Prune
With all plants, do you need to prune them, or is there some that you can just cover during the winter months?
having quite a time as there are so many people with so many different ideas on which to prune, which to cover or put in dark place during the colder days in winter————-do you have some advise for me..thanks?
it would be easier to help you if we knew where you live and what plants you have to prepare for winter…. not ALL plants need pruned now… not all plant SHOULD be pruned now…. few plants EVER HAVE TO BE pruned, it’s just if you want or need to for some reason…..
like, forsythia and azalea for example… you would not prune them now, cuz that would cut off the flowers for spring….
a red-twig dogwood you wouldn’t trim now, either, cuz you’d be removing the best part of the plant, the red branches!…
if you are in the south, you’d not want to prune hedges or hollies now, cuz that will make them grow new sprouts and those sprouts will be still too tender to make it thru a heavy frost….
if you’re in a cold northern, you might want to put covers over hydrangeas… or add extra mulch to the perennial beds….
you may bring in geraniums or set them in the cellar to keep….
see, there’s all kinds of ways and plants and ideas, so we really need more info from you…..
Prune
Pruning the Backyard Grapevine
If you don’t prune your vines, they will become unruly, tangled messes. Fruit ripeness will suffer. Overproduction of the vine may lead to premature death. It is also one of the harder things to visualize but one of the easier things to accomplish for the home gardener.
Pruning is performed in the early spring while the vine is still dormant. This is done in February, March, or early April depending upon when the grapevines generally come out of dormancy and bud out.
Pruning the grapevine and training the vine go hand-in-hand. You must decide the way you want to train the vine in order to prune it correctly. Vines that “droop” should be trained to a top wire of about 6 feet. Canes are then pruned and trained outward from the middle on each side of the trunk. As the new shoots grow, they droop on each side of this high pruned wire, naturally, taking in account of their habit of growth. Concord, and other native American varieties are typical of those varieties that droop downward naturally.
Varieties that grow upright are trained to a low wire of about 3 feet and allowed to grow upward according to their natural growth habit. These varieties need several wires above the trained canes in order that the upright growing shoots have something to attach to. Often, you will need to tie the growing shoots to these wires to keep the grown going up and to prevent wind damage. European grapes, V. vinifera, and many hybrid varieties (crosses between the European grape and American species) fall into this category.
Whether trained to a high wire or to a low wire, the pruning techniques are the same. The amount of one-year old, fruitful wood to be left after pruning is dependent upon the amount of vegetation produced during the previous growing season. Usually, around 90-95% of last year’s growth is pruned off. The wood left is dependent upon the variety, how vigorous last years growth was, whether the variety over produces or under produces, and how old the vine is all enter into how you will prune it.
Grapes bear fruit on one year old wood. Thus when you prune the vine you will be leaving one year old buds to produce the fruit clusters this year. Much of what will be removed is two year wood with attached canes from last year’s growth (that won’t be needed this year) and excess one year old canes. When pruning you will be trying to balance the growth of the vine based upon how it grew and bore fruit last year.
Excessively vigorous vines that overbore their fruit last year will be pruned with more buds as this will de vigor the growth and balance the vine’s growth this year. Low vigor vines will be left with fewer buds to invigorate their growth this year.
The two methods of pruning grapevines are short “spurs” and long “canes”. The idea behind spur and cane pruning is the same. They differ in which of the buds are the most fruitful on the particular variety you are pruning. Varieties where the bottom buds are fruitful are spur pruned. Varieties where the bottom buds aren’t fruitful are generally cane pruned.
Spur pruned vines are trained to heads and cordons. The difference here is that head trained vines are pruned to a couple to several spurs close in to the main trunk of the vine. Cordon trained vines have arms extending out from the trunk, on each side, with several spurs generated along the main frame of the arms. Either way of training has spurs of two to three buds each.
Cane pruning involves leaving at least one long cane of one-year old wood on each side of the trunk. The number of buds to leave depends on the variety and how much growth of the vine occurred during the last growing season. Usually, 7-12 buds are left on each cane. But this is relative. And that’s where pruning becomes an art. After several years you will gain a “feel” of how many buds to leave based upon its performance in the prior growing season.
Besides the cane that is left, a small, two-bud spur is left for next year’s cane and spur. That’s why this method is often referred to as cane and spur pruning. The spur that is left at pruning time is known as a renewal spur. It gives rise to next year’s cane and renewal spur.
Each year the job of pruning will become easier. You will soon begin to understand what is happening as you watch your vine grow during the summer. Your visualization of how the vine is supposed to look each year will grow. This will make the pruning each spring go smoothly.
The tools used to prune your grapevines are hand pruners, loppers, and small handsaws. Select the appropriate pruning tool to remove the wood as cleanly as possible and reduce unnecessary injury to the vine. Hand pruners are used to remove one year old wood. Older wood requires the use of loppers. Sometimes old, unfruitful trunks need to be removed. This is where the handsaw comes in.
Learning the art of grapevine pruning takes time and practice. You can contact your local county Ag Extension agent or Agricultural University for bulletins on grapevine pruning. These grapevine pruning bulletins have drawings and pictures of what you are trying to accomplish and will make your pruning easier. Just make sure that you prune your grapevines every year to maintain their size and shape, and to maximize the fruit production and overall fruit quality.
Jim Bruce has been growing grapes since the mid-seventies under a range of growing conditions. His Rist Canyon Vineyards is a research project to aid others in growing grapes. More information can be found at http://www.ristcanyonvineyards.com
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How, when and how much can I prune my euchalyptus tree without killing it?
The Euchalyptus Tree is about 25 feet or so all together. The main trunk is about 6 feet high with a diameter of about a foot and there are 2 upright branches. Strong winds in January forced it over so much that it now has a permanent lean of about 30 degrees, there is also minimal earthrise at its base but current high winds don’t seem to be making it any worse. 1 branch is almost vertical but the other looks as though it is pulling the tree off balance. Should I remove this branch? And prune the other? Or cut them both back? Or cut it down to the main trunk, if so how far? I’ve heard euchalyptus can survive forest fires in Australia and grow again but will hard pruning kill it off? I don’t want to lose it as it was planted when my daughter got married – some of its twigs/leaves were in her wedding bouquet. If it will survive really hard pruning when is the best time to do it and when would be the time to avoid? Thanks in anticipation to all you gardeners out there!
I am in SoCal and my silver dollar eucalyptus blew over in the santa ana winds about a year ago. I would remove that branch and prune the other. It is next to impossible to kill it by pruning. The trunk on my tree literally broke off about a foot off of the ground. I nearly freaked when our arborist hacked it back to the ground because I thought it would surely kill it. Believe it or not, that thing now has 4 trunks and is over a story high. Now is a good time to do it if you are in a frost free zone, like I am.
How To Prune A Fruit Tree