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NEWS photo Mike Woketicid

PROPER PRUNING is needed to keep trees healthy and grow-
ing. Here, District of Nesth Vancouver gardener Alan Lizee

prunes the trees in a district park.

agente

Following a program will create

PRUNING OR culling away
wood from a tree or shrub i is
a long-established practice of
gardeners. There are at least
a half dozen reasons why the
procedure is useful.

For example, plants such as
Forsythia aid Mock Orange need to
be pruned to keep thent under con-
trol and to establish and maintain a
desirable form.

Fruit trees in particular need reg-
ular pruning to maintain satisfacto-
ry health and vigor.

‘Too much tight growth will pre-
vent light and air from reaching the
inner part of the tree. ihereby
encouraging dampness, fue
lichens and disease.

Most fruit tree branches that
have been pruned will be stimulit-
ed to develop Mower buds or fruit
spurs. When old apple trees have
not been pruned for years, they will
appear to revert back toa wild
state, producing large quantities of
small Sruit.

After a judicious pruning the
tree will come back into production
with large fruit.

The removal of dead or decay-
ing wood from trees and shrubs is
also important. A dead or diseased
branch will not only start to rot but
the decay will soon work back into
the supporting branch or trunk.

Roy
Jonsson

SOW IT GROWS

When this happens it is difficult
to contain the rot without distigur-
ing the tree or creating a huge
wound. Unfortunately some gar-
deners hate to prune anything while
others become chainsaw specialists.

In fact, many garden plants
don't need any regular pruning
while others such as hedges might
be pruned two or three times per
year

Ponderosa pines and many other
lurge trees should never be pruned
because the growth patiern from

healthier trees, shrubs

then on will always look distorted,

All established plants develop a
ratio between their root structine
and top growth, fa plant or tree is
severely pruned the ratio is changed
and the root structure may now be
twice the size it needs to be to sup-
port the limited top growth,

The excess nutrient capacity will
usually stimulate rapid top growth
until the ratio is brought back into
balance again. To prune severely
one year and then abandon the tree
the next, generates a maze of suck-
ers or water shoots during the fol-
lowing two or three years, creating
a worse problem than if the ee had
not been touched.

Some flowering bushes and
shrubs produce the best blooms on
relatively new wood and they must
be pruned for renewal,

Hydrangeas and roses are good
exumples of plants where a portion
of the old wood is removed each
year to encourage new stalks to
emerge from the base of the plant.

Other shrubs such as abelia and
viburnum need have only their
branches shortened back and a
compact shape developed.

Azaleas and rhododendrons
don't require any pruning under
normal conditions. If they gct too

See Prune page 16

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CRAZY CLEAROUT
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“MON. -SAT. 9:00-5:30; SUNDAY 42:00-4:00.-

an E. 53RD ST.
986-

NORTH VAN.
1361