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It is necessary to prune honeysuckle in the spring if this procedure was not done in the fall. Without pruning, the shrub loses its decorative effect and fruiting deteriorates. However, the problem is the fact that the plant awakens early in the spring. If you don’t get the timing right, the procedure will cause severe injuries to the bush.
Should honeysuckle be pruned in spring?
Honeysuckle itself is easy to care for. This is even evidenced by the reviews of many gardeners. It can be decorative and edible. The bushes usually grow up to 1.5 m high. They make a beautiful green hedge. However, all types of crops require pruning. The intensity of the event is related to the nutritional value of the soil on which honeysuckle grows, as well as the frequency of watering.
Pruning is necessary to obtain a large harvest of large berries.
To get a good harvest, honeysuckle is fed and watered abundantly. With a lack of moisture and nutrients, the berries become smaller, and there are fewer of them every year. However, water and fertilizing stimulate the growth of branches. Over time, the bush becomes very thickened.If it is not trimmed, the same problem will appear again. Few berries will grow, and they will all be small.
When growing honeysuckle for the sake of decorativeness for a green hedge, pruning is done less frequently. The procedure helps to form bushes. It is impossible to do without pruning completely. If the bush becomes dense, it will lose its decorative properties. A lot of dry leaves and broken branches will appear.
To properly prune a honeysuckle bush, you need to know where the fruit buds are located on the branches.
To properly prune honeysuckle in spring, you need to know the location of the fruit buds. At the bottom of all branches there are growth buds. Often they can be solitary. Starting from the middle to the top of the branches, there are buds that produce shoots and flowers. In the first and second years of a seedling's life, the apical bud grows and usually dies. On the new branch, side shoots grow from buds located above and below. From these, skeletal branches are formed in the future.
In summing up, it remains to find out the benefits of pruning:
- The procedure helps thin the bush. Sunlight and fresh air flows penetrate inside the crown. The berries gain sweetness, become larger, and the number of ovaries increases.
- An unthickened bush gives powerful growth faster. All skeletal branches will grow straight, directed upward towards the sunlight.
- It is more convenient to harvest on a well-groomed bush.
There is no doubt about the need for pruning. Whether the procedure can be done in the spring is another question.This is usually done in the fall. In the spring, gardeners carry out only sanitary pruning. Remove frozen or damaged branches. If it was not possible to form a crown in the fall, then you will have to do this work with the onset of warmth. It is only important to guess the timing correctly.
Video on how to prune honeysuckle in spring:
Timing for spring pruning of honeysuckle
With the arrival of warm days, honeysuckle begins its growing season early. The buds may begin to swell while there is still snow. At this time it is too late to prune. But early spring with frosts is not the best time for the procedure. It is desirable that a stable temperature above zero be established outside. For most cool regions, this period begins in March.
You cannot prune branches if the buds on the honeysuckle have awakened.
In the southern regions the climate is warm. Even in March it will be too late to prune. Here the optimal time is determined individually, but it is better to form a bush in the fall.
Scheme for pruning honeysuckle in spring
Honeysuckle seedlings develop slowly after planting. However, from the first year and throughout all years of life, the bush is pruned. Even when spring is selected for this procedure, the diagram looks like this:
- The first spring pruning of edible honeysuckle involves shortening the seedling during planting. If the root system is severely damaged, 1/3 of the shoots are removed.
- Sanitary pruning is mandatory every spring. Remove broken, frozen, and animal-gnawed branches.
- Detailed pruning is carried out throughout the growing season. Small, dry, underdeveloped shoots are removed from honeysuckle.
- The crown begins to form on bushes that have reached three years of age.If there are old, outdated branches, they are cut off at the newest point of growth of a new shoot. In spring, branches growing inside the crown and touching the ground are removed. Shoots with small growth are simply shortened.
- Partial rejuvenation is carried out on honeysuckle when it is 7-10 years old. The following procedures are performed every 5 years. In the spring, remove as many old branches as possible from the bush. When pruning, a stump several centimeters high is left. The rejuvenated plant retains 5 powerful skeletal branches.
During partial rejuvenation, 5 skeletal branches are left on the honeysuckle
- If honeysuckle has not been cared for for 15 years, the neglected shrub requires radical rejuvenation. All branches are cut off, leaving small stumps 30-50 cm high. A new crown will be formed from them. However, experienced gardeners advise that it is better to carry out this procedure not in the spring, but in the fall, in order to reduce the damage to the plant.
It is better to do radical rejuvenation in the fall
Any pruning of honeysuckle in the spring for beginning gardeners is difficult and raises many questions. Here it is important to understand the fact that after rejuvenation in the first year you should not wait for the harvest. Flower buds are mainly located at the tips of shoots that have been removed. Another nuance is that dormant growth buds are located at the base of the skeletal branches. For this reason, it is necessary to leave hemp when pruning.
How to prune honeysuckle in spring
Compliance with the scheme is the main requirement when pruning in spring. However, there are also order rules for each action.They help to optimally form the crown in the spring, causing less injury to the plant.
When pruning a bush in the spring, follow not only the diagram, but also the rules for the order of actions performed.
Proper pruning of honeysuckle bushes in spring occurs in the following order:
- First, dry and diseased shoots are removed. The next branches are weak and with obvious damage.
- The bush is freed from branches lying on the ground. They won't be of any use. They don’t even need to be removed immediately, but used for propagation. In the spring, the branches are buried in soil and watered abundantly. After rooting, they are cut off from the mother bush and transplanted to another place as a full-fledged seedling.
- After freeing the lower part of the crown, cut off all the gnarled shoots growing inside the bush, the tops.
At the end of the process, the shoots are removed from the base of the trunk. The soil in the tree trunk circle is loosened, freed from weeds, and mulched.
Tips from experienced gardeners for pruning honeysuckle in spring
Any procedure for caring for a plant has many nuances and secrets. Experienced gardeners are ready to share some of them.
Blooming honeysuckle is beautiful in a hedge
After pruning in the spring, gardeners recommend feeding the shrub, since this procedure brought great stress to the plant. It is best to use organic matter. Place a bucket of compost under each bush. Phosphorus-potassium complexes are suitable minerals, but the dosage must be observed.
There can be sour berries even if the pruning is done correctly in the spring. Perhaps the plant does not get enough sun in the first half of the day. It is advisable to plant the shrub so that it is in the sun before lunch, and in the shade after lunch.
Similarly, bitterness in berries does not always appear from a violation of pruning technology.Often the weather is to blame, or the gardener did not water the plantings enough during the hot months. Sometimes bitterness is a varietal characteristic.
Conclusion
It is better for experienced gardeners to prune honeysuckle in the spring. If you guess the timing incorrectly, the plant can be seriously harmed. Then you will have to wait even longer for the harvest. It is optimal for novice gardeners to start this procedure in the fall and carry out a sanitary inspection in the spring.
