If there’s one thing that human beings really, really are afraid to do, it’s trimming plants. I hear this all the time; “I was afraid to trim them, I was afraid I’d kill them.”
First of all, you are not going to kill things simply by trimming them. Of course cutting things to much during the growing season can be a problem, but truth be told you’d have to trim them really hard to do harm, even during the growing the season.
This spring I purchased some Gold Coast Juniper liners from a friend of mine, a local grower. These plants had been in the flats for a while and were thin on the bottom and tall and lanky.
So before potting them, we trimmed them.
Here’s a video shot several months later showing how the plants look now after that wicked pruning job. Yeah, it starts out with me and the donkeys, ends up with an Annabelle Hydrangea Cutting. ??
Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I’ll respond.
Hi Mike,
Great stuff, I am in zone 8 and I have propagated hundreds of Emerald Green Arborvitae over the summer. Nice plants, I have now potted those into one gallon pots with hope of selling over the winter and spring. Do you do any sort of trimming and shaping on those or do they just grow on naturally into their pyramid shape. Thanks a bunch I have learned a ton just by watching the videos and would like to join the backyard growers club. Is it open now for a test drive?
Mike,
Emerald Green Arborvitae do a really nice job of growing pyramidal with little to no help at all. However, you have to watch for multiple leaders and correct that as soon as you see it. See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2017/03/training-arborvitae-and-other-conical-evergreens-to-grow-with-a-single-leader/