Pruning forsythia - how and when to do
Forsythia is a bushy plant that begins to bloom in bright yellow in early spring. In order for it to have the correct shape and give an active vegetative part, you need to properly care for it. Pruning forsythia is carried out 2 times a year. There are several rules for the procedure.
When to trim
Regular removal of non-viable and excess sections is required due to the fact that the bush is a fast-growing one. Its dimensions reach 2 m in width and 3 in height, but it is too large for growing in the garden. Therefore, the diameter is reduced to 1.5 m.
The appearance of the forsythia bush
You need to know the timing of when to cut the forsythia, so as not to harm the plant. The first 3-4 years, active pruning of the bushes is not required. The plant must be given the opportunity to grow and get stronger. Then the solution of the problem when to cut forsythia is carried out in 2-3 stages. The pruning scheme involves 3 types of haircuts: first, regular and rejuvenating. They differ in the regularity and amount of material removed.
For the first time, pruning is carried out in March-April, even before the foliage appears, in the second year after planting. It is easy to visually identify dry and damaged parts, active sap flow has not yet begun. The first shearing of forsythia implies almost complete removal of shoots, leaving a few of the strongest ones.
The main correction is carried out in the spring, after flowering. In the summer, the bush will have time to recuperate. Additionally, the procedure can be carried out in the fall, but this pruning does not determine the intensity of growth and flowering of the bush for the next year.
Stages of forsythia bush formation
By standard, the next step is pruning the forsythia after flowering. Do not cut off many shoots at once, this will negatively affect the condition of the bush. Therefore, care is required throughout the year.
Pruning rules
Having decided when to prune forsythia, you should consider how to properly form a bush, when to prune branches and how. For work, you need to use a sharp tool, pruning shears and a garden saw. They should leave an even cut. The metal is pre-disinfected with an antiseptic.
The instruction implies a step-by-step sequence of actions:
- Getting rid of shoots that make the bush thick.
- Shortening of new processes that have gone into growth.
- Pruning shoots that have already bloomed.
- Complete removal of dry and diseased processes.
When ennobling a bush, branches are removed that are low above the ground or those that touch it. Similarly, shoots that grow inward or come into contact with other shoots are destroyed.
In the process of work, you need to know how long the arrow should be shortened. Young branches that have already faded are shortened by 50% in the summer. If damaged shoots are found, they are removed to a level of 6-7 cm from the ground.
There is such a thing as anti-aging pruning. This is the care of the bush in 2 stages in 2 years. The first year, all old shoots are eliminated, leaving no more than 5 main ones. The next year, when the bush gives many young shoots, you need to remove the remaining old ones. The remaining young are shortened so that they begin to branch.
Bush formation stages
How to form a bush
The formation of forsythia is required not only for the timely removal of old and diseased shoots. Another task of the procedure is to preserve the decorative appearance of the bush. Molding starts from 2 years of shoot growth. Superfluous shoots are monitored strictly, immediately cutting off the excess so that the stem does not twist. Avoid simultaneous pruning of many units at once, so as not to make the bush visually naked and not to weaken it before winter.
It is given a different shape: a cone, a ball, a parallelepiped. These are easily reproducible options that do not require a lot of imagination and effort. Which one is better to choose depends on the type of crown: weeping, hanging, normal, with a vertical orientation.
The plant is often used to create hedges. If this type of molding is planned, then for 2-3 years the plant is not touched. During this time, the shoots are gaining strength, the stem thickens, the shoots are intertwined. Pruning forsythia is carried out in the shape of a rectangle or trapezoid. A number of requirements are imposed on the hedge: it must be thick inside and strong, but let the light pass inside.
The task of how to form forsythia depends on the chosen option for the appearance of the bush. If the crown is natural, then you need to produce the main main part 1 time in 3 years and annual preventive.
To give the shape of a pyramid or trapezoid, you need to cut off the shoots in the second year according to the desired template. After the first pruning, the shape is corrected 2 times a year: in the spring the main part, in the fall slightly.
Shortening forsythia shoots
Formation of forcing into a ball is carried out in several ways. The first is to shorten all the shoots to the same length every year. The second is pruning the shoots according to the chosen shape. The method requires compliance with the geometry of the structure so that the bush does not look sloppy. It is not necessary to cut the stems to shape, you can simply bend the shoot.
Care after pruning
After the crown has been formed as a result of spring care, forsythia is fed and the roots are ennobled. Immediately after winter, the bush is mulched with humus, and then watered.
When the shoots are covered with buds, mineral fertilizers are applied, and after flowering - nitroammofosk and selenium. At the end of summer, the bush needs potassium and phosphorus. In the warm season, there is a need for careful control of soil moisture. If rainfall occurs frequently, then additional watering is not needed. In dry weather, the soil is moistened.
After the autumn pruning, the substrate where the forsythia grows is moistened, the roots are insulated with needles and rotten foliage in a volume of 10 cm.
If the bush did not bloom in the spring after the autumn correction of growth, this is not necessarily due to the wrong technology. Perhaps the optimal planting site has not been selected for forsythia, or fertilizers have not been applied in time. The bush loves places with good lighting, but without an excess of moisture.
