How to prune honeysuckle in winter

Winter pruning time

Honeysuckle is very cold-resistant and its leaves never fall off all year round, so winter pruning should not be done too early. However, because it sprouts very early in spring, pruning it late will cause nutrient loss. Therefore, it is best to prune honeysuckle during the period from Lesser Cold to Beginning of Spring.

Trimming Shapes

According to a survey of the high-yield honeysuckle garden, the best tree shape is a sparse umbrella shape. This kind of tree has a thick and upright trunk, evenly distributed branches, good ventilation and light transmission, many and strong branches, high yield, and is easy to manage and pick flowers.

The tree structure is: the trunk is about 30 cm high, the tree is about 1.3 meters high, there are 5-6 main branches, and each main branch has 2-3 groups of flowering branches.

Pruning methods

select

According to the above tree structure. Select the main branches, side branches and flowering branches. After selection, cut the branches short by 20-30 cm.

sparse

First, remove dead and injured branches, then remove horizontal branches, crossed branches, and thin branches and drooping shady branches that have lost the ability to bear flowers.

Change

That is, the flowering branch group is updated. After the flowering branches have produced flowers continuously, their growth potential weakens and they only produce a few small flowers. At this time, they should be cut off 4-5 cm from the base or from the lower strong branches to promote the growth of new flowering branches.

cut

After the flower branches bloom, the upper part becomes thin and weak, and the buds are numerous and weak, making it difficult to grow good flower branches. When pruning, you must shorten them from the thick part to promote the growth of strong flower branches. It is better to prune weak branches heavily and strong branches lightly. It is better to do it lightly rather than heavily. Generally, cut off about one-third of the branches.