When it comes to pruning, it’s important to know not just what kind of shrub you’re working with, but also which tools are right for the job.
Shaping shrubs.
Kent Honl, arborologist at Rainbow Treecare, says you can divide shrubs into roughly two types: those that grow like trees and cane-growing ones that constantly grow new shoots from the base. And they need to be treated differently.
In order to keep cane-growing shrubs healthy, you want to thin out the oldest canes or stems on a regular basis. “It keeps the plant healthier and allows it to rejuvenate naturally, and it just looks better so for health and for its appearance, good pruning just helps prolong the life of the plant,” Honl says. “But most of the time shrub pruning is done incorrectly where it’s just sheared off on the outside and that shortens the lifetime of the plant ultimately.”
If you need to shape a cane-growing tree, it’s best to combine shearing with thinning to open the plant up to new growth and allowing new stems to grow from the bottom of the plant to the desired height.
Evergreen shrubs are a little different and Honl recommends pruning them after they finish their first flush of new growth around late May or early June. If you prune before that, you’ll have to return to shape the shrub after it puts out new growth. “If you prune evergreens right away, that new growth starts to get it out of shape right away and then you have to go and do it again,” Honl says.
Pick the right tool.
The first step in picking the right tool is to gauge the size of the plant you’re working with. But don’t be afraid to use a larger tool. “If you try something bigger than what’s rated for the tool you’re working with, you might break the tool or you might even injure yourself if something breaks and there’s an uncontrolled snap reaction,” Honl says.
Honl says it’s a good idea to have an array of saws and other gear.
And of course, whenever you’re working with hand tools like pruners or loppers, eye protection and gloves are musts. That’s not only for shrubs with thorns. “It’s very easy to get poked in the eye if you’re pulling on a stem, trying to get it free,” Honl says.
Honl always wears Kevlar chaps when he’s using a chainsaw, but says it’s easy to turn of the chainsaw and decide to do some hand pruning to finish the job without putting on the proper gear. He says he’s been guilty of that and lost a thumbnail while using a hand saw. “It took me six months to regrow the thumbnail on my left hand,” he says. “It was a wake-up. I could have just had leather gloves on and it would have been a near miss but it wouldn’t have taken my thumbnail off.”