How to prune honeysuckle in the fall for a good harvest

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 00:05

Honeysuckle is a shrub that does not require attention from the gardener. But, despite this, you need to know how to prune honeysuckle in the fall in order to have a good harvest.

The plant does not require special preparation for the winter season, but in order to have a good harvest, it is necessary to prune the honeysuckle on time and know when and how to do it correctly.

How to prune honeysuckle in the fall for a good harvest

When to prune honeysuckle and how to do it correctly, every gardener who grows a plant in his garden should know.

Before you start pruning honeysuckle in the fall, so that the next year there will be a good harvest, you should pay attention to the following recommendations:

• despite the fact that the plant is quite unpretentious, it is rather fragile. If the honeysuckle sprig is taken incorrectly, it can break. Therefore, when starting work, it is worth remembering that the bush can be damaged;
• when pruning, you need to use only a sharp tool that will not harm the branches;
• after planting the shrub in the first three years, pruning is not required. This is due to the fact that the bush grows rather slowly;
• before starting work, you can watch a video that shows step by step how to cut a bush so as not to harm it.

Important: honeysuckle bears fruit only on shoots left over from last year. Therefore, the more there are, the more fruits you will collect. The plant is treated from pests immediately after all the berries are harvested this year.

In order not to be mistaken in the correctness of actions, pay attention to the photo, where the diagram for beginners is presented.

How to trim in stages

If your plant is more than three years old and has been harvested, you can start pruning the branches.

• cut off all diseased and dry branches first. In addition, it is worth removing branches that are weak and short. Even if you do not remove them, then next year there will be no sense from them anyway;
• remove all branches that are near the ground. If not removed, they will interfere with the ventilation of the bush. The cut branches can be planted in the future on the territory of the garden plot;
• curved branches should also not be on the bush. After the pruning steps have been taken, the bush should become even, neat. Remove also those branches, on the edge of which there are many small processes that resemble an umbrella;
• branches that grow to the crown must also be removed;
• around the bush, the land should also be cultivated, there should be no young growth or weeds.

Important: after pruning, no more than 15 branches should remain on the bush, this is the only way the bush will bear fruit next year.

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What time to trim

In order for honeysuckle to produce a large harvest, it must be pruned regularly. There are several trimming options.

• the optimal time to put the bush in order is autumn. At this time, the plant will not receive much stress from the procedure, as it begins to prepare for winter. In addition, in the fall, pruning is convenient for the reason that the leaves have fallen off, the whole bush is in sight and it will not be possible to make a mistake with pruning the branches. The best time for pruning is late autumn. But there is no need to wait for the onset of frost, it is better to be in time before they start. Pruning in autumn will preserve the vigor of the plant before winter;
• pruning in early spring is also possible, but honeysuckle sap flow begins early. In spring, pruning is done when there is still snow on the street, but the air temperature should be between 0 and +6 degrees Celsius. If buds appear on the bush, then pruning is prohibited. If, nevertheless, you carry it out, then you can not count on the harvest. And the fact that the bush will survive is also not worth counting on.
• dry branches can be removed in summer. During this period, the honeysuckle grows green mass, so the trimming site does not need to be processed.

Interesting! If you find honeysuckle in nature, remember that it grows in the wild for up to 100 years. The culture is frost-resistant and tolerates temperatures up to -50 degrees Celsius.

Shrub rejuvenation

The branches of honeysuckle grow strongly, so it is required to carry out their regular rejuvenation. This is necessary so that the branches of the bush do not thicken. If the shrub is not pruned, it will yield a small amount of yield.

Rejuvenation is done in the following ways:

• after 8-10 years of growth, partial rejuvenation is carried out. To do this, it is enough to carry out a good thinning. More branches are required to be cut. In total, after pruning, no more than 5-6 branches should remain. Gardeners, who have been cultivating honeysuckle for a long time, renew it once every 5 years.
• complete rejuvenation involves the complete pruning of the plant under the stump. This procedure is carried out for those shrubs that are more than 15 years old. The branches are completely cut off, leaving hemp no more than 50 cm high. This procedure is carried out in late autumn, before the onset of cold weather.

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Interesting: in addition to the fact that honeysuckle gives a large number of fruits, it is also an ornamental shrub.

If you want to decorate your area, you can plant a honeysuckle-liana plant. Such a plant grows up to 5 meters high, blooms within a month. Caprifoli is planted not only by cuttings, but also by seeds.

Tips for professional summer residents

When growing a plant, many questions arise, the answers to which are not so easy to find. We offer you the most frequently asked questions and answers to them.

Question	What to do
After pruning, does the plant need to be fed	The plant has been pruned, which means it has received stress. That is why, after pruning, it is required to feed the plant. For fertilization, it is worth using compost or humus, in the amount of one bucket for each bush. If this is not possible, you can buy ready-made fertilizers. Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers will be required. But in using such funds, you need to be careful, because if you do not dilute them correctly, you can ruin the bush.
The ability to grow honeysuckle with other plants	Many gardeners believe that honeysuckle should not grow alone. And this is really correct. Honeysuckle needs to be grown next to other shrubs, otherwise there won't be a lot of berries. It is best to plant seedlings of several varieties of plants nearby. The plant is self-pollinated, so there should be shrubs of different varieties nearby.
What to do if honeysuckle is not sweet	The most common reason for the growth of unsweetened berries is the lack of sunlight. It is better to choose the right place where it will grow before planting the plant. It is better if the plant receives the sun's rays in the morning. But remember, if the shrub grows in a sunny place, then the berries will be small and not very sweet.
The berries are crumbling	They fall asleep when they start to ripen. It is impossible to deal with this process, since it is biological. Therefore, you can simply lay a cloth or oilcloth under the bush, the berries will fall, and you will simply pick them from the surface clean and ripe
What to do if the taste is bitter	Bitterness appears due to the fact that the plant does not receive the required amount of moisture. During drought and high temperatures, the plant needs to be watered.