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Puning opportunity?
jamesharcourt
Posts: 465
After a couple of frosts, we have hit a “warm spell” down in Sussex where temperatures are in double digits with lows not much lower than 7 or 8 forecast for the next couple of weeks.
Does this make it an opportunity to prune plums or fatsia japonica?
Does this make it an opportunity to prune plums or fatsia japonica?
0
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As a general rule I never prune anything before winter unless it is obviously damaged because frosts can get into fresh wounds and make them susceptible to infections or burrowing pests. The extra length and bushiness can protect the core of the plant from frost damage so wait till spring when you can see what frost damage you have and then prune back below that.
The only exception would be shrub roses with long whippy stems that can be blown about in gales and cause damage to the roots - wind rock - so these get reduced by a third to a half in autumn to reduce wind resistance and knowing that further pruning will happen in spring anyway. Long stems on climbers and ramblers get tied to a frame to protect them from wind damage.