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Rhododendron pruning.

PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
in Problem solving
Do Rhododendrons re grow from brown wood? IE. If I cut back ours to a foot from the ground where there are leafless stems will they regrow from those stems?

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I have one that was about 12ft high and 15ft round.
    Last year I cut the whole thing back to the thick trunks leaving almost no branches or leaves.
    New growth is sprouting all over now - so the answer is yes, you can :)

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    Thank-you. Now the green bins are empty I can get cutting. No flowers this year so nothing to lose.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I filled 12 green bins with the prunings from mine :)
    No flowers for me either this year, but at last the surrounding plants now have a chance to grow.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    Just done one of them. In all 60 years of gardening I have never seen as many insects on one plant before. Scale infestation off the scale. May have to remove the Rhodies altogether.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Once you've pruned just use a stiff brush on the scale insects to shift them. I used an old shoe brush when my acer had lots of them - worked a treat and they've not returned.
    Rhodies are very tough plants and the scale insect larvae will find it hard to eek out an existence on it, so I wouldn't worry about them on such a robust plant.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    If you have a lot of scale insects paint methylated spirit on the trunks.  Cheap and effective. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    We are talking here of 4 square metres of plants. It would take a gallon of meths!
  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,527
    Cut them to the ground / stump then to help get rid of the infestation they still bounce back fine. 
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