Taking the time to prune all of your plants, trees, and shrubs can be a long and tedious process. With all of the rules that come with pruning, it can turn a lot of people off to the idea. However, there are a lot of rules you can break to make pruning a more simple process.
“You can kill your plants if you prune at the wrong time.”
Killing a plant by simply pruning is something that’s not easy to do unless you over prune. Every plant does have its optimal time for when you should prune them, but don’t let this limit you. If you need to remove dead, weak, or damaged wood, go ahead and do it. No matter the time of year, you can prune your plants without worrying about their possible death.
“Prune your plants to bring them back to life.”
Yes, you should remove wood and branches that are damaged, infected, or dead. However, you also want to let a sick plant or tree recover before placing any more stress on it that could kill it even more. Hold off on pruning while you focus on curing whatever is affecting the plant, whether it’s sick or riddled with pests. After the plant becomes healthy once again, pruning can resume.
“Bandage up all of the wounds with a sealer.”
Sealing cuts in a tree to prevent infection or moisture from getting inside of it sounds like a good idea, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Sealing wood with a sealer could end up sealing moisture within the wood, doing exactly what you’re trying to prevent in the first place. If the branch or wound is a rugged, rough one, you can go ahead and make a clean cut to allow it to heal faster.
Pruning is a necessity for most plants, trees, and shrubs, but some of its so-called “rules” can be broken.
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