensure the
plant grows in the direction you want it to), and for pruning to
encourage flowering. If you are pruning out dead and dying
material, bin it or burn it in case it carries infection.
A proper pruning saw is necessary for pruning out or tidying
up larger branches on trees and shrubs. If you choose one with
one (or better still two) parallel lines of teeth you can create a
very accurate and clean cut with relatively little effort. This is the
perfect tool if you have fruit trees to prune. Use a sawing action
for best results and again, if cutting above your head, wear
goggles to protect your eyes from falling sawdust and debris.
Make the pruning cut a few millimetres or so away from the main
stem from which the branch you are removing is joined. A cut like
this will heal over much more quickly and the wound size will be
smaller and so less prone to fungal rotting.
MORE PRUNING TIPS:
Before you get carried away, check the best pruning time for the
plants you have in mind. Most hedges and many shrubs can be
cut back now, but for a good display of flowers make sure that
you prune at the correct time or else you may end up pruning out
the plant’s flowering potential.
Some trees, mainly those in the Prunus family – such as edible
and ornamental cherries, plums, apricots, damsons, peaches and
nectarines – are very prone to a potentially fatal fungal infection
known as ‘silver leaf’. This is less likely to cause problems if these
trees are pruned in the summer months, so don’t prune them
now unless there is no alternative and you are prepared to take
the risk!
Always make sure that pruning tools are really sharp. If they are
in the slightest bit blunt then the job will not only take more
effort, but you may end up with the plant being damaged as the
cut made will be jagged or stems may be crushed.
Create sloping cuts whenever you can so that rain and moisture
runs off and does not accumulate (wetness encourages wood
rotting), and cut close to but not on top of a bud to allow new
growth without dieback. When you are using shears or large scale
trimmers you cannot do this, but always do so with secateurs,
loppers and saws.
Stand back from time to time when you are pruning to check the
overall appearance of the plant and to help decide where you
should prune next – if you are close up it is harder to see how you
are affecting the overall shape of the plant.
by Pippa Greenwood
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