FREE online courses on Vegetable Gardening - Pruning - Renewal Pruning

 

When shrubs are left to their own devices, the oldest branches and stems will actually turn woody, and that's not good because woody branches do not produce as many leaves and they start to look like trees.

 

You can put your fastest-growing shrubs on a 3-year renewal cycle so that the stems and branches are never more than 3 years old!

 

• During the first year, remove one-third of the shrub's branches and stems, cutting them right back to the base and focusing on the thickest, woodiest and oldest ones.
• During the second year, remove another third of the growth, again focusing on the oldest branches and leaving the new growth alone.
• During the third year, remove another third, cutting out the last of the old growth left after the first year of pruning and again leaving the new growth alone.
• During subsequent years, remove the old growth as needed but basically taking out the oldest third of the growth and leaving the youngest, most productive branches.

 

With slow-growing shrubs, the 3-year cycle would probably mean death, but a 5-year renewal cycle (taking out the oldest fifth of a shrub's growth every year) should work for most of them.