Annualpruning lavenderwill make the plant bloom profusely and keep its shape. It is an obligatory procedure in the cultivation of lavender. The lack of lavender pruning causes the shrubs to quickly lose their attractive appearance, emptying themselves in the middle and laying on the ground. Seehow and when to prune lavenderso that it blooms profusely every year and maintains a nice, compact habit. Here are all thesecrets of lavender cutting !
Pruning lavender keeps the plant nice shape
When to prune lavender?
Prune lavender twice a year , and you can choose from 3 cutting dates:
1. The first lavender pruning date is early spring- from the third decade of March to early April, preferably on a warm and sunny day. This cut is very important for maintaining the correct lavender habit and avoiding the formation of the so-called. bald nest inside the bush. During spring pruning, we also remove all shoots damaged by winter.
2. The second lavender pruning date is summer , specifically the period from July to September, when the lavender blooms. It is done bytrimming fading inflorescencesThis stimulates the lavender to flower again.
3. The third pruning date for lavender is the beginning of fall(mid-September). This cut can be made interchangeably with the spring cut.Autumn cutting of lavender favors its temperingand helps preserve the lavender for the winter. We perform autumn lavender cutting on a warm, cloudy and rainless day.Autumn pruning should not be delayed, as the young growths of lavender after pruning may be damaged by frosts.
Good to know!Nursing pruning of lavender in spring carries the risk of damaging flower buds that are just setting. As a result, the flowering of lavender will be much weaker. Therefore, autumn pruning is recommended more often. However, if we forgot to trim the lavender in the fall, be sure to trim it in the spring.
How to trim lavender?
During spring and autumn pruningtrim the young, non-woody lavender shoots , shortening them by half their length. When cutting shoots, be careful not to trim the woody parts of the twigs, which branch very slowly and poorly. Too low cutting of the shoots also promotes diseases of the vascular bundles and may lead to the loss of the entire bush.By trimming the twigs, we form a lavender bush in the shape of a ball This form of the bush allows air access to the inside of the bush from all sides, which prevents the internal twigs from heating up and provides adequate lighting for all shoots (Fig. 1).
The summer lavender pruning consists in trimming the faded inflorescencesAfter, or still in the process of flowering, cut off all the inflorescences along with the leafless stems. This results in better densification and initiates lavender re-flowering in the same season. When cutting inflorescence shoots, also try to keep the shape of a ball (fig. 2).
If we have a very neglected or neglected lavender bush, we can carry out a rejuvenating cut. For this purposetrim the lavender very radically , even to 1/3 of the length of the shoots. It is worth carrying out such cutting every 4-5 years in spring. This improves the condition of the entire shrub and prevents the branches from being stripped.
We should start shaping the lavender after planting.The young, not branching plants should be shortened by half. This will cause the lavender to release a lot of new shoots at the base. The next lavender cut is performed in the spring of the following year.
Good to know!If you bought a lavender seedling while it is blooming, remove all flowers after planting. Such a procedure will facilitate the rooting of the seedling.
How to become confident in pruning plants?
If you are unsure how to cut or simply afraid to do it, the fantastic book "Cutting School" will help you. Thanks to it, you will gain confidence in pruning plants and learn to cut plants so that they grow according to your expectations. After reading this book, your approach to pruning plants will probably change completely!
