Pruning your trees

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Once the leaves have fallen in late autumn/early winter, take the opportunity to get in there to remove any congested growth. For some fruit trees, however, the time to do any real pruning and cutting back is not that time of year but much earlier or somewhat later.

Trees of the prunus species, cherries, plums, damsons, and related, should be pruned – pardon the almost pun – while the sap is rising, after they have flowered. While that may reduce any fruit production for that year it is r4eckoned to reduce the risk of any infection entering the tree.

Apple trees have a very narrow window, so to speak, in which pruning should take place and that is about from mid to late January to the end of February (in Europe at least). Others can be pruned more or less immediately after the leaves have all fallen off and this also goes for the majority of ornamental shrubs and trees.

© 2017

6 Dos and Don'ts Of Pruning

It could cause more harm than good to your bushes and trees.

There's something about this time of the year that makes people crave pruning more than vampires yearn for blood. With fall garden cleanup in full swing, maybe it's all the raking and mulching that has people going bananas. But before you start hacking at your trees and bushes, take a tip from a seasoned gardening expert. "The rules of fall pruning are simple: Prune nothing in the fall! That’s N-O-T-H-I-N-G! Nada! Bupkiss! Zilch! Zero! Ladies—hide the pruners from 'helpful husbands!'" pleads emphatic gardening expert Mike McGrath, author of Mike McGrath's Book of Compost, and radio host of WYYY FM Philadelphia's You Bet Your Garden radio show. That goes for shrubs and plants as well as trees, McGrath insists. "Hang little signs on your roses that say, 'Leave me alone until midwinter; or even better, spring.' There are no exceptions! Do not prune anything now. Got it?"

Do you feel like you just got scolded by a third-grade teacher? Let it serve as a reminder that fall is not the right time to trim trees and shrubs, even though the fallen leaves have exposed all their imperfections. That's right, put your pruning shears back in the shed for at least a month or so. Here are some pruning basics, to be used when it's a safer time to trim back trees and shrubs:

Read more here.

English Woodlands Advise Customers on Pruning Winter-Flowering Shrubs

English Woodlands, an East-Sussex based supplier of trees, plants and planting accessories, announced their advice for customers beginning pruning of winter-flowering shrubs.

East-Sussex (PRWEB UK) : Pruning is part of plant maintenance for some species, and doing so at the right time can encourage growth, enhance flowering and improve the shape of shrubs.

As a rule, flowering shrubs should be pruned after they bloom, with particular advantages to doing so in late winter or the early spring. The specimen is dormant and capable of handling the stress, while a lack of foliage transforms structural maintenance into an easy task.

Winter-flowering shrubs require specific attention, however, and English Woodlands are releasing an advice series on their website, detailing correct treatment of these specimens in support of concerned customers.

The series introduction covers when and why to prune. Winter and early spring flowering shrubs do so on the previous year’s growth. When consumers need to prune, doing so after flowering will maximise the time for new growth to occur prior to new buds being formed.

On their website, the company outlines in details the guidelines for engaging in a pruning programme. Dead, diseased and crossing branches should be removed, and congested shrubs need some stems removed to ground level, creating an open shape. The new advice series will walk consumers through where and when to prune, depending on where the plant blossoms and fruits.

A customer service representative was able to comment on the release on behalf of the company. “We always attempt to keep customers informed and making the most of their purchases with us. English Woodlands often receive calls and queries regarding the best time to prune certain plants, and we’re always happy to help. It makes more sense to keep information centralised, however, so we’ve been increasingly creating online resources to aid customers throughout the buying and planting process. We don’t want to see any consumers missing out on potential growth through a lack of information, so keeping it available in the form of blogs and resources makes a lot of sense to us.”

They did go on to remind consumers to be aware of their goals before pruning. Plants usually produce fruit on the previous year’s growth, so a number of flowered stems should be left intact if the intention is to harvest fruit in the spring and summer.

English Woodlands are an East-Sussex based supplier of trees, plants, shrubs and planting accessories. By extending their expertise and knowledge to the public they hope to see consumers finding more value in their investments with the business.

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