Home › Medicinal Herb Cultivation › Article

How to prune honeysuckle? Detailed pruning methods and techniques

Medicinal Herb Cultivation 0 views
Pruning honeysuckle is the key to increasing yield, and can raise production by more than 40%. The main pruning time is winter, generally carried out during the period from Lidong (Start of Winter) to Lichun (Start of Spring), that is, from mid-November to early February of the following year. Winter pruning can only be delayed, not advanced. Through pruning, 2-3 harvests of flower buds can be gathered per year in mountainous areas with poorer site conditions. Pruning should follow the principles of training the main trunk into shape, lightly pruning strong branches, heavily pruning weak branches, and cutting back old branches. 1. Formative pruning. That is, for seedlings, focusing on shaping, combined with pruning, 1-2 year old seedlings are cultivated into thick, upright main trunks.

Pruning honeysuckle is the key to increasing yield, and can raise production by more than 40%. The main pruning time is winter, generally carried out during the period from Lidong (Start of Winter) to Lichun (Start of Spring), that is, from mid-November to early February of the following year. Winter pruning can only be delayed, not advanced. Through pruning, 2-3 harvests of flower buds can be gathered per year in mountainous areas with poorer site conditions. Pruning should follow the principles of training the main trunk into shape, lightly pruning strong branches, heavily pruning weak branches, and cutting back old branches.

1. Formative pruning. That is, for seedlings, focusing on shaping, combined with pruning, 1-2 year old seedlings are cultivated into thick, upright main trunks. In winter, the main trunk is left 30-40 cm tall, and the upper shoot is cut off to encourage lateral buds to grow into branches. In the second year's summer, select 4-6 thick lateral branches on the main trunk as main branches, leave them 25-30 cm long, and successively retain 2-3 levels of lateral branches. After 2-3 years of pruning, the plant clump becomes an upright umbrella-shaped crown with an obvious main trunk, evenly distributed branches, and a large spread area, so that light is evenly received.

2. Pruning of mature honeysuckle. After 4 years it enters the mature stage, that is, it begins to enter the full flowering period. Winter pruning in the mature stage should master the essentials of removing the weak and keeping the strong, and removing the curved and keeping the straight. Cut off dead branches, fine capillary branches, and overly dense branches. This concentrates nutrients for the growth of flowering branches. Weak branches are thinned or heavily pruned, cut back to the middle of 2-3 year old branches, to encourage new branch sprouting and rejuvenation. Strong branches are lightly pruned, removing secondary shoots, to encourage strong buds to sprout into branches. After 6 years it enters the middle-aged stage, mainly shortening the outer periphery and thinning weak branches. For adult plants that have not been pruned for years

3. Pruning of old honeysuckle. After 15 years, honeysuckle begins to age and needs rejuvenation and renewal. The main methods are renewal pruning, pinching the tips of water sprouts, and cultivating new main trunks to keep it productive. In addition, after the first crop of flowers is picked in the second year, carry out 1 follow-up pruning; the method is to retain 2-3 nodes of leafy branches, cut off the upper part, and cut out the thin weak branches inside the canopy that have no flower buds, and cut off the tips of flat, drooping branches, to encourage them to send out upward secondary branches and increase the yield of the second crop of flowers.

Related Articles