Questions tagged [pruning]
Questions about how to best cut plant branches, vines or stems. For questions about root pruning please use the [root-pruning] tag.
541
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My sunflowers are too tall (over 5') and butting into the top of my enclosed garden
I planted seeds for 3 varieties of sunflowers: autumn beauty, mexican, sunspot. I'm not sure which but one of the varieties just grew and kept growing and did not flower. At this point, it is over 5' ...
6
votes
1answer
70 views
How do I trim my Japanese Maple to determine its shape?
The tree was put in the ground about 6 years ago. For the most part, I have let it grow with no interference; only trimming extra long branches. I lost a middle branch growing upwards in year 2 due ...
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10 views
How to branch indoors grown mango?
I have this mango tree, which is about 7-8 years old and 150cm - 200cm high. But its still not branching, still only growing new straight trunk.
How do I make it to branch abit? Should I prune it? If ...
2
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0answers
22 views
Should I prune this avocado tree?
I was given this Avocado tree by a friend at the beginning of May. The attached photo is from today, June 18th. How much of it, and where, should I prune it so it stays healthy? Keep in mind that I ...
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1answer
49 views
What should i do with this tree?
Some branches are not producing leaves. And it it branching out. What should I do with the tree. Prune or..?
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7 views
Chinese Yam - is it safe to prune vines to get more leaves?
It's second season (tubers have survived winter in soil), new vines grow incredibly fast, I think that's 4 cm or so every day. Unlike first season, now vines are thick (size similar as my finger), ...
3
votes
1answer
42 views
How to prune hydrangeas that are too heavy
I recently purchased a half dozen hydrangeas from a local garden store and they've started blooming. However they are quite droopy, with the droopiest pictured here. They seem healthy otherwise: ...
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1answer
15 views
Protecting the pruned stem of a yucca with wax?
As mentioned in another question I have a large yucca houseplant which I need to prune back. I live in central New York State (USA) which has a temperate & wettish climate.
I noticed in a couple ...
3
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1answer
34 views
Cutting back 2/3rds of a very tall indoor yucca
This plant was given to us about 10 years ago, and over the years it has gradually reached about 9' in height. Unfortunately I don't know what it is, maybe identifying it is the first step.
(I looked ...
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1answer
23 views
Will my young avocado tree grow up tall if the top burned off during it's first summer in the ground? Or is it's vertical growth stunted now…?
About 2.5 years ago I planted a 4-5 foot avocado tree and didn't realize how truly delicate these things were. I planted it in January and it had a harsh summer with many branches burning off ...
3
votes
1answer
39 views
Are these Dracaena Spikes? Should I prune them more?
Moved into a new place and not sure what these are. I'm in Michigan.
I cut off the clearly dead leaves, but then there's a handful that are kind of spotty brown or half yellow which I left. Also, ...
2
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0answers
18 views
How to prune lantana plant back to life
I have a slow dieing lantana plant which even with re-potting dropped all leaves and I basically put it under sun with no water to die...few days back as I was doing regular checkup on my balcony ...
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0answers
23 views
Suggested pot size for fruit trees?
In different orangeries the pots for fruit trees (in particular citrus fruit) seem rather small compared to what some gardeners suggest, and also compared to the following root ball table. What ...
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0answers
13 views
Pruning miniature olive trees
I have a small Cailletier olive tree that I hoping to keep indoors. I live in New England so it cannot be outdoors in the winter.
It is currently getting somewhat long and sprawling in its branches ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
Can you help me prune my chilis?
I'm new to gardening, this is the second time for me trying to make a vegetable garden. Last year I bought a plant of chili and it grew very big. Some branches became very long at the bottom and with ...
2
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0answers
69 views
How to trim an Aloe that grew too tall
I have an Aloe that has thrived, and has grown to be too tall for its own body weight.
How should I trim this lovely plant.
Propped up
4
votes
1answer
47 views
How to fix lead branch being damage on Catalpa tree?
I woke to find the two contending lead branches snapped off. Not entirely sure why as the winds have been mild. I hope not foul play. This is a Southern Catalpa tree. I live in south Texas. None of ...
3
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0answers
24 views
Can new branches be grafter to cedar hedge stump
I have a large cedar hedge that in most parts is very full and dense, but due to excessive outward growth and lack of consistent pruning, there are sections that are very open and "woody", ...
3
votes
2answers
403 views
Missed apple pruning window
I have a 5 year old spur bearing apple tree, Christmas Pippin variety.
I’ve missed the winter pruning window, and it’s just starting to bud, so definitely no longer dormant.
I’ve pruned the last 2 ...
3
votes
1answer
112 views
Have I killed my avocado plant?
I have just planted my avocado seed in soil, and it had grown about 30 cm tall. I read online that you were supposed to cut it back when it was still around 20 cm so two weeks ago I did what everyone ...
1
vote
1answer
21 views
Growing a trimmed holly as a tree
I bought a holly (Oakland) that I wanted online because I could not find it locally.
The nursery trimmed and shaped it nicely before shipping including cutting the central leader.
I want this to grow ...
4
votes
1answer
23 views
Is it correct to space cuts when pruning?
I have been reading about how to prune grape vines and olive trees, and in multiple occasions it is recommended, when performing a cut, to leave a short collar from its base, (possibly in proportion ...
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0answers
24 views
Planting bare root perennials
I bought some bare root perennial flowers which have some fairly long roots attached.
Should I trim up these roots before planting? As is, the hole will need to be very wide lest the roots be twisted ...
0
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1answer
43 views
Perfect trees that doesn't require pruning
Recently I've finished pruning fruit trees and two 'weird' question crossed my mind:
Is it possible to produce a tree (or fruit or vegetable) that doesn't need pruning at all? Is possible to achieve ...
0
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1answer
59 views
Should I prune this Java Plum (Syzygium cumini) or not?
I have this plant grown from seed of the fruit that was planted last year after summer (probably around August). They were lush green and the leaves are really big. However, this plant is not even an ...
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0answers
114 views
How to encourage a Dracaena marginata to grow for its trunk?
We have a Draceana marginata for 3-4 years now that is generally growing well and happy. We have cut it back last summer, propagated the cuttings and planted them back to the mother plant's pot to get ...
2
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0answers
30 views
Can I notch a fig tree to promote branching?
I have a small garden. One area that gets a lot of sun is along a fence, so I decided to try an espaliered fig tree. My problem is that the tree doesn’t have many branches low down. Is there anything ...
0
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0answers
28 views
Why some types of banana trees seem to grow better when I leave the dried leaves on them?
I always thought that leaving the dried leaves was good, according to my experience, but then I saw on google that cutting the dried leaves stimulates growth, so I'm confused. I noticed that the dried ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
How do I preserve a rose bush over the winter?
Having moved into a new house over the Summer (UK), I am keen to preserve the very good state in which the previous residents left the garden.
In particular, there is a lovely rose bush growing along ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Is it safe to hard prune my basil plant?
My basil plant has lost all the leaves 12-14 inches from the the bottom. The plant is looking leggy. I want to make it look bushier and short. Would it be safe to prune it by cutting it into half or 2/...
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1answer
30 views
When (in the lifetime of the plant) should the first hard pruning of budleja be performed?
I already have one budleja (butterfly bush) (it was already on the site where I started working on it), and I prune it every early spring. It grows really well every year.
However, I bought another ...
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2answers
106 views
Are My Plants Getting too much Sun?
I have two plants who have been in the sun for less thann 24hrs and their leaves look brown and wilted. The leaves are soft and leathery. I just moved and heard that plants don't like to be moved much,...
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0answers
28 views
Reducing Leyland cypress to several lateral upward branches
I do have 12 years old, 9 meters (30 ft) tall, 4.5 meters (15 ft) wide, not-ever-pruned Leyland cypress. As you can guess, it threatens touching utility lines, and I think I have to remove it because ...
2
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0answers
86 views
Proper pruning for Globe Catalpa to encourage upward growth and health
I bought a house that came with Globe Catalpa trees. The prior owner insisted I should cut of all the branches every year after it had gone dormant. That seemed like an absurd and stressing thing to ...
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0answers
24 views
Rose shrub suddenly dying 1 month after transplantion
I live in South India .We bought this yellow rose 4 years ago, which blooms and slowly turns white in color after few days.[Since I don't know which variety it is]
Earlier,we planted the shrub beside ...
2
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0answers
49 views
7 years old Rose shrub giving shriveled up leaves and flowers
I live in South India ,we shifted into our new house 7 years ago and planted this dark pink rose soon after from a nursery .There were 2 of them, but one of them died soon after planting, from shock I ...
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0answers
29 views
Indoor tree wasn't properly watered and now it seems the top is dead, what should I do?
Indoor tree wasn't properly watered and now it seems the top is dead, what should I do?
Couldn't attach photos so I created a google photo album. Any help would be great thanks. I was advised to cut ...
3
votes
0answers
46 views
When and how should a wisteria be pruned?
I just moved into a house which has two well established wisteria plants growing on the front of it.
To our knowledge, it's been here for about 30+ years and we'd like to get it under a little control ...
3
votes
1answer
29 views
Should I prune a group 1 Clematis in autumn?
I have a climbing Clematis Montana (Gothenburg) which I planted in May (I'm in East England). As this is a group 1 variety, it is supposed to flower early — I haven't seen any flowering this year. It ...
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0answers
19 views
Making branches of Sophora pendula beautifully curvy?
Is there a special pruning technique needed to achieve curly/spiraled branches of Sophora pendula like in this picture (image too large to upload, click the link to see it) or this:
My weeping ...
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0answers
23 views
Is there any concern to prune back lilly pilly and Murraya rather aggressive?
I have two plants that have grown over the years without serious trimming/pruning. As you can see in the pictures, they have grown a lot taller than the fence.
I want to trim them back to about 0.5m ...
3
votes
1answer
44 views
Entire apple seedling was eaten, but miraculously came back as two. Now what?
At the beginning of the pandemic, house bound, I decided I wanted to try germinating apple seeds from fruits I had consumed. After a dormancy, one of the seeds actually sprouted and I was obsessed ...
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1answer
58 views
How early should I start pruning Western Red Cedar planted as a hedge?
I planted a row of Thuja plicata somewhat over a year ago as a boundary hedge. It's quite shady so they have not grown much but they are surviving and growing.
They're about 3' (1m) tall but quite ...
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1answer
207 views
0
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1answer
57 views
Should I prune my Crassula rogersii?
I have what I think is a little Crassula rogersii that's been growing out in three branches from a little trunk. The branch in the middle seems to be getting somewhat top-heavy (you can see how this ...
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0answers
27 views
Dry plant is back to life
My plant went dry when the covid started, I couldn’t give it too much attention (but it has a drip irrigation) on how it went, but then I noticed it was all dry (not a single leaf).
Some weeks ago, ...
2
votes
1answer
217 views
Pruning / restarting a birds of paradise tree
Hello I have several large birds of paradise trees (strelitzia nicolai), seen in the picture below.
Since I live in a a seasonal climate they need to be taken indoors over the winter. Unfortunately ...
2
votes
1answer
58 views
Is it safe to prune redbud in summer?
I have a young (2-3 year old) redbud tree that has some low branches that are sagging and need to be pruned. I know the preferred time of year to do so has already passed (early summer, just after ...
0
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0answers
39 views
Will the plant below be able to flourish without trimming the one on top?
After cutting off the root of the plant on top (I had to - long story), I'm wondering whether the one at the bottom will be able to eventually "take its place" without me having to intervene....
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2answers
59 views
Pruning Coleus (and silly 15 character requirement)
I have some coleus that about 20-24 inches tall and "leggy", as they say. So I want to prune them down and have looked at several YT videos. But their plants are all perfect for pruning ...
