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NEIGHBORHOOD GARDEN FOR AUGUST 8, 2015
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FALL PRUNING
BY GEORGE EDGAR
September is
not a good month to do
a lot of pruning on shrubs and deciduous trees (trees that lose their
leaves in the fall). Deciduous trees can be pruned after they have lost
all their leaves and have gone dormant. But the best time to prune them
and fruit trees is in late February or early March. Conifers can be
pruned, if needed, after you are sure they have gone dormant, which will
be after a couple hard freezes (temps in the low 20’s). Pruned in
mid-December the branches of conifers are good for Christmas
arrangements and wreaths.
Butterfly bush
(Buddlia davidii) may be pruned this fall after it goes dormant, or I
like to wait and see what winter kills and prune next spring. Our
Your
hybrid tea, grandiflora, Old
English (David Austin), and
floribunda roses bloom
on new wood so they can be pruned after a couple hard freezes
(temperatures in the lower 20’s or colder). It is usually desirable at
that time to just top roses at about 24”-30” so they do not blow in wind
and break off. Then in the late spring after the Roses have started to
wake up, prune out any canes or parts of canes that have winter killed
or are longer than desired.
For winter we store my large tomato cages
over the top and put wood chips around them for the winter. We do not do
this until after the ground has frozen which is usually around
Thanksgiving.
Do not put mulch on
too early or it will keep the soil warm and not let the
Roses go dormant
before a hard freeze. The purpose of the mulch on the
roses and other
perennials is not to keep the ground warm but to keep the ground
cold and avoid the freezing and thawing. More trees, shrubs, and plants
are winter killed by the freezing and thawing that takes place in the
winter and early spring, than by the cold temperature.
DO NOT prune most
climbing roses as they
bloom on old wood. Pruning now will remove flowers for next year.
Next spring prune only those canes that have winter killed or are
longer than desired.
DO NOT prune most
spring blooming shrubs in the fall, such as
lilac, forsythia, bridal wreath
spirea, and flowering almond. If
you prune the shrubs now you will be cutting off the flowers for next
year. Prune these spring blooming shrubs right after they bloom by
taking out 1/4th to 1/3rd of the biggest, oldest canes all the way to
the ground. This will reduce the height of the plant and open it up.
This method also helps to control insect damage and especially
lilac borers as they
like the old, weak canes. By pruning you help get rid of the borers in
the old wood. Also by
pruning you have a new bush every 3 to 4 years and more flowering
throughout the bush as the flowers usually bloom on the tips of
branches. Dead wood can be and should be removed at any time.
DO NOT prune fruit
trees, most deciduous trees, and most conifers (evergreen) trees and
shrubs between the first week in August and the time they go dormant
which is after Thanksgiving. Pruning encourages new growth and this new
growth usually does not mature and winter kills.
DO NOT APPLY ANY DRESSING SUCH AS
Drying out from the cold winds when the
ground is frozen is also a problem for conifer trees and shrubs that
have already set their flower buds. Spraying an anti-desiccant or an
anti-transpirant like “Wilt-Pruf” or “Wilt-Stop” really helps. Do this
about Christmas time on a day when the temps are above 40 degrees F. and
repeat about Valentine’s Day, and again about Easter. Copyright 2015 |