How to prune mock orange (garden jasmine) in the spring, after flowering: timing, diagrams, videos for beginners

Garden jasmine, or mock orange, is one of the most unpretentious ornamental plants popular with landscape designers. It does not require special care, adapts to any growing conditions, annually delighting with stunning flowering and delicious aroma. Pruning mock orange in spring is a mandatory procedure, thanks to which you can form a neat, lush shape of a bush with an abundance of attractive, fragrant flowers.

Do I need to cut the mock orange in the spring

Despite its attractiveness, without pruning, the mock orange turns into an unsightly shrub or ordinary dense thickets. Therefore, the main goal of spring shearing is to give the plant a neat shape with a beautiful placement of stems and numerous peduncles, without the presence of old, dried branches.

Sanitary pruning is performed before bud break and active sap flow begins at the very beginning of the appearance of the first leaves. At this time, frozen at the ends and dry branches are clearly visible. Remove old, dry and frozen branches. However, spring pruning is not limited to sanitary. The formation of garden jasmine is carried out at the same time as sanitary pruning, which involves the removal of too long, protruding branches. Strong, developed shoots are shortened slightly, and weak, thin shoots are removed by more than half the length. After such a haircut, annual shoots enter into active growth, forming a lush bush of a neat shape. First of all, it is necessary for a hedge. But individual garden compositions with jasmine should also be given attention.

Pruning mock orange in the spring is mandatory, and a visual video for beginner gardeners will demonstrate all the nuances of this event:

Goals and objectives of spring pruning of mock orange

Spring pruning of decorative garden jasmine is necessary for a number of reasons:

• to stimulate growth and active development of young growth, which will be the basis of flowering in subsequent years;
• buds on old branches are poorly formed, especially in their upper part, which reduces the number of flowers;
• abundant flowering of mock orange is impossible in dense growth with a small amount of penetrating light;
• with dense thickets, the bush spends food and energy on the development of shoots, while flowering becomes scarce and rare;
• mock orange by nature is not a symmetrical plant and, without pruning, shoots grow unevenly, which makes it one-sided;
• shearing allows you to shorten the height of the plant, which can naturally grow up to 2,5 meters or more;
• pruning makes it possible to form a shrub with the desired shape and neat appearance, so mock orange is widely used to create various landscape design compositions.

Types of pruning mock orange

There are several types of mock-up haircuts:

• formative – for bushes older than 5 years, gives it the desired shape, increases the number of flowers and their size, makes it symmetrical and the same on all sides;
• sanitary or healing – with pruning of dry, damaged branches, eliminates the possibility of the development of fungus and pests;
• after flowering – is intended to give the mock orange a neat appearance and an evenly growing, attractive crown;
• rejuvenating – stimulates the growth of young shoots after damage or on old plants, promotes lush and abundant flowering.

How to prune mock orange in spring

Properly and competently trimming a mock orange in early spring is not difficult if you know some of the features of the agricultural technique. First, they begin to remove frozen, broken shoots from snow and wind. Without urgent need, they are not completely shortened, but cut to a living kidney. Shearing will give a lateral growth of young branches, on which flowers will appear in a year. In regions with severe winters, the thinning of the mock orange is also timed to coincide with the spring. After sanitary pruning, the shrub is carefully inspected and shoots sticking out, growing inward or sideways are removed. In addition, deformed, weak and very close to each other branches are removed. In the spring, do not touch the tops of the shoots with flower buds. Pruning mock orange in the summer, after flowering, will allow you to enjoy the picturesque picture of a flowering bush, and then shorten it in height.

When to cut mock orange

The first time pruning is carried out immediately after planting the garden jasmine, it does not matter if it was done in the fall or in the spring. To do this, incorrectly growing, unsightly shoots are removed, immediately indicating their shape. Leave no more than three trunks with developed buds, which will provide them with freedom for active growth. In the open, the remaining branches will develop rapidly and will thank you with abundant flowering next year.

Sanitary pruning of the mock orange is carried out in early spring, from about mid-March, depending on the region and climatic conditions. Forming – in spring or summer, immediately after flowering, which depends on the climate and variety of garden jasmine. In the first three years, the plant does not require shaping pruning. Experienced gardeners cut only sticking out, unsightly branches, just slightly shortening them, which determines the shape of the mock orange.

Preparation of tools and materials

An ideal tool for shaping and cutting mock orange is a sharp, high-quality secateurs. It must be absolutely clean. Do not trim with a blunt tool that will damage the processes. You will also need a garden var, which is used to treat all sections, protecting fresh jasmine wounds from hordes of harmful microorganisms.

Pruning schemes for mock orange in spring

Sanitary haircut, in which, in addition to weak and damaged shoots, disease-infected branches are removed:

Pruning mock orange after flowering looks like this in the diagram:

How to cut mock orange

There are certain rules for cutting a mock orange:

• the shoots that form at the base of the shrub are completely removed, as they degrade the decorative qualities;
• when pruning a young mock orange, the upper part of the branches less than two years old is not removed – a crown will form from them later;
• strong, strong shoots should not be cut short, and thin ones should not be left long;
• the roots that appear in the near-stem circle are immediately removed;
• for uniform illumination of the crown, the height of the mock orange is left 1,5 or maximum 2 m.

Branches are cut at a 45 degree angle.

How to cut mock orange after flowering

In summer, after the end of flowering, formative pruning is carried out with the removal of too long shoots, small, up to 5 cm, twigs and wilted flowers. Thinning is performed, leaving only young shoots. Four- to five-year-old branches are pruned from the old mock orange, but if the plant is too old, it is completely rejuvenated pruned to the base. However, in order for the mock orange to please with its decorativeness and accuracy of the crown, they are engaged in its formation throughout the season.

How can you form a mock-up

Crown formation, if necessary, is performed throughout the summer season, if:

• the shrub stretched out in height;
• grows asymmetrically;
• very thickened.

All of the above phenomena negatively affect the development of the mock orange, so it is necessary to form it:

• to reduce the number of fast-growing shoots by 2 times, which allows the lateral processes to actively grow;
• complete removal of old branches and those that grow inward, which reduces the density of the shrub;
• trimming large, elongated shoots to give the jasmine the correct, symmetrical shape.

Gardeners who do not have sufficient experience in growing ornamental plants are initially able to make it neat and symmetrical. With the advent of experience, you can form a bush in the form of a ball, cube, cone or other geometric shape. To do this, the mock orange is regularly cut in the spring or, less often, in the fall in this way:

• cut a young seedling very low, to the ground;
• the next year, they examine the new growth and leave a few of the strongest, arranged harmoniously, and the rest are cut out;
• after flowering, the branches to the young growths located below are cut off, the mock orange will bloom on lateral, short shoots;
• regularly carry out sanitary pruning with the removal of old, weak and thickened shoots;
• make sure that the bush retains its shape, for example, a ball, cutting off protruding, protruding branches.

On the correct formation of the crown when pruning mock orange, you can watch the video:

Shrub care after cutting

After pruning, garden jasmine needs care, which is as follows:

• top dressing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers every 10 days – after spring shearing, with simultaneous abundant watering;
• mineral top dressing 1 – 2 times can be replaced with organic diluted slurry with water in a ratio of 1:10, applied no earlier than 10 – 12 days after pruning;
• mulching the soil of the trunk circle with peat, fallen leaves, sawdust.

Conclusion

Trimming a mock orange, at first glance, seems like a complicated procedure. However, having gained experience, even novice gardeners can easily cope with this obligatory agricultural technique, thanks to which garden jasmine acquires a beautiful shape and pleases with delightful flowering.