Ten major misunderstandings and countermeasures in pruning seedlings

Misunderstanding 1: Focus on tree shape and ignore growth

The first thing to do in pruning is to ensure that the tree can grow normally, and the second is to make it have a more beautiful tree shape for viewing. This is the basic principle of seedling pruning. However, in daily work, many people put the cart before the horse, putting "beauty" first, and taking measures such as cutting large branches to adjust the shape of the tree, which affects the normal growth of seedlings. Therefore, before pruning, you must first carefully design the pruning plan and make not affecting the normal growth of seedlings the first priority of pruning.

Misconception 2: Focus on thinning branches and pruning, but not on thinning flower buds

In order to reduce the amount of flowers, make the flowers larger and last longer, some people often thin out or shorten the branches of flowering shrubs such as peach and elmleaf plum. In fact, during the pruning process, especially in winter or early spring, while ensuring the normal growth of seedlings and beautiful tree shape, the thinning or shortening of branches can be appropriately reduced. Thinning out the overly dense flower buds can also effectively concentrate nutrients, so that the retained flower buds will bloom large and have a long flowering period.

Misconception 3: Focus on dormancy and neglect growth

At work, many people pay more attention to pruning seedlings during the dormant period, but neglect pruning during the growth period such as pinching off tips and removing suckers. Little do people know that pruning seedlings during the growing period is also very important. Reasonable pruning can not only make the seedlings grow vigorously and form a beautiful crown, but also effectively reduce the workload of pruning during the dormant period. For example, pinching peach trees from mid-May to mid-June can effectively control the upward movement of the flowers and increase the fullness of the flower buds. Pinching small trees can help them take shape earlier. In mid-to-late July, thinning out overcrowded branches can effectively improve the ventilation and light conditions of the tree crown, and promote the diversion of nutrients to flower bud differentiation. In addition, pinching some flowering shrubs in mid-to-late August can effectively control the growth of new shoots, promote branch fullness, and improve the branches' ability to overwinter.

Misconception 4: Focus on the period before flowering and ignore the period after flowering

At work, people often pay attention to the pre-flowering pruning of ornamental seedlings, because pre-flowering pruning can ensure the quality of flowering. Post-flowering pruning is often neglected, which affects the growth of such seedlings, the differentiation of flower buds and the quality of flowering in the following year. Pruning after flowering is also a very important task and must be done thoroughly and thoroughly. For example, flowering shrubs such as peach, plum, and peony should have their remaining flowers cut off promptly after flowering. If the remaining flowers are not cut off in time, the plants will bear fruit, thereby consuming a large amount of nutrients, affecting the differentiation of flower buds, and resulting in fewer or smaller flowers in the next year. In addition, flowering shrubs that bloom multiple times, such as crape myrtle and roses, should be pruned promptly after each flowering. This can promote the growth of new branches and new flowers.

Misconception 5: Focus on truncation and neglect update

For some flowering shrubs, when pruning, people focus on shortening the branches while neglecting the renewal of the branches. For example, when pruning the Malus schefflera, people misunderstanding its habit of "blooming on old branches" and only focus on shortening some branches while ignoring the renewal of some old flowering branches. In fact, the most luxuriant flowering of the crabapple tree occurs on branches that are 3 to 5 years old, and the flowering ability of branches that are more than 5 years old gradually weakens. Therefore, the old flowering branches should be renewed in time to keep the whole plant in a lush flowering state.

Misconception 6: Focus on the trunk and ignore the main branches

At work, we often see some roadside trees with straight trunks, but the main branches are unevenly distributed. They all grow on the same track, suffering from the "bottleneck disease". This situation is caused by neglecting the selection of main branches. This not only affects the opening of the tree crown, but also in strong convective weather and after heavy snow, large branches and trunks are very likely to split. The correct way is to select relatively thick new branches in different directions as main branches for cultivation. The selected branches must be evenly distributed and staggered up and down. In this way, the crown of the tree can be more open and the ability to resist wind and snow can be stronger.

Myth 7: Focus on crown ventilation and ignore the life of seedlings

When pruning seedlings such as Prunus armeniaca, Peach Blossom Tree, and Plane Tree, many people like to prune them into a cup shape, claiming that the cup-shaped crown is more ventilated and less likely to attract diseases and pests. Little do people know that although the cup-shaped crown has good ventilation, it violates the growth habits of the seedlings and shortens their lifespan due to excessive thinning of branches. The correct way is to adopt a happy-open-heart shape for flowering shrubs such as Prunus armeniaca and Prunus persica, so that the entire crown is oblate, which not only allows the plants to be ventilated and light-permeable, but also is conducive to the growth of seedlings. For plane trees, if there are no electric wires above and no pipes below, a natural round crown shape should be adopted. This not only provides a large shade area but also is conducive to plant growth.

Misconception 8: Focusing on pruning results instead of pruning order

The most taboo when pruning is disorder. When pruning ornamental flowers and trees, you should first observe and analyze whether the seedlings are balanced. If they are unbalanced, you should first analyze the reasons. If the growth is strong due to too many branches, especially large branches, thinning should be carried out. Before thinning branches, you must first decide the number of large branches to be retained and their position on the main branches, and cut off the useless large branches first. After the large branches are in shape, you can then prune the small branches. It is advisable to start from the top of each main branch or side branch and proceed downwards in sequence. For an ordinary seedling, you should cut the upper part first and then the lower part; cut the inner branches first and then the outer branches. When several people are pruning a sapling together, they should study the pruning plan first before starting.

Myth 9: Ignore post-cutting treatment

Wounds are often left during the pruning of garden trees. Sometimes, larger wounds are caused by retracting large branches, or splitting occurs due to a large opening angle. If not protected and treated in time, the branches will dry up, or be soaked in rainwater and infected by pathogens, causing branch and trunk diseases and weakening the tree. Therefore, the wound should be treated in time after pruning. In addition, diseased branches that are cut off should be dealt with promptly and uniformly to avoid the spread of the disease.

Mistake 10: Ignoring pruning tools

When pruning seedlings, all tools should be sharp and pruning should not cause tearing of the seedling bark, breaking of branches, or breakage. Tools used to prune diseased branches should be disinfected with copper sulfate before being used to prune other branches to prevent cross infection.