How to prune wood chrysanthemums and how to prune them during flowering

Wood chrysanthemum pruning time

Wood chrysanthemum can be pruned four times a year, usually in summer. It should be topped and pinched in mid-to-late June. When topping, you can keep a dozen leaves from top to bottom and cut off all the leaves at the bottom. This can control the height and make it beautiful.

How to prune wood chrysanthemum

1. Infancy

Wood chrysanthemum seedlings need to be pruned during the early stage, which can promote flowering and inhibit the wild growth of the plant. Generally, they can be topped and pinched several times in the early stage. If the plant grows slowly, the pinching can be reduced appropriately, but pinching should be stopped at the beginning of autumn to avoid affecting the growth of the plant.

2. Summer pruning

The growth rate of wood chrysanthemum is relatively fast. It can be thinned out in mid-June every year, which can be done after the plant is topped. The more branches on the main branches should be thinned out. It is only necessary to ensure that there are 2 to 3 branches on each main branch to reduce nutrient consumption.

3. Pruning before flowering

Proper pruning of wood chrysanthemum before flowering can increase the amount of flowering. After buds appear, the side buds and axillary buds should be cut off, leaving only one bud at the top. At the same time, the thick branches should be shortened by 5 to 10 centimeters to encourage nutrients to be more concentrated at the roots.

4. Pruning after flowering

After the flowers of wood chrysanthemum wither, you need to cut off the remaining and dead flowers, as well as the diseased and insect-infested branches, weak branches, dead branches, and broken branches. You can start from the base and at the same time thin out the axillary buds to allow them to sprout more new buds.