A top gardening expert has urged gardeners to prune their Wisteria in December to help keep them healthy over the winter months.
As temperatures plunge across the UK, Richard Barker recommends taking the shears or electric trimmer to Wisteria, as well as deciduous trees, apple trees and grapevines this week to avoid disease, maintain shape and encourage growth.
For Wisteria, “winter pruning can be undertaken at any point in the plant’s dormant season, which is between late October and March”.
This helps the plant to develop “spurs that will carry flowers in spring”.
Wisteria should be pruned twice a year, by cutting its long shoots back until only two or three buds are left, and removing any green stems from the base of the plant.
The expert also adds to make sure your equipment is clean – leaving tools unwashed can mean they blunt or damage easily.
It’s also worth targeting deciduous trees, which have less leaves and sap in Winter, meaning pruning will be much easier and less messy. Richard recommends removing “smaller branches to create a clean stem and cut back any branches that would interfere with mowing”.
Avoid cutting too far away from a deciduous tree’s bud, but also make sure not to cut the bud itself. Always cut at an angle sloping away from the bud – this makes any water falling on the bud run off, and stops it from rotting.
Cutting back grapevines at the start of December means they will not bleed sap, which would weaken the plant. It also encourages new growth of fresh, healthy grapes next year. Richard recommends removing any dead branches, and cutting back healthy shoots down to two buds.
Apple trees are also worth pruning this week – otherwise they might become diseased or overgrown.
Diseased branches should be cut back to a healthy bud or completely removed, and older branches sheared to where they meet a thicker branch. Last year’s shoots and current vigorous shoots should be cut to half their length.
The main shoot can also be shortened to encourage healthier growth and make sure minerals are shared equally across the tree.
Richard’s list of pruning essentials includes a set of secateurs, a pair of shears, and a pair of thick gardening gloves.
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