Winter Is Best For Pruning

If trees are planted in large groups ordinary cultivation may be given. When the trees are planted as specimens or are scattered, such as along the street, digging of the soil in a circle around the tree to a depth of three or four inches will aid the tree in its growth. In order to conserve the moisture in the soil around newly-planted trees the ground may be mulched with leaves, straw, litter, or a layer of dust formed by stirring and pulverizing the soil to a depth of an inch. This will obviate watering in most cases.

Only under rare conditions will it be necessary to water or irrigate trees when mulching is practiced. Of course, this does not apply to the districts where all cultivated trees must be artificially watered by irrigation. As trees grow they will need pruning. This annual requirement can be met by going over the trees during the summer when the amount of top to be removed can be more easily determined than in the winter months. The winter is a favorable time for pruning, however, and is devoted to this work by many city foresters. The amount of pruning is one of individual judgment, but should be based on the shape of the tree desired.

As for shrubbery planting—the best results are had when the planting is done in beds or groups. Shrubs grow best when in the companionship of others. Compare plants placed individually in the sod with those in a group that enjoy the cultivation of a deep hoeing or spading once or more each year. If shrubs are to be arranged in groups or colonies, the area that they are to occupy should first be thoroughly spaded as if for flowers, after which the planting may be done in the usual manner. Newly planted shrubbery should be cut back severely at time of planting. This treatment reduces the number of buds to be supplied with nourishment and has a tendency to make the growth much more vigorous than if it were not so pruned.

Generally from one-third to one-half of the top should be removed. While this may seem to spoil the shrub, it really is the making of it. The plant will be more bushy and can be trained, as it grows, into the shape desired. When shrubbery is planted in the spring this trimming is perhaps most easily done before the shrub is set in the ground. When planted in the autumn it is usually best to defer the trimming until early the following spring. A privet hedge should be planted several inches deeper than it stood in the nursery, then trimmed severely back. The more severe the trimming, the denser the resulting hedge.

By: davidbunch

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