How deep is the pitfall of those flower-pruning methods popular online?

Hey everyone, today I just have to chat with you about those plant-growing "fails" that make you laugh until you snort and cringe so hard your toes curl. I do not know when it started, but we no longer grow plants purely on experience - the endless tutorials online have become many people's "plant-growing bible". But sometimes, these bibles accidentally turn into "plant-growing disaster guides".

Open the major platforms and search for plant pruning tutorials, and those videos and articles make pruning sound like child's play. The bloggers hold scissors and glide gracefully through the flowers, and in no time the once messy plants become clearly layered and uniquely shaped, as if they instantly went from "country bumpkin" to "debutante". Seeing these results, who would not be tempted? Who would not want their own flowers to make a "C-position debut"" on Moments? And so, countless plant-growing novices, full of longing for beauty, pick up the scissors and prepare to show what they can do.

However, when some netizens actually try it, the result is hilarious. One netizen saw an online tutorial on pruning roses, in which the blogger pruned the rose into a plump, rounded shape with huge, gorgeous blooms. He felt itchy with eagerness and could not wait to start working on his own rose. He strictly followed what the tutorial said, cutting off all those seemingly "extra" branches, and confidently felt he was doing something remarkable. But after he finished cutting, he was stunned by the scene before him. The once vibrant rose now looked as if it had been "robbed" - only a few bare branches were left, with no beauty to speak of. That scene was as desolate as could be. Facing such a "masterpiece", the netizen could only want to cry but have no tears.

So why do pruning methods that look quite reliable online turn into a "disaster" in your own hands? The truth is, there is a lot of nuance here. On one hand, different flowers have different growth habits and pruning requirements. Some flowers are suited to light pruning - just a little tidying of the branches and leaves will do; others need heavy pruning to stimulate new branch growth. But online tutorials often take a "one-size-fits-all" approach, without considering the individual differences of the plants. It is like how you cannot use the same hairstyle design to cut everyone's hair - each person's face shape and temperament are different, and the same goes for flowers.

Among the many pruning sayings circulating online, one is quite popular: "Leave no upward growth on the south, no downward growth on the north, no low growth on the east, no high growth on the west; remove the thick and keep the thin, remove the straight and keep the slanting; control the height, top it every year; dense but not crowded, sparse but not empty" . This saying has long circulated in the field of fruit tree pruning and has a certain reasonableness. From the perspective of light, "leave no upward growth on the south, no downward growth on the north, no low growth on the east, no high growth on the west" - take the south side as an example: upward-growing branches are not kept because the south has strong light, and overly vigorous upper branches will block the light for the lower branches and leaves, affecting photosynthesis and harming the growth of the whole plant. The north has relatively weaker light, so if the lower branches are kept, they tend to grow poorly due to insufficient light. The same applies to the east-west direction; the low and high branches are also about ensuring that all parts receive light evenly. "Remove the thick and keep the thin, remove the straight and keep the slanting" - thin branches and slanting branches have relatively weaker growth vigor, and keeping them can balance the tree's vigor, avoiding excessive concentration of nutrients in thick, upright branches, making the whole plant more harmonious. "Control the height, top it every year" - plants that are too tall are not conducive to management, and may also affect the root system's nutrient supply to the above-ground part; topping can control plant height and make nutrient distribution more reasonable. "Dense but not crowded, sparse but not empty" emphasizes a reasonable branch density - too dense affects ventilation and light penetration, while too sparse wastes space and nutrients.

However, this saying mainly applies to woody plants such as fruit trees; for herbaceous flowers and other plants, it is not quite suitable. For example, herbaceous flowers are short in stature and have short growth cycles, quite different from the growth patterns of fruit trees; copying the saying wholesale will only leave the flowers pruned into a mess. Moreover, climate and environment differ by region - the south has long, intense light, while the north has short light hours and cold winters - so pruning must also be adapted to local conditions, and the saying cannot be blindly applied. According to records, on 2020 March 5 , Party members of the Zhaojia Ergou branch carried out a themed Party day activity, "learning to prune trees with technicians"; while learning to prune peach trees, the technicians explained this saying and had the Party members recite it, showing that it has a certain guiding status in fruit tree pruning practice, but it also has limitations and is not an all-purpose formula.

On the other hand, the timing of pruning is also crucial. Pruning at the wrong time may affect the flower's growth or even cause death. For example, some flowers cannot be pruned during the flowering period, otherwise the flower buds will be cut off and they will fail to bloom. But many netizens, when watching tutorials, often overlook these details and act blindly, and the result is naturally gruesome.

After saying so much about "fail" cases, is everyone afraid to prune flowers easily anymore? Do not worry - as long as you master the right methods, pruning is actually not hard. First, before pruning, you must understand your flower's variety and habits, figure out when it is suitable to prune and how to prune it. You can refer more to professional gardening books or consult experienced flower friends, rather than only looking at those "fast-food-style" online tutorials.

Second, when pruning, be careful and cautious, and do not cut too much at once. You can start by trying a small number of branches, observe the flower's reaction, and then adjust gradually. It is like painting - do not press too hard at the beginning; slowly sketch the lines, then gradually add color.

Finally, after pruning, do not forget to supplement the flower's nutrition so it can recover its strength as soon as possible. You can appropriately apply some organic fertilizer to provide ample nutrients and help it grow new branches and leaves.

Hey everyone, growing flowers is a joyful thing. Although there will inevitably be times of "failure" along the way, these are also unique experiences in our plant-growing journey. I hope everyone can learn from failures, master the correct pruning methods, and let your plants and flowers grow strong and bloom in their most beautiful form. So have you ever had a similar experience of "ruthlessly destroying flowers" ?