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Pruning weigela in the spring allows you to create a unique composition and highlight the plant among many garden crops. The decorativeness of the flowering shrub will please not only the owners of the plot, but also passers-by. Gardeners manage to achieve the maximum beauty of the culture by competently organizing the spring pruning of the weigela and the formation of its crown.
Do I need to cut the weigela in the spring
Weigela is an ornamental flowering shrub. It can be grown both singly and used in compositions or to form picturesque hedges. For a long and lush flowering of weigela vegetation, gardeners use timely pruning.
To make the bush look aesthetically pleasing, you should follow the rules for cutting ornamental crops. For beginner gardeners, below is a brief algorithm of actions:
- Inspect the bush in early spring. If the tips of the branches are black, they should be removed, as this is due to freezing of the shoots in winter.
- When the kidneys swell, you can remove the damaged areas, retreating from them by 1-2 cm. If this procedure is not done in time, rotting will form in the places of damage.
How to cut weigela correctly
Thanks to decorative colorful inflorescences, gardeners grow weigela in their backyard. During flowering in summer, the shrub is simply strewn with fragrant flowers. As a rule, flowers appear on last year’s branches. By spring, the shoots turn into even rods, along the entire length of which bewitching inflorescences appear. On old branches, buds may appear only at the tops of the shoots. It is better to remove these branches so that the crown is not so dense.
Weigela is a very hardy plant, so it applies to thinning the bush in the same way as lilac. The culture can be cut during the entire growing season. The procedure does not provoke flowering weigela disease, pruning only activates the appearance of new shoots. The gardener cuts the bush at a convenient time for himself.
Recommended dates
In the summer season, the ornamental shrub is covered with dense foliage. Therefore, it is difficult to decide which branches should be cut off completely, and which ones should only be shortened.
In principle, crown cleaning can be carried out both in spring and summer. The culture is extremely mold resistant. In September-October, only sanitary shortening of the branches is carried out. In winter, cutting a bush is not recommended, this can lead to freezing or illness.
For the correct calculation of the weigela pruning period, it is necessary to know exactly the age of the ornamental crop, its varietal characteristics. For example, dwarf species are not customary to shorten too much, their branches are not long anyway. It will be enough to apply the usual sanitary pruning. On the video you can see how the weigela is trimmed:
Preparation of tools and materials
Garden vegetation requires proper attention and care. If you do not follow the garden, do not cut the crown in a timely manner, do not remove broken or diseased branches, then soon it can turn into an impenetrable jungle.
Periodically, shrubs or fruit trees are pruned. To do this, gardeners use special tools and fixtures. One lopper or file will not be enough. Today, the market presents many options for the necessary garden tools.
For full-fledged work on a personal plot, it is recommended to purchase frequently used household tools, such as a brush cutter, garden shears, pruner or file.
How to prune weigela in spring
The crown is easier to form from young, one-year-old shoots. Of these, it will be easiest to create a shrub of any geometric shape, for example, in the form of a pyramid, ball, cube.
It is important to keep the shrub in a healthy state. Every spring, it is carefully examined, and if branches frozen or damaged by the disease are visible, then these shoots are cut off. Even if you have to cut a lot of branches, over the summer the shrub will have time to branch out and take its usual shape.
How to prune weigela in summer after flowering
An adult weigela shrub requires an annual modeling haircut to maintain its chosen shape. It can be spherical, pyramidal or square type. As a rule, the formative pruning of the shrub is carried out in the summer, when the weigela is about to bloom a second time.
Pruning of shoots is done by 1/3 of the length. It is necessary that the plant has time to grow more young shoots, on which flowering will be abundantly repeated. After shearing, weigela is fed with fertilizer. It could be potassium sulphate. It will not be superfluous to mulch the trunk circle.
How to form a weigela shrub annually
The crown of the shrub is quite large in size. To keep it in a neat shape, you need to follow the shearing scheme: remove damaged and old pagons in a timely manner, cut new shoots.
Gardeners recommend cutting the crown twice during the entire growing season.
- Primary pruning in the spring before the foliage appears. Remove dead, frozen or dried shoots.
- Secondary pruning is carried out after abundant flowering to give the shrub a little rest. You can remove the branches of 2-3 years of age to rejuvenate the weigela.
Weigela care after pruning
After removing extra branches, the cut points must be lubricated with garden pitch so that the infection does not get in, and the healing process passes faster. In early spring and at the end of the summer season, the shrub needs to be fed with complex fertilizers.
Choose a composition that contains potassium. It helps to strengthen the branches. From organic matter, it is acceptable to use diluted mullein. The proportions are as follows: water – 9 parts, rotten mullein – 1 part. Under the bush you need to pour 8-10 liters of the finished mixture. Nitrogen is better not to use, it can form rot on the wood.
Moisture is also important for shrubs. Weigela is watered when the top layer of soil dries up. Before the onset of winter, it is useful to water the shrub abundantly. In winter, moisture will not allow freezing of the root system.
Mulching is relevant at any time. You can use the year before last spruce needles, chopped straw. They will not give, quickly evaporate moisture from the soil. It is important to ensure that the mulch does not adhere closely to the trunk, this can provoke rot.
Conclusion
Weigela pruning in the spring is necessary to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the garden composition. Caring for it is quite simple, so even an inexperienced gardener can grow a crop. The shrub has an amazing ability to quickly grow deciduous mass, regardless of the methods and volumes of pruning. A heat-loving plant will be able to delight its owners with long flowering.