Unbeknownst to many a homeowner, there is a difference between pruning and trimming when it comes to bushes, plants and shrubs.
Trimming
Trimming is when your hedge or bush begins to grow unevenly and takes on a scraggly appearance. When that occurs, you need to trim them to make them appear more uniform. That’s when you pull out the hedge trimmers and get to work.
And while it does promote new growth, trimming is aesthetically and maintenance based. Trim keeps your bushes and shrubs looking even and uniform while stimulating new top bud growth.
Unless you prefer a wild or more natural look to your hedges and shrubs, you will need to prune them back at some point.
Plants Need To Breathe
Pruning is similar to trimming but has a higher purpose than making your plants look tidy. Pruning serves a specific role, and there are particular ways to prune various plants to achieve the desired result.
When a shrub or bush becomes too thick to allow proper airflow between the branches or blocks out the sunlight to the middle and lower limbs and leaves, the plant can suffer. Dried inner leaves and small, weak branches with slow growth are typical.
Depending on the plant, mould can begin to form on those inner branches and hidden leaves lying in the darkness. Rose bushes are a good example. They need sunlight and proper airflow.
Landscapers usually recommend that you prune in the Spring or the Fall, but if the plants get bushy, you may need to do supplemental Summer pruning to keep them tidy.
Please keep a few tips in mind if you want to do the pruning yourself.
Two Pruning Techniques
Essentially, there are two pruning cuts, the heading cut and the thinning cut.
Heading Plants
Heading the bush or plant does just what the term implies. To Head a plant, you make selective cuts to the top of plants, which, in turn, stimulates plant growth closest to the wound but also keeps the plant uniform and controls the height.
You can make random cuts to stimulate top growth using traditional hedge clippers. When used discriminately, thinning cuts reduce the density of the shrub by removing the branches at their point of attachment but do not stimulate new growth.
Pruning And Cutting Correctly
For heading cuts, prune about a ¼ inch directly above the bud at a slight angle. Avoid cutting too close to the bud or at a steep slope, or the bud may die. Again, a slight angle is perfect.
When cutting above a branch containing 2 or 3 nodes, remove the inner facing buds leaving only one.Be sure to remove any dead, diseased and broken branches.
Thinning diseased branches requires that you cut into the healthy wood a reasonable distance below the infected area.
If you can do your pruning and trimming, that can be very satisfying.There are few things more rewarding regarding lawn and gardening maintenance than cleaning up your shrubs and bushes while working outside in the warm sunshine.
However, if cutting, trimming, thinning, and pruning are something other than what you want to do yourself but want your bushes, shrubs and plants to look and feel good, you’d better call in a professional.
At Rock Bottom Landscaping, we are the consummate professionals in all phases of landscaping and lawn maintenance and can handle all your lawn care needs.
There are few things more rewarding regarding lawn and gardening maintenance than cleaning up your shrubs and bushes while working outside in the warm sunshine.
However, if cutting, trimming, thinning, and pruning are something other than what you want to do yourself but want your bushes, shrubs and plants to look and feel good, you’d better call in a professional.
At Rock Bottom Landscaping, we are the consummate professionals in all phases of landscaping and lawn maintenance and can handle all your lawn care needs.