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Juniper is quite often grown by lovers of decorative landscape gardening plants. This coniferous evergreen shrub has many positive qualities. It is frost-resistant, unpretentious in care. Many treat its pruning as an optional procedure that does not give any positive effect, others are simply afraid of harming the health of the shrub. Meanwhile, juniper can and should be cut. This will not only improve the bush, but also increase its decorative effect.
Is it possible to cut juniper
You can cut or trim the juniper, but you must follow some rules. If you carry out this procedure on time and not get carried away too much, it will not cause any harm to the plant. On the contrary, many species of this shrub have a very plastic crown, which, with the help of pruning, can be given various shapes, for example, geometric shapes, pillows or even hedges.
Below in the photo is a juniper haircut.
When and how to prune juniper
Common juniper can be pruned several times a year. As a rule, they do it in the spring, in April-May, as well as in late summer or early autumn. It is not recommended to cut the juniper later, so as not to weaken it before wintering. Although most varieties of shrubs have good frost resistance, pruning in the pre-winter period can severely damage it and lead to the death of individual shoots or even the entire plant. Juniper should not be pruned in the middle of summer, at the hottest time, and also in winter.
For pruning, you need to choose a cool cloudy day. On the eve of cutting, it is advisable to spray the bushes with water. From the tools you will need:
- pruner;
- garden scissors with long handles;
- hacksaw;
- cutter.
Tools must be sharp and clean, otherwise there is a risk of infection in open wounds. Before work, all cutting surfaces must be sharpened and disinfected. It should be remembered that a sharp tool leaves much more even cuts that will tighten very quickly. Conversely, a wound with torn, uneven edges will get wet for a long time and can cause shrub disease.
Be sure to use personal protective equipment, such as gloves and overalls. Juniper resin is sticky and difficult to remove from clothing. In addition, it contains toxic compounds that, if it comes into contact with the skin or open wounds, can cause irritation. Only common juniper is completely non-toxic, pruning and caring for which is absolutely safe.
There are several types of juniper pruning. Each of them performs certain functions and is carried out according to the corresponding scheme. Pruning can be:
- sanitary;
- thinning;
- formative.
Juniper haircut can be done in two ways.
- Point. This method of pruning involves removing part of the shoot and transferring its growth to a pre-selected bud. This is done at the initial stage, when the age of the juniper is still small, and the bush is just forming its permanent skeleton.
- Blind. This is a haircut with large garden shears, regardless of the location of the branches and buds. This method is used when the crown is fully formed and you only need to keep it in the required dimensions. The blind method is used when cutting hedges or bushes formed in the form of geometric shapes.
Having finished trimming, the entire tool must be cleaned and washed of resin. You can use alcohol, organic solvents or detergents for this. After that, the instrument must be dried and disinfected again before reuse.
Sanitary pruning
Sanitary pruning of common juniper is carried out in order to improve the shrub, as well as to prevent diseases or stop them at an early stage. Usually it is done twice per season. The first time the procedure is carried out in early spring, after the snow has melted. At the same time, broken and frozen branches are removed, which can be easily identified by changing the color of the needles.
A re-inspection for sanitary purposes is carried out in early autumn. At this time, broken, dry, improperly growing and diseased branches are cut out. Sanitary pruning sometimes has to be done forcedly, at the wrong time, for example, in case of illness or mechanical damage to the tree.
Thinning crop
This type of pruning reduces the excessive density of the juniper crown, brightens the interior of the bush. It can be carried out in spring, as well as at the end of summer. During such pruning, the shoots growing inward are removed, the boles are cleared of small shoots, and the forks are eliminated, which in the future can cause the bush to break. Thinning the bush helps to improve air exchange inside the crown, removes excess moisture, and this is important for the prevention of fungal diseases.
Forming pruning
Ornamental varieties of juniper tend to grow quite quickly. Formative pruning limits their active growth and gives a beautiful appearance. Basically, it consists in shortening the annual growth by about 20%, as well as cutting off the shoots that go beyond the dimensions of the formed crown. If the juniper is creeping, then it is formed into several large branches. All other shoots are completely cut out.
After the end of the haircut, the juniper needs care. To reduce the stress received by the plant, it is advisable to spray the bushes with a growth stimulator. This will contribute to the regeneration of damaged shoots and speed up the rehabilitation process. But the sections remaining after the removal of large branches do not need to be covered with anything.
Features of cutting junipers of different types
Some types of juniper have a predisposition to crown formation in one way or another. Therefore, when choosing a variety for planting, it is desirable to know in advance where it will grow and in what form it will be formed. For example, Chinese Blue Point or Kuriwao Gold can be used to shape the crown by trimming into a ball, flattened sphere, or pillow. Rocky juniper Wichita Blue is suitable for forming a crown in the shape of a cube, and Hibernica – a cylinder.
Some landscapers choose not to prune the juniper, keeping the natural shape of its crown. This applies, first of all, to creeping varieties. However, even such species from time to time need to arrange a sanitary inspection and remove damaged and diseased shoots. Columnar varieties of juniper also need minimal intervention. They cut, as a rule, only the annual growth that goes beyond the lateral dimensions of the crown.
Juniper Shaping Tips
Pruning and shaping the juniper crown is a rather interesting, albeit time-consuming, task. It is better to start forming decorative crowns with the simplest shapes – a cube, a rectangle. For convenience, you can use a rack or wire template. Only then, having gained the necessary experience and having mastered the basic techniques of cutting, can one begin to form the crown of bushes in the form of more complex geometric shapes, such as balls, cones, pillows. After a few years, you can learn to cut out very complex shapes, for example, animal figures.
Here are some more tips that will help you learn how to properly prune your juniper and avoid unnecessary mistakes when doing this work.
- The shoot growing upwards is cut to the outer bud. If it grows down, then on the inside.
- All cuts are made at a 45° angle.
- When cutting a branch for a bud, you should always leave 1,5-2 cm stumps.
- All actions must be well calculated. Coniferous plants are not very fast growing, so it will take several years to correct the error.
- It’s always better to remove a little less than the excess.
- You can remove no more than 20% of the annual growth.
It should be remembered that the common juniper transferred from the forest, even with good care, takes root very poorly. In addition, in many regions this plant is protected by law in the wild, since populations of this shrub reproduce extremely slowly. Therefore, it is necessary to take plants for planting in a personal plot only from a nursery. In suitable conditions, they take root perfectly, and in a couple of years they can be formed as needed.
Video about cutting juniper:
Conclusion
You can learn how to properly cut juniper pretty quickly if you do it constantly. The shrub tolerates this procedure well, it is only important not to overdo it and not subject it to severe stress by removing a large number of shoots. And a beautifully trimmed bush can become a real decoration, a kind of visiting card of the garden, and will please both the owner and his guests for a long time.