by johnah on March 3, 2021
Pruning Overgrown Loropetalums: When And How To Prune A Loropetalum
When Should You Prune?
It’s hard to say when to prune a plant. If you have a large, overgrown plant, it might not be worth the time or effort to prune it. However, if your plants are small and growing well, then pruning them regularly may actually improve their health.
There are two types of pruning: regular and irregular. Regular means that you don’t need to do anything special other than trimming back the branches that aren’t doing much good anymore. Irregular means that you have to take extra care in how you do things so they look better.
Regular Pruning For Small Plants
If you’re going to prune your plants regularly, it’s best to start with smaller ones first. You want to make sure they get enough sunlight and water, but you don’t want too many branches because they could become a problem later. So start with one or two plants at most.
That way you’ll have plenty of room for larger trees in the future!
Pruning isn’t fancy. You just have to cut off everything that doesn’t look like a tree or isn’t growing well anymore. Every once in a while, you’ll need to thin out the branches as well so there’s enough room for sunlight and water to reach each one.
Now when you’re done pruning, your trees should be looking pretty good! If not, then it’s probably a good idea to stop before you ruin them.
Irregular Pruning For Large Trees
If you happen to have larger trees, you might need to prune them in a different way. While you can still do everything you did with small trees, there are a few extra things you should try. This will give your trees a more natural appearance and make everything look more realistic.
The first thing you’ll want to do is thin out your branches so not all of them are clumped in one area. Instead, spread them out. The more spread out they are, the more sunlight and water they’ll receive from the sun and water source you have.
Spread them out evenly so that every branch has an equal chance of growing.
The next thing you’ll want to do is thin out your branches again, but this time you want to try and make each “cluster” of branches look like a tree. This is necessary because when you only have a few branches per tree, they usually start growing toward the center of the trunk and don’t have as many “branch tips” as actual trees. This makes everything look more realistic.
Now after you’ve thinned out your branches twice, you can start pruning the ones that are growing in a way that you don’t like. Make sure to do it in a way that isn’t going to leave the tree looking unnatural. It’ll take some time to get it right, but once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll get better and better at it.
Now if you’re really ambitious, you can try and prune your trees into certain shapes. Some people like to make trees that look like weeping willows, hearts, or anything else you can think of. Just be careful and don’t prune too much or you might seriously damage your trees.
Keep in mind that this is optional and doesn’t really add to the quality of your garden, but it’s up to you if you want to try it.
That’s basically all there is to pruning. It might seem like a lot of work, but as I said, it’s necessary. If you want a quality bonsai garden, you’ll need to put in the time and patience.
And like everything else, practice will make perfect, so don’t get discouraged if your first attempts at pruning aren’t what you want them to be.
Just remember, it’s better to prune too little than too much. So if you’re not sure about whether or not to cut off a branch or two, it’s best not to.
If you’d like to see some of the trees I’ve completed so far, you can look at some of them in the photo section. I haven’t gotten a chance to take many pictures of my more recent trees yet, but I will be doing that soon and then I’ll update the page with them.
Well, I think that just about covers everything you could ever need to know about starting your very own bonsai garden! I really hope this guide has helped you in some way. If it has, please tell your friends about this website!
As always, good luck and happy gardening!
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If this guide was helpful to you, please more about it on the Garden Log! This guide is hosted there, so every comment you make gets posted and allowing me to see just how I’m doing, as well as motivating me to keep writing great guides for you.
Where Can I Go For Help If I Need It?
If you have any questions about what you read here or you’re struggling with something in your garden and need some help, feel free to post on the Garden Log! We’ll all be happy to try to help you out. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a master gardener, we all learn something new every day and there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
There are also some optional socializing areas in the forum where you can talk about all things garden related. If you just have a quick question you can usually find someone to answer quickly in the Daycare or Watering Hole. Other than that, the forum is a great place to find information on all sorts of gardening topics.
I hope you’ll feel free to join in the discussions and ask any questions you like.
And as always, good luck and happy gardening!
Sources & references used in this article:
Plant Growth Regulator Effects on Canna Lily by LL Bruner, GJ Keever, CH Gilliam – … PLANT PROPAGATORS SOCIETY, 1999 – sna.org
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