Deadheading is a pruning technique for removing flowers once they’ve finished in order to encourage plants to direct their energy into producing new flowers and extend their flowering period, rather expending their energy reserves on old spent flowers to produce seeds. Removing spent flowers is also done for aesthetic reasons, as a plant covered in deadContinue reading “How to Deadhead Roses to Keep Them Blooming”
Category Archives: Pruning
How to Clean Tree Sap From Pruning Tools
After using pruning tools, such as secateurs, loppers, hedge hedge and pruning saws, it’s important to clean them to prevent rusting, and to avoid spreading diseases from tree to tree. It’s a good idea to sterilise pruning tools after use, especially before using them on another tree or plant. This is done spraying them withContinue reading “How to Clean Tree Sap From Pruning Tools”
How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Goji Berry Plants
The goji berry plant (Lycium barbarum), also known as a wolfberry (gouqizi, 枸杞) in Chinese, is a scrambling deciduous shrub with long, sparsely spiny weeping branches. It’s a Lycium (boxthorn) species that is a member of the Solanaceae (nightshade or tomato) plant family, and is native to China. These plants crop on current year’s wood,Continue reading “How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Goji Berry Plants”
How To Prune and Train Blackberries and Their Hybrids
Blackberries and blackberry hybrids, such as thornless blackberries, loganberries, boysenberries, youngberries, taybberries, silvanberries, marionberries and lawtonberries all belong to the genus Rubus, along with raspberries. Unlike raspberries which have vertical growing canes, blackberries and their hybrids have long trailing horizontal canes, which are usually supported on trellises, or horizontal wires attached between fence posts. HowContinue reading “How To Prune and Train Blackberries and Their Hybrids”
How to Plant Two or More Trees in the Same Hole for High Density Tree Planting
High density tree planting, where two or more trees can be planted in the same hole to form a single canopy with multiple trunks, is drawn from the system of Backyard Orchard Culture, developed by the Dave Wilson Nursery of Central California. In this system, fruit trees are kept small in size by planting themContinue reading “How to Plant Two or More Trees in the Same Hole for High Density Tree Planting”
How to Prune a Mulberry Tree for Multiple Crops in a Single Season
Mulberry trees are deciduous trees which are traditionally winter pruned when they’re dormant and have no leaves, with the pruning carried out in late winter. When spring arrives, the buds on the bare branches open to produce new leaves, as well as new branches which carry the mulberry fruit. Yes, I did say fruit. Botanically,Continue reading “How to Prune a Mulberry Tree for Multiple Crops in a Single Season”
How to Sterilize and Disinfect Pruning Tools
Plant diseases, caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, can easily be spread from one plant or tree to another if pruning tools are not disinfected before use. Sap from trees and plants usually sticks to the blades of secateurs, loppers, saws and other pruning tools. Any infected sap can transfer diseases toContinue reading “How to Sterilize and Disinfect Pruning Tools”
What Age Wood Do Fruit Trees Flower and Fruit On?
Fruit trees flower and fruit each year, but some of them do so only on new branches, or specific parts of older branches. Why does this matter? If we prune off the wrong branches, we might lose our whole fruit crop for a year! By knowing what age of wood fruit trees producing their fruitContinue reading “What Age Wood Do Fruit Trees Flower and Fruit On?”
How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Raspberries
Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) belong to the genus Rubus, along with other cane berries such as blackberries, boysenberries, lawtonberries, loganberries, marionberries, silvanberries and tayberries. What’s quite interesting is that the whole Rubus genus is part of the Rosaceae (Rose) family, to which almonds, apples, apricots, cherries, hawthorns, loquats, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, raspberries and strawberries alsoContinue reading “How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Raspberries”
Formative Pruning, Central Leader Form – How to Prune Young Fruit Trees in the First Three Years
Fruit trees are trained into particular shapes to make them more productive, easier to manage and better able to support heavy crop loads. Formative pruning (also referred to as framework pruning) is carried out in the first three years of planting a young tree to create or ‘form’ the shape, and establish a framework ofContinue reading “Formative Pruning, Central Leader Form – How to Prune Young Fruit Trees in the First Three Years”
Formative Pruning, Vase Form – How to Prune Young Fruit Trees in the First Three Years
Fruit trees are trained into particular shapes to make them more productive, easier to manage and better able to support heavy crop loads. Formative pruning (also referred to as framework pruning) is carried out in the first three years of planting a young tree to create or ‘form’ the shape, and establish a framework ofContinue reading “Formative Pruning, Vase Form – How to Prune Young Fruit Trees in the First Three Years”
Fruit Trees with Special Pruning Requirements – Figs, Persimmons and Pomegranates
Most fruit trees are pruned the same way, making winter pruning a fairly straightforward task, but there are a few exceptions. With some fruit trees, the ends of their branches shouldn’t be cut off, otherwise they won’t fruit, because they either fruit from the ends of the branches, or only produce fruiting branches from theContinue reading “Fruit Trees with Special Pruning Requirements – Figs, Persimmons and Pomegranates”
How to Prune a Fruit Tree, Step By Step
Fruit tree pruning is both an art and a science. The art to fruit tree pruning is not something that can be taught in a short article or video, but basic pruning technique is quite easy to understand, and once grasped, almost anyone can maintain a fruit tree, and do so successfully, year after year.Continue reading “How to Prune a Fruit Tree, Step By Step”
How to Prune Grape Vines – Cane and Spur Pruning Explained
Grapes fruit on new season’s shoots which arise from one-year-old canes. Once these canes have produced their fruit for the season, they will not produce again. To keep grapes productive, they need to be pruned to renew the young canes which will produce in the following year. Getting Started, Planting New Vines, Creating the FrameworkContinue reading “How to Prune Grape Vines – Cane and Spur Pruning Explained”
Tree Pruning, How to Prune Tree Branches Correctly
The first step in pruning a tree, before making and cuts to change the shape or size of a tree, is to remove any dead, diseased or broken branches. If removing a branch completely, it’s important to make the cut correctly so as to not cause any further damage to the tree. Thinner branches aroundContinue reading “Tree Pruning, How to Prune Tree Branches Correctly”
How to Prune Vining Tomatoes for Small-Space Intensive Growing
Want to grow lots of tomatoes in limited spaces, even containers? Ever wondered how the commercial hydroponic growers pack in as many plants as possible in their growing areas? By understanding the way tomatoes grow, we can select the right plants and utilise their growth habit for maximum production in the smallest of spaces. DeterminateContinue reading “How to Prune Vining Tomatoes for Small-Space Intensive Growing”
Permaculture Edible Hedges
If you thought that hedges and hedging were restricted to ornamental gardening only, you’d be seriously mistaken! Hedges are quite useful in a garden, and can serve many functions, such as: barriers for security, privacy and screening purposes shade for people or gardens – especially protection from from the hot afternoon sun windbreaks aesthetic elementsContinue reading “Permaculture Edible Hedges”