Winter is the perfect time to take control and improve the health of your over-grown and struggling landscape plants. Below are our top 5 benefits of winter (or dormant) pruning.
- Take control– the winter is a great time to prune overgrown and out of control plants, because to do it right you will need to take out some major branches leaving areas with no leaves. Why not do this in the winter when all the leaves are gone.
- Spring vigor –pruning in the winter will allow for all of the plants stored energy to be pumped into the remaining stems allowing the plant to leaf out and better recover from a rejuvenation pruning.
- Fungus and insect control –some serious plant problems such as fireblight and oak wilt can be spread if susceptible plants are pruned during the growing season.
- Better results – we can see the branching structure and form of the plant much better when the leaves are off of the tree or shrub. This will help us make better cut selections.
- Stop the bleeding -pruning when cold reduces the oozing of sap from fresh cuts. Loss of sap from the tree results in a reduction of vital energy
It is important to note that there are several reasons not to prune some plants in the winter. For example, some plants may have dramatically reduced flowering if pruned in the winter!
In the video below Eichenlaub crew leader and Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist (PCH) Aaron Boynton explains the benefits and provide some great tips.
