Pruning

PRUNING

On this page I will show you how to prune your plants, using pictures of the pruning process, and describe what you are aiming for when you start to prune your bushes.

I would like discuss the subject of Pruning your plants, and the ideal time to be thinking about carrying out this exercise is in the spring, which coincides with your plants beginning to start sending out new growth as the weather starts to warm up after the cold winter months.

This is brought about by a few things, the most important being that the daylight hours begin to get longer as the sun on its journey begins to get closer to your country where you live, be it in the northern or southern regions of the world, and also as it gets closer the weather begins to warm up and this causes the sap to flow and in so doing it causes the roots to start to draw more nourishment from the soil, and this causes the plant to go into a growing mode with new shoots beginning to appear at the eyes on the mostly bare sticks we have seen during the winter. Always make sure if you live in areas where you experience frosts, not to do your pruning until the danger of frosts have passed, as the frost will burn off the tender new shoots.

We prune our plants for a variety of reasons and I will list the most important reasons that we have to prune for.

1 To train into a desired shape.

2 To maintain the bush to a manageable size, and open up the bush to the sun by pruning away the middle branches which have grown into the middle thus blocking out the air and light.

3 It helps in the control and to be able to see any attacks of insects more easily.

4 It will encourage stronger growth, as when you shorten the branches when you prune them, it will cause the plant to send out more branches and if you have more branches you have a better chance of obtaining more flowers.

5 It will get rid of the old and weak branches, and those which have grown in a criss cross fashion causing a cluttered plant, and all those that have grown out of shape.

6 If you prune your plants in the spring you help the bush to promote larger and better blooms, of good shape and size. Hibiscus thrive on being pruned in the spring, and you do not have to get a step ladder to see the flowers when the branches get too long. When you prune the tops of the branches, it causes the plant to start shooting down lower and instead of bare sticks you will see a plant covered in nice green leaves, and more branches, and as I said above more branches more flowers.. This happens because when you prune the tops off, it stops the growing cycle from the tip.


These are the 3 tools I use to do my pruning, the first is my Secateurs, used for the thinner branches.	The second is of my large loppers which I use to cut the thicker branches.	And this is my pruning saw for the very thick trunks or branches, that you cannot cut with either the secateurs or loppers.

This is one of the bushes we are going to prune, and as it is only a fairly new bush I will only prune it by about one third.

This is a fairly old plant and I will be pruning it fairly hard to try and rejuvenate the bush.

Whenever I start to prune I try to think how the bush grows, and prune the plant according to the way it grows, by that I mean if the plant is an average grower, I will prune off about a third of the bush, if the bush is a tall fast grower I will prune off about a half, and if the plant is a slow low grower, I will only just prune the tips, otherwise it takes too long to recover if you give it a hard prune, and you will miss out on the flowers for that season and have to wait until next year to see some blooms.


This picture shows the older bush which I have pruned out all the middle branches to allow light and air to penetrate the plant.	This picture shows pruning above an eye with the cut sloping away from the eye to help stop the water running into the eye and rotting it off. The top picture shows using the loppers to cut through a thicker branch, again cutting away from the eye

I always cut off the low lying branches, usually leaving a 12 inch space under the bush, which allows you to keep under the bush clean and also if there are low lying branches, if a flower come on these branches it drags in the dirt and there is a danger of snails causing damage to the petals.

I prune just above an outward pointing eye, using a slanting cut away from the eye, so any water will run away from the eye, and also it encourages the new shoot to grow outwards instead into the middle of the plant, and I always try to end up with a pruned bush, which is in the shape of a vase.

This picture shows pruning above an eye on the younger plant, with the cut sloping away from the eye.

Make sure your secateurs are kept clean and sharp, so they will give a clean cut, and I like to dip my secateurs in some alcohol or methylated spirits between bushes to prevent spreading any disease.


This picture shows the older plant which I pruned heavily to rejuvenate the bush.	This picture shows the younger plant which I have pruned back by a third.

Some members do not prune all the branches at one time, so they are able to still have blooms while they wait for the new growth to flower. These remaining branches can be pruned once the new growth commences flowering.

If you are growing in pots this is a good time to think about doing a root prune at the same time as you prune the top of the plant, and repot into some fresh potting mix, with some slow release fertiliser included in the mix, either into the same size pot if it is the biggest you want to go to, or the next size pot if it is in a smaller pot.

When the bush is putting out a lot of new growth, this is when I apply fertiliser high in Nitrogen to promote the new growth, and apply this until you see new buds starting to form and then I start to use a fertiliser higher in Potash than Nitrogen to promote flowers instead of nice green leaves. The fertiliser mix I use after pruning, for the plants I have in the ground, is one that I mix myself, and is as follows:- 2 ice cream [ 2 litre ] cans of Blood & Bone, 2 of Super Phosphate, I of Sulphate of Potash, ½ of Magnesium Sulphate, [ Epsom Salts ] ¼ of Sulphate of Iron, mix all this well together and apply a good handful around each bush. Then I cover this with a good cover, about 2 to 3 inches, of a suitable mulch. This will keep the roots cool in the hot weather to come.

If you follow these instructions you will be on your way to having a nice healthy bush with plenty of flowers.