Pruning honeysuckle: why, when and how to do it correctly
The yield of honeysuckle depends on many factors: weather conditions, growing region, fertilizer application. In order for the bush to bear fruit consistently and produce a good harvest, starting from the 6th year of life, summer residents carry out pruning. The procedure stimulates fruiting and protects the plant from diseases and insect pests. We will talk about pruning honeysuckle and when and how to do it correctly in this article.
Do I need to prune honeysuckle?
Honeysuckle develops slowly, so pruning begins only 6-7 years after planting. If you do not remove old and diseased branches, they grow in a chaotic manner, and in a couple of years the bush will turn into a tangled tangle. Because of this, productivity decreases, diseases occur, and the annual growth of young shoots decreases.
Trimmed need both edible varieties and decorative. For the latter, pruning is necessary to build up dense green mass and abundant flowering.
When is the best time to prune honeysuckle?
Honeysuckle can be pruned in spring or autumn, depending on your goals. In spring, the bushes are pruned after the snow has melted and the ground has warmed to +5°C. At this time, the plant needs sanitary or anti-aging pruning.
It is forbidden to shorten shoots in spring if the air temperature has already warmed up to +12°C or higher, otherwise the plant will weaken and reduce yield next year.
In autumn, attention is paid to formative pruning. Some gardeners make a common mistake - they prune the plant after harvesting the last harvest. You can’t do this, the right time is in 2-3 weeks. In the south of the country it is the end of October, in the north it is the end of September.
Attention! There is no consensus on whether it is better to prune honeysuckle in spring or autumn. Each gardener independently determines the timing of pruning, suitable for the growing region and the age of the shrub. Sometimes summer residents are guided by the lunar calendar - it indicates the exact dates when carrying out care procedures is considered the most favorable.
How to prune correctly
Formative, sanitary, rejuvenating - each pruning involves its own procedure and rules of procedure. If all recommendations are followed, honeysuckle will quickly recover and produce a rich harvest.
In spring for a good harvest
Honeysuckle buds form early, so branches are pruned in March or early April. For spring, formative pruning is chosen, the purpose of which is to create a crown. This is true for decorative and edible honeysuckle. In fruit-bearing varieties, not every bush has 4-5 shoots that grow from the center in different directions.
How to prune honeysuckle in spring:
- Remove the branches growing at the very bottom, touching the ground.
- Young growth - it promotes the proliferation of insect pests, the development of diseases, and also obscures sunlight.
- Branches that grow strictly vertically inside the crown.
- Shoots growing inside the bush are also weak and dry.
- Old thick branches and ends of shoots that produce weak growth.
The bush has about 5 powerful skeletal branches left.The cut areas are smeared with garden varnish or sprinkled with charcoal to protect the honeysuckle from fungal or viral diseases.
Once every 2-3 years, honeysuckle is thinned out - old and dense branches are removed “on the stump”. Next year, 2-4 strong and young shoots will grow from this place. One of them is left to replace the removed branch, and the others are cut out.
After harvest
In the fall, after harvesting, regular pruning is carried out. It prepares the shrub for winter, slows down plant growth and stimulates the development of the root system.
The following signs help determine the exact time for pruning:
- the bush has shed its leaves;
- air temperature at night - 0°C;
- There is about a month left before frost.
1-2 weeks before the procedure, stop watering so as not to awaken new buds. After pruning, honeysuckle, on the contrary, is watered abundantly to give it strength to recover.
What does autumn pruning after harvest include:
- removal of root shoots and shoots growing inside the bush;
- pruning old and diseased branches;
- removal of shoots that do not produce growth.
When pruning decorative honeysuckle, make sure that its top is not wider than the root zone. In this case, the crown will break under its own weight or due to wind. The crown should taper slightly towards the top. This rule applies to both the regulatory procedure and the formative one.
Sanitary pruning
Sanitary pruning is carried out as needed (in March, August, October). It is easy to understand that honeysuckle needs sanitary pruning: the shoots dry out, become covered with spots or rot, insects are visible on the bark and foliage, and the crown is deformed. Affected and diseased branches are cut to the base, and the cut areas are lubricated with garden varnish.
When pruning fruit-bearing bushes, make sure that the lower parts of the branches are not exposed.
Attention! You can buy garden varnish in a store or prepare it yourself. For the second option, you need 500 g of natural beeswax, 500 g of turpentine, 300 g of rosin and 100 melted fat. The ingredients are heated until smooth and mixed. Then place it in a container and place it in cold water. Store garden varnish in the form of balls in a plastic bag.
For rejuvenation
Anti-aging pruning is needed for plants older than 7 years.
How to renew an old honeysuckle bush:
- Summer residents cut the stems at the base, leaving a stump 2-3 cm high. This is necessary so that healthy shoots will form in the future.
- Branches that grow inside the bush or at a strong angle are also removed. This is done once every 3-5 years.
Using the procedure, the lifespan of honeysuckle is extended by 10-20 years.
If anti-aging pruning has not been carried out, and the plant is already more than 15 years old, it requires radical rejuvenation.
How to rejuvenate such a bush:
- In October, after the leaves have fallen, all shoots are cut out at the root.
- Large cuts and cracks are covered with garden varnish.
- Honeysuckle rests until spring, and the root system stimulates the development of young and healthy shoots.
- After a year, gardeners re-form the crown.
For pruning, choose a sharp pruner that makes smooth and clean cuts without torn edges. Otherwise, the wounds take a long time to heal and become the cause of diseases. For any type of branches, choose a bypass garden pruner. It is universal, cutting dry, green, thick, and thin branches equally well.
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Conclusion
The best time to prune honeysuckle is considered to be early spring and mid-autumn, depending on the growing region. Before the procedure, prepare a sharp pruning shears, disinfect it, make a garden varnish to lubricate the wounds, and also study a step-by-step plan. Formative pruning is carried out in the spring, and regulating pruning is carried out in the fall.
If the honeysuckle is more than 7 years old, proceed to rejuvenation; If insects or signs of disease appear, contact the sanitary department.