Five Common Pruning Mistakes, and How to Fix Them

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Have you ever pruned so ineptly that your tree or shrub looks like a caricature? Well, don't despair. Help is at hand for five common pruning disasters.

Danielle Sherry

You needn't weep for this weeping cherry, a victim of Mistake #3. It can be restored to its natural form with a few well-placed cuts.

courtesy of Erik Draper

Is this the best way to keep a tree small? Probably not. See Mistake #4 for the solution.

courtesy of Erik Draper

Have you ever pruned so ineptly that your tree or shrub looks like a caricature? Well, don't despair. Help is at hand for five common pruning disasters.

Photo: Danielle Sherry

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Pruning mistake #5
You decide not to prune.

The brilliant red stems of Cornus alba fade as they age. Photo by Anneli Salo under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Restore the color to your twig dogwoods by pruning out stems that are more than two or three years old.

Why it's bad: Not pruning is probably the most common pruning mistake among gardeners. Some are fearful to make drastic cuts because they think it will cause more harm than good; others worry that any pruning will leave unsightly holes or set back the growth of a plant. Years later, they can’t understand why their redtwig dogwood (Cornus alba and cvs., USDA Hardiness Zones 2–8) doesn’t have brightly colored stems anymore. Without pruning, the desired coloring will disappear because it is the new growth that has the brightest hues.

How to fix it: One word: Prune. For shrubs with intense bark colors, lneed to remove the older, colorless branches. For shrub dogwoods, these branches will be those that are more than two to three years old. Dogwood stems should be removed as close as possible to the base (crown) of the plant. This removal stimulates the plant to produce new wood in beautiful colors.

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Comments (4)

tatwood writes: loischen: Excellent points. I would add:

Never prune when you're angry! (like after that fight with your spouse). Bad things happen. Posted: 10:14 am on February 20th

loischen writes: I was very impressed with this pruning summary.
I have a few additional mistakes that peole make which I would like to add to the list of do's and don'ts.
Don't prune when you are tired, or distracted.
Dont' prune when you are drinking or drunk.
Don't prune at dusk or early morning when there is not enough light.
Don't prune when there are children around.
Use first class, sharp tools that do the job quickly and efficiently.(bypass for live wood, anvil for dead.)
Don't let a neighbor or friend prune for you unless they know as much or more than you know about how to do it.
Posted: 4:34 pm on February 8th

tatwood writes: 1000islandkathy - usually, yes, and early spring is the best time. However, if your lilac is very old, and of the type that is single-stemmed and tree-like, it could be a fatal error, since some old varieties don't have a lot of dormant buds to re-sprout. But most lilacs are very vigorous, with multiple stems of varying sizes. If this describes your lilacs, by all means cut them back to 8 to 12 inches. If you'd prefer a less aggressive approach, plan to remove a third of the oldest (thickest) stems over the next three years. After three years, your lilac will be completely rejuvenated and you won't have to look at a mound of ugly stubs in the meantime. Also, lilacs bear many dormant buds along their woody stems. You can cut them back to any height you'd like and you will get new growth from that point. Again, early spring, or right after flowering, is the best time for this. Lilacs flower on old growth, so if you prune before flowering you'll remove the flower buds. But if you don't mind losing this spring's blooms, go ahead and prune. When I want to clean up an older lilac, I start by removing the oldest stems at ground level. Then I remove any stem smaller than a pencil, then thin out and cut back the remaining growth. Any branch that's damaged or diseased should be removed as soon as noticed. I also remove branches growing toward the inside of the shrub. Lilacs are very forgiving, so go for it! Posted: 10:04 am on February 6th

1000islandkathy writes: Is it okay to cut very old overgrown lilacs to the ground
Posted: 9:30 am on February 6th

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