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Garden jasmine, or mock orange, is one of the most unpretentious ornamental plants popular with landscape designers. It does not require special care, adapts to any growing conditions, delighting every year with stunning flowering and a delicious aroma. Pruning mock orange in the spring is a mandatory procedure, thanks to which you can form a neat, lush bush with an abundance of attractive, fragrant flowers.
Do I need to prune mock orange in the spring?
Despite its attractiveness, without pruning, mock orange turns into an unsightly shrub or ordinary dense thickets. Therefore, the main goal of spring pruning is to give the plant a neat shape with a beautiful placement of stems and numerous peduncles, without the presence of old, dried branches.
Sanitary pruning is carried out before the buds open and active sap flow begins at the very beginning of the appearance of the first leaves. At this time, the frozen and dry twigs at the ends are clearly visible. Remove old, dry and frozen branches. However, spring pruning is not limited to sanitary ones. The formation of garden jasmine is carried out at the same time as sanitary pruning, which involves removing too long, protruding branches. Strong, developed shoots are shortened slightly, while weak, thin shoots are removed by more than half their length. After such a haircut, annual shoots begin to actively grow, forming a lush, neatly shaped bush. First of all, it is necessary for hedges. But individual garden compositions with jasmine should also be given attention.
Pruning mock orange in the spring is mandatory, and a visual video for beginning gardeners will demonstrate all the nuances of this event:
Goals and objectives of spring pruning of mock orange
Spring pruning of decorative garden jasmine is necessary for a number of reasons:
- to stimulate growth and active development of young growth, which will be the basis for flowering in subsequent years;
- buds on old branches form poorly, especially in their upper part, which reduces the number of flowers;
- abundant flowering of mock orange is impossible in dense growth with a small amount of penetrating light;
- with dense thickets, the bush spends nutrition and energy on the development of shoots, while flowering becomes scarce and rare;
- Mock orange by nature is not a symmetrical plant and without pruning it grows shoots unevenly, which makes it one-sided;
- pruning allows you to shorten the height of the plant, which naturally can grow up to 2.5 meters or more;
- pruning makes it possible to form a shrub with the desired shape and neat appearance, which is why mock orange is widely used to create various landscape design compositions.
Types of mock orange pruning
There are several types of mock orange haircuts:
- formative – for bushes older than 5 years, gives it the desired shape, increases the number of flowers and their size, makes it symmetrical and identical on all sides;
- sanitary or health-improving — with pruning of dry, damaged branches, eliminates the possibility of the development of fungus and pests;
- after flowering – intended to give the mock orange a neat appearance and an evenly growing, attractive crown;
- rejuvenating – stimulates the growth of young shoots after damage or on old plants, promotes lush and abundant flowering.
How to prune mock orange in spring
Correctly and competently pruning mock orange in early spring will not be difficult if you know some of the features of agrotechnical techniques. First, they begin to remove frozen shoots broken by snow and wind. Without urgent need, they are not completely shortened, but cut to a living bud. Trimming will give a lateral growth of young branches, on which flowers will appear in a year. In regions with harsh winters, thinning of mock orange is also timed to coincide with spring. After sanitary pruning, the bush is carefully inspected and any protruding shoots growing inward or sideways are removed. In addition, deformed, weak and very close to each other branches are removed. In spring, do not touch the tops of shoots with flower buds.Pruning mock orange in the summer, after flowering, will allow you to enjoy the picturesque picture of a flowering bush, and then shorten it in height.
When to prune mock orange
The first time pruning is carried out immediately after planting garden jasmine, it does not matter whether it was done in autumn or spring. To do this, improperly growing, unsightly shoots are removed, immediately marking their shape. Leave no more than three trunks with developed buds, which will provide them with freedom for active growth. In the open space, the remaining branches will develop rapidly and will reward you with abundant flowering next year.
Sanitary pruning of mock orange is carried out in early spring, from about mid-March, depending on the region and climatic conditions. Formative - in spring or summer, immediately after flowering, which depends on the climate and the variety of garden jasmine. In the first three years, the plant does not require formative pruning. Experienced gardeners trim only protruding, unsightly branches, simply shortening them slightly, which determines the shape of the mock orange.
Preparation of tools and materials
The ideal tool for shaping and cutting mock orange is a sharp, high-quality pruner. It must be absolutely clean. Do not trim with a blunt instrument, which will damage the shoots. You will also need a garden varnish, which is used to treat all cuts, protecting fresh jasmine wounds from hordes of harmful microorganisms.
Schemes for pruning mock orange in spring
Sanitary pruning, in which, in addition to weak and damaged shoots, disease-infected branches are removed:
Pruning mock orange after flowering looks like this in the diagram:
How to trim mock orange
There are certain rules for cutting mock orange:
- the shoots that form at the base of the bush are completely removed, as they impair the decorative qualities;
- when pruning young mock orange, the upper part of branches less than two years old is not removed - a crown will form from them later;
- strong, strong shoots should not be cut short, and thin shoots should not be left long;
- the roots that appear in the trunk circle are immediately removed;
- for uniform illumination of the crown, the height of the mock orange is left at 1.5 or, maximum, 2 m.
Branches are pruned at an angle of 45 degrees.
How to prune mock orange after flowering
In the summer, after the end of flowering, formative pruning is carried out to remove too long shoots, small, up to 5 cm, twigs and wilted flowers. Thinning is carried out, leaving only young shoots. Four- to five-year-old branches of an old mock orange are pruned, but if the plant is too old, it is completely rejuvenated to the base. However, in order for the mock orange to please with its decorative and neat crown, its formation is carried out throughout the season.
How to shape mock orange
Crown formation, if necessary, is carried out throughout the summer season if:
- the bush grew tall;
- grows asymmetrically;
- very thickened.
All of the above phenomena negatively affect the development of mock orange, so it is necessary to form it:
- to reduce the number of fast-growing shoots by 2 times, which allows the lateral shoots to actively grow;
- complete removal of old branches and those that grow inward, which reduces the density of the bush;
- trimming large, elongated shoots to give the jasmine a regular, symmetrical shape.
Gardeners who do not have sufficient experience in growing ornamental plants are initially able to make it neat and symmetrical. With experience, you can shape the bush in the form of a ball, cube, cone or other geometric shape. To do this, mock orange is regularly pruned in the spring or, less often, in the fall in this way:
- cut the young seedling very low, to the ground;
- the next year they inspect the new growth and leave a few of the strongest ones, arranged harmoniously, and cut out the rest;
- after flowering, the branches are cut down to the young growths located below; the mock orange will bloom on the lateral, short shoots;
- regularly carry out sanitary pruning with the removal of old, weak and thickened shoots;
- make sure that the bush maintains its shape, for example, a ball, cutting off protruding branches.
You can watch a video about the correct formation of the crown when pruning mock orange:
Caring for shrubs after trimming
After pruning, garden jasmine needs care, which consists of the following:
- fertilizing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers every 10 days - after spring cutting, with simultaneous abundant watering;
- mineral fertilizing 1 - 2 times can be replaced with organic diluted slurry with water in a ratio of 1:10, applied no earlier than 10 - 12 days after pruning;
- mulching the soil around the tree trunk with peat, fallen leaves, and sawdust.
Conclusion
At first glance, pruning mock orange seems to be a complicated procedure. However, having gained experience, even novice gardeners can easily cope with this mandatory agrotechnical technique, thanks to which garden jasmine takes on a beautiful shape and delights with delightful flowering.
