When and how to prune is a question that is often asked this time of year, and the answer depends on the weather and the type of plant.
Many deciduous trees and shrubs are pruned in the spring, and there is no certain date to prune, but rather when the tree/shrub shows signs the buds are beginning to swell.
Which trees and shrubs to prune in early spring depend on when they bloom, as well as when the sap is running.
Flowering shrubs that bloom first before they leaf out, or those that bloom very early, such as lilac, forsythia, purple leaf sand cherry and double flowering cherry, are pruned after they have finished blooming because you do not want to remove the flowers.
Maple, birch and walnut trees are not pruned in early spring because the sap is running. If they were to be pruned now, it would seriously set them back and potentially kill them. These are pruned in early July or during the first cold snap in November/December.
What to prune off is also important. Not all trees/shrubs need to be pruned yearly. Pruning is done to improve flowering, keep plants strong and healthy, rejuvenate new colourful growth, and to keep a nice shape and form.
You should always remove any dead, damaged or diseased branches to the point where there is healthy growth again. Deciduous flowering shrubs such as potentilla and spirea are pruned back to promote new growth because they bloom on new growth, so pruning will create more flowers.
Shrubs such as red twig dogwood can have up to one-third of the older branches removed, as this will promote new bright colourful growth.
Roses can also be pruned now. I recommend that roses be trimmed back to 10 to12 inches in the fall and then in the spring the fine pruning is done. Healthy roses have good air circulation which means that there is not a lot of crowding branches.
First all, dead, damaged, and diseased branches are pruned back to where there is live wood. Next any unproductive, thin, or weak branches are removed.
Older stems are cut back to the last three to four buds from ground level and then any branches that cross through the centre or rub against another branch are removed.
When pruning the branches, you want to prune just above an outfacing bud, as this will cause the new branch to form from that bud and it will grow outwards, creating a nicely-shaped rose bush.
A very important step to healthy plant care for deciduous trees and shrubs is spraying them with lime sulfur and dormant oil.
This is done before they break into leaf and so a good time to do this would be right after the tree/shrub has been pruned.
The lime sulfur and dormant oil kills any overwintering insects and fungus and this is important as you want to be preventive rather than reactive. It is much easier to stop a problem from occurring rather than wait for the problem and then try to fix it.
If you are not sure about pruning it is better to wait and ask for advice.
It takes many years for a tree to grow and only a few minutes to permanently ruin a tree.
Today, at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. the annual tree pruning clinic will be held at the Hwy. 16 west location of Art Knapp plantland.
It runs two hours long and covers all areas of pruning with a question period at the end.
This would be a good clinic to attend if you have never pruned or would like to have additional pruning information.
