Winter pruning of honeysuckle branches

Honeysuckle is a semi-evergreen winding shrub with developed root system and tolerance to drought and barren. it is an ideal plant for soil and water conservation. Honeysuckle pruning varies with planting form, site condition and management level.

I. pruning period

Winter pruning of honeysuckle is best carried out from December to early March of the following year.

2. Pruning method

1. Pruning of young plants. The pruning of young plants is mainly plastic surgery, with emphasis on cultivating primary, secondary and tertiary backbone branches to form a solid skeleton and lay a foundation for high yield in the future. The plant shape generally adopts natural round head shape and umbrella shape.

Pruning in the same year, 1 branch was naturally round-shaped, 3 branches were umbrella-shaped, 3-5 nodes were cut short, and all the other branches were thinned. In the second year of pruning, 2-3 natural round head-shaped branches and 6-7 umbrella-shaped strong branches were left as primary backbone branches, 3-5 segments were cut short, and all other branches were removed. In the third year of pruning, 7 to 11 natural round head branches and 12 to 15 umbrella shaped branches were selected as secondary backbone branches, so as to cultivate primary, secondary and tertiary backbone branches.

2. Pruning of adult plants. The skeleton of adult plants has been basically formed, pruning is mainly to cultivate robust flowering mother branches, using new branches to adjust the angle of backbone branches to remove the weak and retain the strong. The base diameter of the selected flowering mother branch must be more than 0.5 cm. There are at most 2 to 3 flowering mother branches per secondary backbone branch, 4 to 5 per third backbone branch, and 80 to 120 flowering mother branches in the whole plant. Remove cross branches, drooping branches, withered and weak branches, disease and insect branches and ineffective branches during pruning. The flowering mother branches left behind should be truncated, those who are prosperous should be truncated 4 to 5 lightly, and those who are moderate should be heavily truncated 2 to 3, so that their distribution is uniform and the layout is reasonable.

3. Pruning of aged plants. The honeysuckle after 20 years, the plant gradually aging, at this time pruning, in addition to leaving enough flowering mother branches, mainly for backbone branch renewal and rejuvenation, so that the adult age is old and the branch age is young, in order to maintain the yield. The method is to lay equal stress on interception and to restrain the front and promote the back.