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Juniper is quite often grown by lovers of ornamental garden plants. This coniferous evergreen shrub has many positive qualities. It is frost-resistant and easy to care for. Many people regard its pruning as an optional procedure that does not give any positive effect; others are simply afraid of harming the health of the bush. Meanwhile, juniper can and should be trimmed. This will not only improve the health of the bush, but also increase its decorative value.
Is it possible to trim juniper
You can cut or trim juniper, but you must follow some rules. If you carry out this procedure within the prescribed time frame and do not get carried away too much, it will not cause any harm to the plant. On the contrary, many types of this shrub have a very plastic crown, which can be given various shapes by pruning, for example, geometric shapes, a cushion or a smooth hedge.
Below in the photo is a juniper haircut.
When and how to prune juniper
Common juniper can be pruned several times throughout the year. As a rule, it is done in the spring, in April-May, as well as in late summer or early autumn. It is not recommended to cut the juniper later, so as not to weaken it before wintering. Although most varieties of shrubs have good frost resistance, pruning in the pre-winter period can severely damage it and lead to the death of individual shoots or even the entire plant. Juniper should not be pruned in mid-summer, during the hottest season, or in winter.
To prune, choose a cool, cloudy day. On the eve of cutting, it is advisable to spray the bushes with water. Tools you will need:
- pruner;
- garden shears with long handles;
- hacksaw;
- lopper
Instruments must be sharp and clean, otherwise there is a risk of infection in open wounds. Before work, all cutting surfaces must be sharpened and disinfected. It should be remembered that a sharp tool leaves much smoother cuts, which will tighten very quickly. Conversely, a wound with torn, uneven edges will take a long time to get wet and can cause bush disease.
It is imperative to use personal protective equipment such as gloves and overalls. Juniper resin is sticky and can be difficult to remove from clothing.In addition, it contains toxic compounds that can cause irritation if they come into contact with the skin or open wounds. Only common juniper is completely non-toxic, pruning and caring for it is absolutely safe.
There are several types of juniper pruning. Each of them performs specific functions and is carried out according to the appropriate scheme. Trimming can be:
- sanitary;
- thinning;
- formative.
Juniper can be trimmed in two ways.
- Spot. This method of pruning involves removing part of the shoot and transferring its growth to a pre-selected bud. This is done at the initial stage, when the juniper is still young and the bush is just forming its permanent skeleton.
- Blind. This is cutting with large garden shears, regardless of the location of the branches and buds. This method is used when the crown is fully formed and you just need to keep it in the required dimensions. The blind method is used when trimming hedges or bushes formed in the form of geometric shapes.
Having finished trimming, the entire tool must be cleaned and washed of resin. You can use alcohol, organic solvents or detergents for this. After this, the instrument must be dried and disinfected again before reuse.
Sanitary pruning
Sanitary pruning of common juniper is carried out with the aim of improving the health of the bush, as well as to prevent diseases or stop them at an early stage. It is usually done twice per season.The first time the procedure is carried out in early spring, after the snow has melted. At the same time, broken and frozen branches are removed, which can be easily identified by the change in color of the needles.
A repeat inspection for sanitary purposes is carried out in early autumn. At this time, broken, dry, improperly growing and diseased branches are cut out. Sanitary pruning sometimes has to be done involuntarily, at inopportune times, for example, in the event of disease or mechanical damage to the tree.
Thinning pruning
This type of pruning reduces the excessive density of the juniper crown and brightens the interior of the bush. Can be carried out in spring, as well as at the end of summer. During such pruning, shoots growing inwards are removed, trunks are cleared of small growth, and forks are eliminated, which in the future can cause the bush to break. Thinning the bush helps improve air exchange inside the crown, removes excess moisture, and this is important for the prevention of fungal diseases.
Formative pruning
Decorative varieties of juniper tend to grow quite quickly. Formative pruning limits their active growth and gives them a beautiful appearance. Basically, it consists of shortening the annual growth by about 20%, as well as cutting off shoots that exceed the dimensions of the formed crown. If the juniper is creeping, then it is formed into several large branches. All other shoots are completely cut out.
After the trimming is completed, the juniper needs care. To reduce the stress received by the plant, it is advisable to spray the bushes with a growth stimulant. This will promote the regeneration of damaged shoots and speed up the rehabilitation process.But the sections remaining after removing large branches do not need to be covered with anything.
Features of cutting junipers of different types
Some types of juniper have a predisposition to form a crown in one way or another. Therefore, when choosing a variety for planting, it is advisable to know in advance where it will grow and in what form it will be formed. For example, Chinese Blue Point or Kuriwao Gold can be used to shape the crown into a ball, flattened sphere or cushion shape by trimming. Rock juniper Wichita Blue is suitable for forming a crown in the shape of a cube, and Hibernica for a cylinder.
Some landscape designers prefer not to prune the juniper, maintaining the natural shape of its crown. This applies, first of all, to creeping varieties. However, even such species from time to time need to undergo a sanitary inspection and remove damaged and diseased shoots. Columnar juniper varieties also require minimal intervention. As a rule, only the annual growth that extends beyond the lateral dimensions of the crown is pruned.
Tips for shaping juniper trees
Pruning and shaping the crown of juniper is a rather interesting, although labor-intensive task. It is better to start forming decorative crowns with the simplest shapes - a cube, a rectangle. For convenience, you can use a rack or wire template. Only then, having gained the necessary experience and mastered the basic cutting techniques, can you begin to form the crown of the bushes in the form of more complex geometric shapes, such as balls, cones, pillows. After a few years, you can learn to cut out very complex shapes, for example, animal figures.
Here are a few more tips that will help you learn how to prune juniper correctly and avoid unnecessary mistakes when performing this work.
- The shoot growing upward is cut to the outer bud. If it grows downwards, then on the inside.
- All cuts are made at an angle of 45°.
- When cutting a branch for a bud, you should always leave a stump of 1.5-2 cm.
- All actions must be well calculated. Coniferous plants do not grow very quickly, so it will take several years to correct the mistake.
- It's always better to remove a little less than too much.
- You can remove no more than 20% of the annual growth.
It should be remembered that common juniper brought from the forest, even with good care, takes root very poorly. In addition, in many regions this plant is protected by law in the wild, since populations of this shrub reproduce extremely slowly. Therefore, you need to take plants for planting on your personal plot only from the nursery. In suitable conditions, they take root well, and in a couple of years they can be formed in the desired way.
Video about cutting juniper:
Conclusion
You can learn how to cut juniper correctly quite quickly if you do it regularly. The shrub tolerates this procedure well; it is only important not to overdo it and not subject it to severe stress by removing a large number of shoots. A beautifully trimmed bush can become a real decoration, a kind of calling card of the garden, and will delight both the owner and his guests for a long time.
