Buddleia problem - distorted growth
MowerMan3
Posts: 37
I have a couple of Buddleia cuttings (taken last year) that have been growing extremely well this year, but some months ago I noticed that on one plant some of the new growing tips developed a problem where the very tip of the growing shoot (and its tiny leaves) died, turned brown and the shoot stopped growing (all branches on the other plant are fine). The affected shoots reached well over 12 inches in length before this happened.
As the cuttings are less than a year old there are three main new shoots per cutting, two of which are affected by this problem on one plant.
I'm still keeping an eye on the problem plant - one of the three new branches looks great, nice and healthy and it also flowered well. However, the other two affected branches on that plant don't look so good - they are stunted and any new growth looks distorted and generally diseased.
I'm thinking of pruning back the two affected branches really hard, right back to the main stem so hopefully next year all of the plant's energy will be put into the single healthy branch (which I won't cut back so hard). However, if I do this hard pruning on the two unhealthy branches would now be a good time or should I wait until late winter/early spring?
Posts
Buddleias can be pruned at any time, although in late spring or summer it would stop or delay flowering, so now would be safe.
Thanks very much.
As the cuttings are so young I would not let them flower next year so the energy goes into the plant rather than the flower.