How to Prune a 12 Foot Evergreen Shrub to 4 Feet
While evergreens rarely require pruning there are occasions when a hard pruning will be needed in order to correct damage, restore symmetry, remove dead growth or even to shape hedging. Reducing an evergreen shrub by more than half will place some stress on the shrub so mitigating environmental stressors will be important to prevent shock and ensure swift recovery. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Prune your evergreen shrub in the late spring to minimize the amount of heat or cold environmental stress the plant will be under in addition to the severe pruning.
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Water your evergreen shrub deeply until drenched the day or two before a severe pruning as this will fortify the roots for new growth and counter the drying effects of so many exposed cut sites in the wood tissue.
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3
Don your gloves and grab the trunk giving it a good shake, rustling the branches a bit to alert any birds or other animals that may be in the shrub to evacuate.
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Use long handled loppers to begin removing individual branches from either the top or sides of the shrub placing all cuts flush with the parent branch and removing the cut pieces form the canopy one by one before making the next cut.
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Bring down the height or width of the shrub gradually. Follow the natural contours of the shrub while pruning as once the basic form is altered it is very slow if not impossible to restore the natural flow of branching.
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Water again deeply a few days after the severe pruning and resume your regular feeding schedule or mulch with several pounds of good quality compost and/or well aged manure around the base of the shrub to boost the nutrient quality of the soil.
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