Four O Clocks Bouquet

Gardening is an art and it requires little techniques to get more output. Pruning helps in increasing the productivity of gardening. The following are the reasons why pruning technique is employed:

To control pests or disease: If your plant is suffering from a disease, it's best to find out what it is before attempting to remove it. Some diseases can be pruned out, providing the main trunk isn't affected- other diseases will eventually kill the plant anyway and could, in the meantime, spread to neighboring plants.

Severe attacks of blackfly tend to concentrate on the young growing tips of a wide range of plants, from fava beans to cherry. The best way to control blackfly is to cut oft affected areas and burn them. To prevent disease spreading to other plants, always collect up and burn diseased material and remember to clean your tools before using them on healthy plants.

Variegated plants When a branch of a variegated plant reverts to its "true" or original appearance and its leaves lose their variegation, any green shoots should be pruned out to leave only the variegated leaves. Otherwise, they will grow more quickly and smother the weaker, variegated leaves.

Dealing with suckers Suckers that appear below the graft on fruit trees, roses, and rhododendrons must be cut off because they will be more vigorous than the grafted variety. Remove them when they are small and without leaving any stem, as that could re-sprout with two or more new suckers.

Climbers The rules of when and how to prime are especially important for climbers, such as clematis, climbing roses, and wisteria. With correct pruning and training, plants such as these will plaster themselves with flowers, while little or no pruning will result in masses of long, thin, non-flowering growths and a few miserable flowers high up on the plant. Virginia creepers, clematis, ivy, and Hydrangea petiolaris, if they are grown against a building, need to have their extension growths removed before they find their wax through the soffit into the roof space and under roof tiles.

Safety It is frequently necessary in urban areas or close to buildings or roads to reduce the overall height and spread of mature trees to make them safe. Regular inspections will determine if diseased branches need to be removed.

In the case of mature trees, especially where safety and the use of a chain saw is involved, pruning is best left to a qualified tree surgeon. Always check on a firm's experience, whether the workers are qualified and that their public and employers' liability insurance is sufficient to cover a worst-case scenario.

Top tips to prevent disease The downside to pruning is the risk of disease entering the plant through the wound. The most common diseases to enter in this way include dieback, various killer cankers, silver-leaf, and fire blight. Disease spores spread quickly, landing on fresh cuts and soon penetrating the branch. Sap from infected trees is transferred to healthy plants on the blades of cutters. So, to keep your plants healthy

- always clean equipment after use. - cut trees with diseases such as apple canker last. - seal large wounds that will be slow to callus over with a proprietary paint to prevent spores entering - prune when spores are dormant (which will be winter for apple canker but summer for silver-leaf disease) - burn infected prunings immediately.

Avinash Bikumalla

Author and founder of Shovel Garden mywork.name/loans/go/go.php?sid=1.onlinegardeningexpert/] and Online Gardening Tools mywork.name/loans/go/go.php?sid=1.onlinegardeningexpert/]