Pruning and Shearing Continued

All about Shearing

I always think its hard to find a good pair of shears. Look for the gap in between the blades, this is a good place to start while shear shopping. If you can see a lot of seperation between the  blades keep going through the shears till you find the pair with the least amount of seperation. Make sure you do some practice cuts in the air. There is a sound I look for it sounds like slice/snap is the best way I can describe it. Blades with seperation will not make that sound. Poor shears will have a tendency to tear stems and leaves and not leave clean cuts.

For shears hold them upside down. By doing this they are more ergonomic if you will. This is a technique my Dad taught me. From a gardening standpoint and how it effected my professional life, it was brilliant! Try it.

Shears can be used effectively on twiggy shrubs like Spirea, Leptodermis, and Caryopteris. If you are using the shears right after blooming annually they can be used on Weigela with great results. Its when you get into thicker diameter wood on plants like Hydrangea, Viburnum, that I choose to use the handpruners or loppers to place my cuts exactly where I want them.

After pruning evergreens with shears clean the sap off the blades otherwise they get really sticky and nasty over time. Steel wool is helpful if your shears are already in this condition. Rubbing alcohol seems to remove the sap as good as anything.

Pruning Evergreens vs Deciduous

Avoid pruning evergreens or conifers between August 1 and Nov. 1 , in particular shrubs like Yews, Arborvitae, Juniper and Chamaecyparis. These shrubs will regenerate new growth during this time period and it will not have time to harden off before the frost comes and then it gets burned back and looks awful because its all brown and nasty.

I generally avoid pruning deciduous plants during Aug – Nov for the same reason I avoid it on the evergreens. However, the damage is not so noticeable as it is on the evergreens because the plants lose their foliage anyway.  

Pines , Spruce and Fir are to be candled not trimmed. Sign up for the Blue River Nursery  newsletter and watch for the date of our Pine, Spruce and Fir candling seminar at the nursery in late May, like the 25th-ish. If you can not make it here is the written version..

Generally the Spruce and Fir will candle or send new growth out around May 1 – 10. Once you have 3”to 6” to 12” of new growth you can pinch half of it off. This will stunt the growth of the tree, and enable you to shape the plant to taste.

Pine will candle out later in the season. I generally candle them around May 25 or so. The trick with Pine is to not pinch the new growth off back into the area of the stem where no new needles will emerge. If you look closely at the new stems half of the stem will look like its has  little budsites for needles the half closer to the tree will not have this.

The new growth on each branch is arranged in a star pattern. Leave the center stem in that star longer than the ones on the outer portion of the star.

Junipers, Arbs, and Chamaecyparis are generally good candidates for shearing, although not hard. If you do it annually and lightly just taking some of the whiskers off, the plant will keep a nice natural appearance and a semi tight shape.

Japanese Maples 2 times a year at most, 2 nodes back and after each flush. This is a production method of mine. Absolutely no pruning after Aug 1 till Nov after some good hard freezes. Hand prune always! I know of only one tree that has been sheared that looks good. Its just not the way to do it.

Some of the most profound pruning advice I have heard “Prune when the blade is sharp”

There is some truth to this however there are some drawbacks that we will discuss. I think the same person came up with “Strike while the  irons hot and Seize the moment”.

We aren’t done yet.  There will be one more blog detailing how to prune different decidious plants.  Stay tuned!