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Himalayan Honeysuckle - mould

KarolinaWKarolinaW Posts: 24
in Problem solving
Hello!

My Himalayan Honeysuckle is not looking good. For a few years it was badly pruned. Now I noticed mould/rot looking like things at the base and a couple of older branches.
I'm planning to give it a big prune possibly next week.
Do you think it's going to survive? Should I do something else?


Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Cut all the brown wood off , just leave the new green shoots which will flower this year. It looks like you have not been pruning it hard enough down each Spring.  Prune two year old or more down as low as you can go.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited 5 March
    I don't think it is long lived anyway. It does become very woody the older it gets. It is possible a wet winter may be to blame which is my previous experience. Possibly different in a lighter soil.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • KarolinaWKarolinaW Posts: 24
    Thank you:) 
  • KarolinaWKarolinaW Posts: 24
    @GardenerSuze We moved here 8 years ago and it was already here. I didn't do anything to it as our landlord had a gardener who was pruning it every year (not too low either to be honest). He retired 3 years ago, so since then I wasn't very careful when and how to do it, but I started reading more recently. Ideally I don't want to kill it haha. I have a clay soil.
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    Is the problem on stems with new growth? It looks from the picture that the stem has began to decay which is quite natural with stems that have died back, a good reason to cut this wood back to the ground. 

  • KarolinaWKarolinaW Posts: 24
    @thevictorian I don't think it's on the new growth (or at least I didn't see it yet). Hopefully a proper cut will help:) Thank you
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I would also take out the thick old brown trunks right down to the base. Start with the worst- affected ones (probably the oldest) and take stock as you go because it will probably take out a scary amount of the top growth.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • KarolinaWKarolinaW Posts: 24
    @JennyJ Thank you, very helpful :) Yes, I'm prepared for a radical change!
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    It's a tough plant so you won't kill it! My friend has one and the whole lot is chopped down to about 1 foot tall every spring. It puts on about 6 feet of growth in a season and flowers on that new growth.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    Sorry Karolina I didn't word my reply very well. I meant that from the picture (which might not be the case) it looks like the problem is on stems which have no new growth, rather the ones that had been cut in the previous years. If this is the case then it is just natural die back and nothing to worry about. It would still be best to remove this material and it's part of the reason why it's best to cut the stems to just above the ground when prunning.
    If it is on stems connected to those with new growth then I would just cut these out during the prunning process. 
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