Content
Pruning weigela in spring allows you to create a unique composition and distinguish the plant from a variety of garden crops. The decorativeness of the flowering shrub will delight not only the owners of the personal plot, but also passers-by. Gardeners manage to achieve the maximum beauty of the culture by competently organizing the spring pruning of the weigela and the formation of its crown.
Do I need to cut the weigela in the spring
Weigela is an ornamental flowering shrub. It can be grown both singly and using it in composition or for the formation of picturesque hedges. For a long and lush flowering of vegetation, weigela gardeners use timely pruning.
To make the bush look aesthetically pleasing, you should adhere to the rules for cutting ornamental crops. For novice gardeners, below is a short algorithm of actions:
- Inspect the bush in early spring. If the tips of the branches are black, they should be removed, as this happens due to frosting of the shoots in winter.
- When the kidneys are swollen, you can remove the damaged areas, retreating from them by 1-2 cm.If this procedure is not done in time, rotting forms in the damaged areas.
How to properly trim a weigela
Thanks to decorative colorful inflorescences, gardeners grow weigelu on their personal plot. During flowering in summer, the shrub is simply strewn with fragrant flowers. As a rule, flowers appear on last year's branches. By spring, the shoots turn into even rods, along the entire length of which fascinating inflorescences appear. On old branches, buds can appear only on the tops of the growth. It is better to remove these branches so that the crown is not so dense.
Weigela is a very hardy plant, therefore, it treats the thinning of the bush in the same way as lilac. The crop can be cut during the entire growing season. The procedure does not provoke diseases of the flowering weigela, pruning only activates the appearance of new shoots. The gardener conducts a bush trimming at a convenient time for himself.
Recommended timing
In the summer season, the ornamental shrub is covered with dense foliage. Therefore, it is difficult to decide which branches should be cut completely and which should only be shortened.
In principle, crown cleaning can be carried out both in spring and summer. The culture is extremely mold resistant. In September-October, only sanitary pruning of branches is carried out. In winter, it is not recommended to cut the bush, this can lead to freezing or illness.
For the correct calculation of the weigela pruning period, it is necessary to know exactly the age of the ornamental crop, its varietal characteristics. For example, dwarf species are not customary to shorten too much, their branches are not long anyway. It will be enough to apply the usual sanitary pruning. In the video you can see how the weigela is trimmed:
Preparation of tools and materials
Garden vegetation requires proper attention and care. If you do not follow the garden, do not cut the crown in time, do not remove broken or diseased branches, then soon it can turn into an impenetrable jungle.
Periodically, shrubs or fruit trees are pruned.For this, gardeners use special tools and devices. One delimber or file will not be enough. Today the market presents many options for the necessary garden tools.
For full-fledged work on a personal plot, it is recommended to purchase frequently used household appliances, such as a hedge cutter, garden shears, pruning shears or saws.
How to properly prune a weigela in spring
The crown is easier to form from young, one-year-old shoots. Of these, it will be easiest to create a shrub of any geometric shape, for example, in the form of a pyramid, ball, cube.
It is important to keep the shrub healthy. Every spring it is carefully examined, and if branches that are frozen or damaged by the disease are visible, then these shoots are cut off. Even if you have to cut a lot of branches, over the summer the shrub will have time to branch out and take its usual shape.
How to prune a weigela in the summer after flowering
Adult weigela shrubs require an annual modeling haircut to maintain their chosen shape. It can be spherical, pyramidal or square. As a rule, formative pruning of the shrub is carried out in the summer, when the weigela is about to bloom a second time.
Shoot pruning is done at 1/3 of the length. It is necessary that the plant has time to grow more young shoots, on which flowering will repeat abundantly. After the haircut, the weigelu is fed with fertilizer. It can be potassium sulfate. It will not be superfluous to mulch the trunk circle.
How to form a weigela bush annually
The crown of the shrub is quite large in size. To maintain it in a neat shape, it is required to follow the cutting scheme: remove damaged and old pagons in a timely manner, cut new shoots.
Gardeners recommend cutting the crown twice during the entire growing season.
- Primary pruning in spring before foliage appears. Remove dead, frozen or dried shoots.
- Secondary pruning is done after flowering to give the shrub some rest. You can remove branches 2-3 years old to rejuvenate the weigela.
Weigela care after pruning
After removing excess branches, the cut sites must be lubricated with garden varnish so that the infection does not get in, and the healing process passes faster. In early spring and at the end of the summer season, the shrub must be fed with complex fertilizers.
Choose a composition that contains potassium. It helps to strengthen the branches. From organic matter, it is acceptable to use diluted mullein. The proportions are as follows: water - 9 parts, rotted mullein - 1 part. Pour 8-10 liters of the finished mixture under the bush. It is better not to use nitrogen, as it can form rot on the wood.
Moisture is also important for the shrub. Water the weigela when the topsoil dries up. Before the onset of winter, it is useful to water the shrub abundantly. In winter, moisture will prevent freezing of the root system.
Mulching is relevant at any time. You can use the spruce needles before last, chopped straw. They will not give, quickly evaporate moisture from the soil. It is important to make sure that the mulch is not close to the trunk, this can provoke rot.
Conclusion
Pruning weigela in spring is necessary to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the garden composition. Caring for it is quite simple, so even an inexperienced gardener can grow a crop. The shrub has an amazing ability to quickly grow deciduous mass, regardless of the methods and volumes of pruning. A heat-loving plant will be able to delight its owners with long flowering.
