Photo: Krisana Antharith (Shutterstock)
There are a variety of reasons you might want to prune your plants or trees, from keeping them a certain shape or size to promoting fuller growth and more buds. But before you start pruning, take some time to learn about the different types of pruning and how they can produce different results.
How to circumcise by pinching
Pinch involves using two fingers to remove the head of a plant to encourage stronger growth. When the stem and top leaf are pinched away, it signals the plant to sprout more stems and leaves to compensate for this. As a result, the leaves become fuller to capture more sun and create extra buds and stems. (You can also pinch a plant to get the size you want.)
When should you use deadheading and topping?
Deadheading is similar to pinching in that you can use the two-finger method – or you can use scissors or scissors. When cutting, trim or pinch as close as possible to the base of the head, where it meets the next leaf shoot. This technique completely removes the seed pod to allow the plant to grow fuller and, more specifically, to allow the flowers to produce more buds for longer. This type of pruning of trees is called topping.
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Topping and deadheading are taken into account highly stressful forms of plant care. Texas A & M’s Earth Kind Landscaping describes topping as “the process of cutting a tree back to a few large branches. After 2 to 3 months, regrowth on a crowned tree is vigorous, bushy, and upright. ”It has the potential for significant gains, but if not done properly, it can compromise the strength of the tree. So proceed with caution.
How to thin out your bushes
When it comes to maintaining the size of a plant while promoting growth, thinning is ideal for shrubs and trees. Thinning cuts off smaller branches to determine the size of the shrub and focus the plants’ energy on their main branches. To thin out a plant, cut off the smaller branch at the “crotch” (or Y-section) of the tree. Watch gardeners Catherine Moravec demonstrate this in a YouTube video for Colorado Yard Care.
Shrubs should be thinned through Cut off smaller branches at the base just above the ground. This leaves more room for the other branches to grow and more oxygen and light to get through to the larger branches and leaves.
When to sculpt and too sheer
Sometimes you just prune because you want a plant or tree to grow in a particular direction, or to keep its shape or size. You can reshape a plant or tree with scissors or clippers – or sometimes even power chainsaws – to reshape Cut off smaller leaves or branches in a certain pattern. this Method is common on hedges, dwarf trees and evergreen plants.
