Pruning and Training Plants

Controlling the growth of plants and shaping them by pruning and training are often considered the most puzzling aspects of gardening. Sadly, many gardeners content themselves with a policy of random snipping or savage butchery rather than acquiring the relatively uncomplicated skills that can be so important in the successful cultivation of plants.

In pruning a shoot or branch the gardener is interfering with the plant's own mechanism for controlling its development. On most woody plants each shoot ends in a terminal or apical bud, below which other buds are arranged in a pattern characteristic of the species, the position of the buds determining where branches will form. The arrangement may be alternate, opposite, spiral or whorled.

The apical bud is the growing point of a shoot and asserts its dominance by producing a chemical that inhibits growth of the buds below it. If the terminal bud is removed whether pruned, pinched out (sometimes known as stopping), or broken off, the supply of the growth retarding substance is interrupted. The relatively rapid growth of lateral shoots, known as breaking, is quickly discernible in the case of a sub-shrub such as a fuchsia which has had its leading shoot pinched out. The same response, resulting in bushy growth, is produced by the frequent removal of terminal buds in hedge clipping.

In practice many pruning cuts are made to a specific bud or pair of buds below the tip of the shoot. Selecting a bud that will grow in the desired direction, usually out from the centre of the plant, and cutting back to just above it is the key to the skillful shaping of most ornamentals and fruit bearing bushes and trees. All cuts must be made with sharp clean tools, for bruised or crushed stems and ragged edges can be points of entry for disease.

There are many ways to learn how to be a successful garnder, but the best way is to start young. Get your kids involved in gardening now. Many tv shows have gardening tips for kids, there are Sesame Street Chractersthat are devoted to gardening, and I know 
Controlling the growth of plants and shaping them by pruning and training are often considered the most puzzling aspects of gardening. Sadly, many gardeners content themselves with a policy of random snipping or savage butchery rather than acquiring the relatively uncomplicated skills that can be so important in the successful cultivation of plants.

In pruning a shoot or branch the gardener is interfering with the plant's own mechanism for controlling its development. On most woody plants each shoot ends in a terminal or apical bud, below which other buds are arranged in a pattern characteristic of the species, the position of the buds determining where branches will form. The arrangement may be alternate, opposite, spiral or whorled.

The apical bud is the growing point of a shoot and asserts its dominance by producing a chemical that inhibits growth of the buds below it. If the terminal bud is removed whether pruned, pinched out (sometimes known as stopping), or broken off, the supply of the growth retarding substance is interrupted. The relatively rapid growth of lateral shoots, known as breaking, is quickly discernible in the case of a sub-shrub such as a fuchsia which has had its leading shoot pinched out. The same response, resulting in bushy growth, is produced by the frequent removal of terminal buds in hedge clipping.

In practice many pruning cuts are made to a specific bud or pair of buds below the tip of the shoot. Selecting a bud that will grow in the desired direction, usually out from the centre of the plant, and cutting back to just above it is the key to the skillful shaping of most ornamentals and fruit bearing bushes and trees. All cuts must be made with sharp clean tools, for bruised or crushed stems and ragged edges can be points of entry for disease.

There are many ways to learn how to be a successful garnder, but the best way is to start young. Get your kids involved in gardening now. Many tv shows have gardening tips for kids, there are Sesame Street Chractersthat are devoted to gardening, and I know 
Controlling the growth of plants and shaping them by pruning and training are often considered the most puzzling aspects of gardening. Sadly, many gardeners content themselves with a policy of random snipping or savage butchery rather than acquiring the relatively uncomplicated skills that can be so important in the successful cultivation of plants.

In pruning a shoot or branch the gardener is interfering with the plant's own mechanism for controlling its development. On most woody plants each shoot ends in a terminal or apical bud, below which other buds are arranged in a pattern characteristic of the species, the position of the buds determining where branches will form. The arrangement may be alternate, opposite, spiral or whorled.

The apical bud is the growing point of a shoot and asserts its dominance by producing a chemical that inhibits growth of the buds below it. If the terminal bud is removed whether pruned, pinched out (sometimes known as stopping), or broken off, the supply of the growth retarding substance is interrupted. The relatively rapid growth of lateral shoots, known as breaking, is quickly discernible in the case of a sub-shrub such as a fuchsia which has had its leading shoot pinched out. The same response, resulting in bushy growth, is produced by the frequent removal of terminal buds in hedge clipping.

In practice many pruning cuts are made to a specific bud or pair of buds below the tip of the shoot. Selecting a bud that will grow in the desired direction, usually out from the centre of the plant, and cutting back to just above it is the key to the skillful shaping of most ornamentals and fruit bearing bushes and trees. All cuts must be made with sharp clean tools, for bruised or crushed stems and ragged edges can be points of entry for disease.

There are many ways to learn how to be a successful garnder, but the best way is to start young. Get your kids involved in gardening now. Many tv shows have gardening tips for kids, there are Sesame Street Chractersthat are devoted to gardening, and I know