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Home » Miscellaneous » Trimming Liners Before you Pot them.

Trimming Liners Before you Pot them.

Updated : October 27, 2019

4 Comments

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.

Gold Coast Juniper, way too thin at the bottom. These plants need some help. See the video as I trim and pot these.
Pruning, potting and fertilizing Gold Coast Juniper liners.
This is what the plant looked like after I pruned it.

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. ??

Gold Coast Junipers, Donkeys and Annabelle Hydrangea Cuttings.
And this is what these Gold Coast Junipers look like now because we pruned them really hard at the time of planting.

Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I’ll respond.

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Comments

  1. Stephen Wilhelm says

    November 25, 2019 at 6:03 am

    Hi Mike. Great videos. Thanks for doing them. Do you ever give tours of your farm/garden? I’m about 3.5 hours from you but I’d make the drive. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      November 25, 2019 at 8:11 am

      Stephen,

      I do. We do a number of different things. Usually in August of every year we have a big even for our members, http://backyardgrowers.com/join
      , it’s a great time, a tour of everything we do, plus a chance to meet other members and buy plants from other members. Then we usually do a few wholesale buying days spring and fall. Make sure you are on the email list. Other times also work.

      Reply
  2. Mike Carter says

    October 29, 2019 at 9:45 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      October 30, 2019 at 9:03 am

      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/

      Reply

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