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YARD AND GARDEN

Prune many trees and shrubs now

Dave Robson

The end of winter is an excellent time for pruning many trees and shrubs. There are some real advantages to pruning during winter. Plants are dormant at this time, and there is less likelihood of disease transmission from either insects or pruning equipment.

More importantly, deciduous plants are bare, so branching structure, or the plant's shape, can easily be seen. With plants soon budding out, pruning cuts will be covered.

Finally, pruning before the plant leafs out means that you won't be cutting off all the new growth the plant has created from stored energy.

The first step is to develop a plan. Inspect the plants and note their natural shape. I'll go out on a limb, so to speak, and say that all pruning should keep the plant's natural shape. Evergreens pruned into poodle shapes don't look natural and don't belong in home yards. Buzz top pruning for hedges works well only for yews and boxwoods. This is my opinion.

Look for broken branches, branches which cross each other, and overgrown stems. Once you know what needs attention, sharpen your saw and shears and begin.

The following plant types can be pruned now — deciduous shade trees, non-fruiting trees such as crabapple, cherries or plum trees, grape vines, and small fruits such as blackberry and blueberry.

For all these groups, start by pruning out all diseased, weak or damaged branches. This is essential on all plants. In fact, pruning dead and diseased material should occur when you see it, not just in the spring.

On trees (shade or fruit) and shrubs, look especially for branches that are rubbing or girdling each other and remove the weakest branch. Remove branches that may be endangering power lines or windows. Call your local electric co-op if power lines are too close. Do not risk electrocution when using ladders or long trimming tools near power lines.

The old rule of thumb was to remove any branch that crossed another. This holds true only if the branches are interfering with each other's growth.

Do not prune flowering shrubs such as lilac, mock orange, or forsythia until after they finish flowering.

Larger overgrown deciduous shrubs can be pruned ideally at this time of year. While maintenance trimming can be done during the growing season, major pruning of a shrub is best done during the dormant season.

Plants such as honeysuckle, privet, snowberry, or Indian currant can be pruned down to 6" stubs at ground level. This method is called rejuvenation and is used to regrow old unsightly or overgrown plants.

Other shrubs such as arrowwood viburnum, weigela, deutzia, and dogwood can be thinned by using a method called renewal pruning. Remove 1/4 to 1/3 of the oldest stems each year, all the way down to the crown, to stimulate growth of new shoots from the base of the plant.

Large trees present a problem and pruning should be restricted to removal of broken branches. Contrary to popular opinion, severe pruning is not necessary for a tree and may actually be quite harmful. In any case, major pruning of large trees is dangerous and should be left to professional arborists.

If you plan on pruning a plant to control its height, especially a tree, consider pruning once at ground level and replacing the plant with a naturally shorter one. Continually pruning a tree to keep it small will ultimately weaken it and make it more susceptible to insect and disease attacks.

David Robson is an Extension Educator, Horticulture, at the Springfield Extension Center, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Illinois. You can write to Robson in care of Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708. Telephone: (217) 782-6515. E-Mail: robsond@idea.ag.uiuc.edu

16 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING APRIL 1998