Monday, March 11, 2013

What to Prune When

Take the mystery out of when to prune your plants by following our quick-and-easy guide.

By: Denny Schrock

Getting Started
A good starting point for pruning any plant is to remove dead, diseased, or damaged stems as soon as you see them. Dead stems attract insects and invite diseases to develop.
Also remove crossing branches, water sprouts (vigorous upright growing shoots that form on trunks or side branches), and suckers (vigorous shoots that develop near or from below ground).



Spring-Flowering Trees and Shrubs

Early-spring bloomers, such as lilac, forsythia, and rhododendron, bear flowers on wood formed the previous year. The best time to prune them is late spring -- immediately after they finish blooming. If you prune them later in the growing season or during winter, you'll remove flower buds and decrease the amount of spring bloom.

Test Garden Tip: To keep spring bloomers flowering vigorously, remove some of the oldest shoots all the way to the ground. This allows younger stems to grow and bloom.

Summer-Blooming Trees and Shrubs

   Plants that bloom in summer, such as potentilla, butterfly bush, and crape myrtle, produce their flowers on new growth from the current season. Prune them in winter while they're dormant, or in early spring just before they push out their new growth. You can even cut them all the way to the ground in late winter, and they'll still bloom that same summer.

   Test Garden Tip: Save time by using a pole pruner with a rotating head to remove stems all the way to the base of the plant. That way, you don't have to bend over for each cut, saving not only time, but also wear and tear on your back!

Hydrangeas

   Most hydrangea types -- pink, blue, or white mopheads and lacecaps, or oakleaf forms -- bloom on old wood. Prune these types of hydrangeas before midsummer. If you prune them in winter or early spring, you'll be removing flower buds.
   With newer reblooming types, such as the Endless Summer Series or Let's Dance Series, which bloom on new growth as well as old wood, timing of pruning is less critical. Even if you cut off some of the flower buds by pruning the old stems, the plant will bloom on the new growth.
   White-flowered paniculata (such as the varieties 'PeeGee' and 'Limelight') and arborescens (including 'Annabelle') types flower on new wood, so they can be pruned any time other than just before they bloom.


Shrubs Without Showy Blooms

   Cut back shrubs grown primarily for their foliage, such as barberry and burning bush, almost anytime except in late autumn. New growth that starts after late-season pruning won't harden off properly before winter. If you want to do major pruning, it's best to cut the shrub back when it is dormant in winter.

 
 
 


Prune Fruit Trees
Late Winter or Early Spring

   Most fruit trees, including apples, pears, cherries, and peaches, benefit from being thinned every year. This encourages a more open habit that keeps the trees healthy and makes it easier to harvest the produce. The best time to prune is before new growth develops

Prune Roses
Early Spring
   In most regions, you'll want to prune your roses just as or before new growth emerges from the canes. Cutting your roses back encourages strong, healthy shoots that will produce lots of blooms. A trim also gives the plants a more open habit, which helps them resist diseases such as black spot.
   Treat climbers and old garden roses that bloom only once per year the same as other spring-blooming shrubs: Pruning after they finish blooming.
   Repeat bloomers, including hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, miniatures, and modern shrub roses are pruned mostly to shape the plant or to remove winter-damaged canes. If they become overgrown, cut them back in early spring.

 Ornamental Grasses
Cut Back Early Spring

   Cut back ornamental grasses to about 4 inches tall before or just as they put out new growth. This is also the time to divide ornamental grasses, if you wish to do so.
   Test Garden Tip: Leave spent grass leaves on top of your compost pile so birds can easily access them to make nests.

Clipped Hedges


   Shrubs such as boxwood and privet are often sheared to form a hedge. To maintain a solid wall of green, shear the new growth frequently during the early part of the growing season. Keep the top narrower than the base so that the upper branches don't shade the lower ones. Stop shearing the hedge approximately six weeks before your area's average first frost.
   Test Garden Tip: If you're growing a privacy hedge, reduce the amount of pruning maintenance needed by selecting shrubs that grow only as tall and wide as necessary to provide screening. Allow them to grow into their natural form, and little, if any, pruning will be required.


Deciduous Shade Trees


   Prune shade trees such as oak, linden, and ash when they are dormant in winter. It's easiest to see the branching structure at this time of year, and you're less likely to spread diseases through the pruning wounds. As with nonblooming shrubs, avoid pruning them late in summer.
   Test Garden Tip: Trees that produce a heavy sap flow when pruned in winter -- maples, birches, elms, and dogwoods -- are known as "bleeders." The sap flow may be unsightly, but it doesn't harm the tree. To avoid the bleeding, you can wait until the leaves have fully expanded in summer to prune these species.

Deciduous Fruit Trees

   Apples (including crabapples), peaches, pears, plums, and cherries should be pruned in midwinter. Although winter pruning removes some of their flower buds, the goal in pruning fruit trees is to open up the tree to allow in more light for a better crop of fruit, rather than to get maximum bloom.
   Dormant pruning is especially important for apples, pears, and crabapples because pruning wounds during the growing season expose the trees to a bacterial disease called fireblight.
   Test Garden Tip: To control the spread of diseases while pruning, dip your pruning shears in rubbing alcohol or a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water.

Broadleaf Evergreens


   Most broadleaf evergreens, including holly, mahonia, and some types of magnolias, need little pruning. The best time to prune them is in early spring, just before they put on their growth spurt. You can do minor shaping and pruning at other times of year, too.
   Test Garden Tip: Save on holiday decorations by snipping a few branches for winter holiday greenery.


Needle-Leaf Evergreens



   Most trees and shrubs with needlelike or scalelike foliage (spruce, juniper, cypress, arborvitae, fir, yew, Douglas fir, and false cypress) are best pruned early in the growing season.
   Avoid cutting back into wood that has no green needles; it may not sprout new growth. As with broadleaf evergreens, you can trim a few branch tips in midwinter to take some greenery indoors.




Pines

   True pines are more particular about their pruning needs than other needle-leaf evergreens. Pines form buds only at branch tips before the stem becomes woody.
   For best results, prune pines only in the candle stage -- before the new shoots turn woody and before the needles have fully expanded. Prune only a portion of the new growth, removing up to half of the expanding candle.

Perennial Flowers

   Most perennial flowers look best if you remove faded flowers. This is called deadheading. As a bonus, many perennials will push out another cycle of blooms after deadheading.

   If your perennial flowers become too tall and leggy, or flop open in the middle, try shearing them back to 6-12 inches above the ground. This type of haircut causes them to branch and become stockier.

     
Bush Berries

   The most productive portions of blueberry, gooseberry, and currant bushes are stems that are three years old or less. To maintain a constant supply of productive wood, prune out about a third of the oldest stems on these shrubs each winter. Cut the old stems off at ground level.


Cane Berries
   Raspberries and blackberries grow on long stems called canes. On most types, the cane doesn't fruit until its second year of growth. After bearing fruit, that cane dies. But new first-year canes develop at the same time, and will bear fruit the following year.
   Remove two-year-old canes soon after they finish bearing. They won't fruit again, and they can otherwise spread disease. Pinch back the tips of first-year canes when they reach about 3-4 feet to cause the cane to branch.
   Everbearing types of raspberries are an exception. They form a late-summer crop on the tips of first-year canes. Don't pinch them back in midsummer. Instead, allow the canes to flower and fruit for a fall crop. Remove the stem tips that have borne fruit in winter. The following summer the lower portion of the stem will fruit. After it finishes bearing, completely remove the fruited cane.

Grape Vines


   Grapes grow vigorously and require extensive pruning each year to keep them productive. Most training systems for grapes involve developing a main stem or trunk with several lateral stems or arms. Grapes fruit on lateral shoots from the current season's woody growth.
   Prune all grapes close to the lateral arms each year during the dormant season to produce the best fruit. The degree of pruning depends on the vigor of the variety. Prune vigorous varieties more heavily than weak growers.



Thursday, March 7, 2013

How to Plant a Tree

How to Plant a Tree
A tree is one of the best landscaping investments you can make. Get tips for planting a tree to get it off to the best possible start.



Click on link below for educational video:
http://www.bhg.com/videos/m/59982136/how-to-plant-a-tree.htm?sssdmh=dm17.655946&esrc=nwgn030713ne

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Why are Honeybees Disappearing?

Why are Honeybees Disappearing?

Loss of honeybees could have devastating effect on agriculture and food supply.


Q: What is causing the dramatic decline in honeybee populations in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years, and what is being done about it?

Kids everywhere may revel in the fact that bees are no longer stinging them as frequently on playgrounds and in backyards, but the decline in honeybee populations in the U.S. and elsewhere signals a major environmental imbalance that could have far-reaching implications for our agricultural food supply.

The Importance of Honeybees
Brought here from Europe in the 1600s, honeybees have become widespread across North America and are bred commercially for their abilities to produce honey and pollinate crops—90 different farm-grown foods, including many fruits and nuts, depend on honeybees. But in recent years honeybee populations across the continent have plummeted by as much as 70 percent, and biologists are still scratching their heads as to why and what to do about the problem which they have termed “colony collapse disorder” (CCD).

Chemicals May Be Killing the Honeybees
Many believe that our increasing use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, which honeybees ingest during their daily pollination rounds, are largely to blame. Commercial beehives are also subjected to direct chemical fumigation at regular intervals to ward off destructive mites. Another leading suspect is genetically modified crops, which may generate pollen with compromised nutritional value.
It may be that the build-up of both synthetic chemicals and genetically modified crop pollen has reached a “tipping point,” stressing bee populations to the point of collapse. Lending credence to this theory is that organic bee colonies, where chemicals and genetically modified crops are avoided, are not experiencing the same kind of catastrophic collapses, according to the non-profit Organic Consumers Association.

Radiation May Push Honeybees Off Course
Bee populations may also be vulnerable to other factors, such as the recent increase in atmospheric electromagnetic radiation as a result of growing numbers of cell phones and wireless communication towers. The increased radiation given off by such devices may interfere with bees’ ability to navigate. A small study at Germany’s Landau University found that bees would not return to their hives when mobile phones were placed nearby. Further research is currently underway in the U.S. to determine the extent of such radiation-related phenomena on bees and other insect populations.

Scientists Still Searching for Cause of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder
A recent gathering of leading bee biologists yielded no consensus, but most agree that a combination of factors is likely to blame. “We’re going to see a lot of money poured into this problem,” says University of Maryland entomologist Galen Dively, one of the nation’s leading bee researchers. He reports that the federal government plans an allocation of $80 million to fund research in connection with CCD. “What we’re looking for,” Dively says, “is some commonality which can lead us to a cause.”

Please consider the effects when swatting your next honeybee.