Plants
   Vines
   Trees
   Shrubs
   Herbaceous perennials  

 Information
   Planting instructions
   Planting instr. (acid)
   Printable plant list
   Newsletter archive
   Ask the Chuckster

 Driving directions

 Chuck’s courses
 and consulting

 Driving directions

Ask the Chuckster...
Spring pruning and taking dormant wood cuttings

When do I start pruning in the spring?

The timing of pruning depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. There are two major intentions for pruning. One is to build the architecture and bring on vigorous growth of a newly planted fruit tree. Another is to keep the growth of an established plant in check. For the former, the best time to prune is late August, early September with the next best time being late February while the plant is still dormant but the worst of the winter weather is behind you. This is so you don’t get further stem die off.

The exception to this is for the Prunus genus which includes plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches. Prune these in late March, about the time they are leafing out so you can get more of a sense of what has died back over the winter.

The best time to contain the growth of an established plant is in June and July. This is the time to reduce the amount of vegetative growth in order to maximize the fruit producing capability of the tree. If you’re renovating an old tree, it might take 3-5 years to bring it back into optimum shape. You’re going for the development of good structural form by taking out water sprouts (vertical branches which come off the scaffold branches), diseased branches, and shrubby, twiggy growth. All of this will result in keeping your plants more compact. Reducing the growth of the plant can also help plants weather drought stress as it reduces the leaf area available for transpiration.

Pruning Rules of Thumb:

• In trees, find or create the healthiest branches that will bear fruit for life and support these scaffold branches as shown in our video Pruning young fruit trees.
  

• In shrubs, you want to consistently be renewing the shrub from the base as shown in our video: Pruning young blueberry bushes. Prune off older, less productive branches and keep a percentage of the plant in vigorous juvenile growth at all times. For example, in the case of blueberries ­– after branches are 1” in diameter, cut back to the ground and let it grow back new, vigorous stems. If you want to find out more about growing trees as shrubs, see our video: Pruning trees into bushes.

• Prune to eliminate twiggy or unproductive vegetative growth that won’t produce good fruit.

• Prune out any crossing branches.

• Prune to keep the center of the tree open so that good light and air circulation can reach the center of the plant.  This will keep diseases in check and ensure that you’ll get much needed light and air to fruit and leaves in all areas of the plant.

• It’s better to take off small amounts of wood more frequently than a lot of wood all a once.

• Small pruning cuts heal faster than large ones.

• Take a class to learn the basics of proper tools, technique, and strategies for pruning. If you're interested in UPN sponsoring a pruning class with Chuck, let us know.
  

• The NC Cooperative Extention Agency has the following helpful pruning documents:
  • http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/ag29.html
  • http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/agpubs/ag-071.pdf
  • http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/shrubs/text/pruning.html

How do I make cuttings of the plants that I already have?

Propagation from dormant wood cuttings is a simple strategy for multiplying plants that you want to clone. Plants such as goji berries, elderberries, figs, gooseberries, and currents are easy to propagate this way, while blueberries are not as easy to root and need specialized facilities.

A simple backyard way to root dormant wood cuttings is to do it in any raised garden bed with good soil. In late winter, take 6-12” prunings (with 3 buds on them) from your favorite shrub. Sharpen the bottom end of each cutting with an angle cut maybe an inch below the bottom bud. Dip in rooting hormone (available at any garden store) and then stick them in the ground so that the bottom 2 buds are covered. The 1st bud will be 2-4” below the soil surface, the next one just below surface, and the top one will extend above the surface. Be sure to label the variety so that you know what you’ve got. Put some leaves around cuttings to hold moisture in the ground, make some kind of wire hoop, and put row cover fabric over that to keep the cuttings from dessicating. Be careful if you use plastic because you can really overheat the cuttings.

It’s important to not let the cuttings dry out. Once the leaf surface starts to develop there’s an imbalance between the leaf growth and amount of developed root. Keep slightly shaded and watered on a regular basis. If you want to see if it is rooting, give it a light tug after a month. If it resists, it’s starting to root but if it comes up easy it’s not rooted. Allow them to stay in this garden bed for a full season and transplant to their permanent locations in the fall.