Lilac should be cut or not. The formation of lilac in the form of a stem tree

A bush of blooming lilacs is a luxurious decoration for any suburban area! At first glance, it seems that the plant does not need special care. Indeed, lilac is unpretentious, but requires some care and attention.

Correct fitlilacs

It is desirable to plant lilacs either in sunny areas or in light partial shade. The plant cannot be placed in the shade.

The pit for planting should be deep, with rotted loose earth. The plant does not tolerate close occurrence groundwater , so low areas are unsuitable for it. Lilac planting is best done either in early spring, or at the end of summer - beginning of autumn, September is the most suitable for this. If you decide to start planting in the spring, then buy seedlings in a container so that it is closed. root system. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the lilac will take root poorly or die.

After you have planted a shrub, be sure to water it. You can add any drug that stimulates root formation to the water for irrigation. It is desirable to cover the top layer of soil with hay with a layer of 6-8 cm, which will protect the soil from drying out and weeds, and then, turning into humus, will be food for lilacs.
This plant can grow in one place for a long time, sometimes all its life.

Lilac care after flowering

1. Lilacs need regular pruning. In the 3rd year, strong numerous shoots appear in the bush. They will later form skeletal branches.
2. Exactly pruning after flowering determines how well the plant will bloom.
3. Lilac responds favorably to fertilizers. Every spring, the bushes need to be fed with nitrogen. Top dressing from ash is well absorbed and organic fertilizers during the formation of buds, during flowering.
4. Phosphorus and potash fertilizers it is better to apply in the fall 1 time in 2-3 years. They are placed on top of the soil under the lilac, followed by digging. This is done due to the fact that part of the root system of the shrub is located in the upper soil layer. The best fertilizer rotted manure (horse and cow) is considered.
5. Remember, feeding for lilacs is necessary, but do not get carried away nitrogen fertilizers, including organic ones, because of them the plant will not bloom well, it will be harder to endure frosts.

How to prune lilacs after flowering?

• In early spring, select 6-10 strong shoots on the bush, which are the furthest from each other and create the outline of the plant. Cut off the rest of the branches, and cut the small, directed inward crowns completely, and shorten the stronger ones a little.
• Such thinning and sanitary pruning of lilacs must be carried out every spring, when the buds have already begun to grow.
• Pruning is mandatory, otherwise the shoots under the faded flower brushes will weaken. Therefore, as soon as the lilac fades, it should be cut off. The sooner you do this, the better new shoots will develop and the flowering will be especially lush.

• It should be borne in mind that pruning sometimes causes the shrub to bloom after a year. Lilacs are formed with secateurs, and large branches are cut down. Places of cuts must be covered with paint.
• The basic principle of pruning is to remove all small branches. They do not bloom and can take a lot of strength from the plant.
• If the branch has small and thin shoots, you need to remove it completely. Inflorescences must be removed immediately after flowering (only inflorescences without a branch are removed).
• Never break off a bush, this will damage the buds that will not bloom next year.
• You need to remove all the shoots, leaving only healthy shoots that will replace the old ones in the future.
• To care for lilacs during flowering, you need to cut branches from abundantly flowering bushes.
• After the plant has faded, all dry inflorescences must be carefully cut.
• Be sure to sanitary pruning in spring and autumn with the removal of diseased and drying branches growing inside the shoot bush. Don't forget about forming pruning, at which you need to make sure that the kidneys remain.
• Before you cut and put flowers in a vase, you need to know some tricks so that lush inflorescences will delight you with their aroma and beauty longer:
• Refresh your skew cuts by making new ones. sharp knife under the water. The best way- knead the ends of the shoots with a hammer.
• It is better to cut lilacs from young bushes than from old ones.
• In the water in which there is a bouquet of lilacs, add a little lemon or acetic acid(but not sugar).
• To keep the inflorescences longer in the bouquet, a significant part of the leaves must be removed.

The lilac bush is unpretentious, but despite this, it looks impressive. Anyone, even a beginner, a summer resident will cope with planting and leaving. By following the rules of planting, watering and pruning, you

Lilac can be grown in almost any region, however, in order for the shrub to be healthy and bloom profusely every year, it must be well looked after. One of the most important points of lilac care is pruning, and we will share with you information on whether it is possible to prune lilacs in spring or is it better to do it at another time, how to prune lilacs correctly, whether lilacs need to be prune after flowering, how to prune old lilac and how anti-aging pruning of lilacs is carried out.

When to prune lilac

Lilacs need to be pruned every year, but depending on the purpose of pruning, it is carried out in different time. In early spring, before the juice flows through the branches and the garden wakes up from winter dormancy, thinning is carried out and sanitary cleaning . At the same time, they carry out anti-aging pruning lilacs.

Lilac flowering with proper pruning

form a crown shrub is best immediately after flowering is complete. Then you can carry out a sanitary cleaning, thin out the crown and rejuvenate the plant.

Lilac pruning in spring

In early spring, you need to remove numerous shoots, cut out all frostbitten, dry, broken, crooked and blackened branches and shoots. Old clumsy branches and weak last year's shoots are also removed from the central part of the crown. It is not necessary to shorten good branches and shoots: along with the tops of the shoots, you risk getting rid of flower buds.

If you have a grafted lilac, remove all the shoots that the rootstock has formed, otherwise the grown growth will drown out the varietal shoots.

Is it possible to prune lilacs during flowering

When the lilac blossoms, it is customary to cut branches from it for bouquets. Do not break, but cut: after breaking, disfigured ends of branches with peeled bark remain, which disfigure the entire bush and can be affected by pests. During flowering, partial sanitary pruning is also carried out: branches that obscure other plants or interfere with walking are removed.

Pruning scheme for lilacs after flowering

Sanitary pruning

When the lilac bloom is over, you need to cut off all the drying inflorescences until the seeds begin to set in them: the formation and ripening of seeds takes a lot of strength and nutrition from the bush, and you are unlikely to need seed for lilac propagation: it is better to propagate lilacs vegetatively, because with generative propagation does not preserve the varietal characteristics of the plant. Cut off faded inflorescences as close as possible to the first pair of leaves.

After that, you can shorten some of the shoots to improve the shape of the crown.

Formative pruning

Lilac is formed from the age of three. When growing lilacs in the form of a bush you need to leave three or four of the most developed shoots, directed in different directions from the center. All intersecting and shading shoots must be cut out, as well as constantly appearing shoots. When the formation of the bush is completed, it is necessary to thin out the lilacs every season, remove the shoots that interfere with flowering, and shorten those that violate the outlines of the crown.

Lilac on the trunk , that is, in the form of a tree, looks impressive and unusual. The process of growing such lilacs is long, laborious and difficult, however, several varieties of lilacs can be grafted onto one bole at once, and if you do everything right, the result will be phenomenal.

In early spring, as soon as the snow melts, select a lilac shoot more than a meter high, cut the roots around it within a radius of 20 cm, and cut the rest of the shoots and shoots with pruners. At the very beginning of the sap flow to the upper part of the shoot, you need to graft the cuttings of the lilac varieties you like, and pluck out all the buds that appeared on the stock. But if you plan to graft other varietal cuttings in the future, just in case, leave 3-4 buds in the upper part of the trunk: cuttings of different varieties can be grafted to the shoots grown from them.

At the end of summer, a standard tree is dug up with a pitchfork along with a large clod of earth, and white roots growing underground in a horizontal direction and giving rise are cut into a ring. The seedling is lowered into the prepared pit, covered with an earthen lump with a layer of weathered peat or old humus 5-10 cm thick, and then filled landing pit soil, compact the surface and water abundantly. When the water is absorbed trunk circle mulch with a layer of sawdust, and cover the top of the mulch with a black film for the time of rooting.

lilac blossom

The first two years you need to carefully loosen the soil under the mulch, and then you will have to regularly deal with the emerging root shoots. In addition, you need to engage in the formation of the crown: pinch the tops to stimulate branching, and cut the shoots growing inside the crown into a ring.

Rejuvenating lilac pruning

An old, overgrown bush can be rejuvenated. This procedure differs from other types of pruning in that it involves a radical thinning of the bush: only stumps about 40 cm high remain from the plant, and it is desirable to remove shoots with heavily cracked bark under the root. Do not be afraid to act radically: in place of the old branches, the plant will grow new ones in 2-3 years, which will give new inflorescences.

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Lilac is unpretentious, caring for it is quite simple, and therefore this shrub grows in many regions. But here's one point in the care of the plant must not be forgotten. The cause of the death of lilacs or simply its deterioration appearance(for example, a decrease in the size of inflorescences) is too dense a crown. That's why it's so important timely pruning lilacs. In spring or autumn - when is it better to carry out this procedure? How to create a suitable form? How to protect the plant from possible negative consequences clippings? Let's try to understand all these issues.

Pruning before flowering

Lilac pruning can be done in different months. Each of these procedures has its own meaning.

For example, pruning before flowering (that is, in early spring, between mid-March and early April) is important for several reasons.

• It leads to more intensive growth of side shoots.
• It helps to leave in advance only those branches on which buds appear. Thus, all the nutrients received by the plant will be spent on the growth of these parts.
• At this stage, it is easier to form a crown.

You need to start pruning by removing all damaged branches. If they are broken, blackened, or the branches have grown in a crooked shape, get rid of them.

You also need to cut off very old branches. They can be identified by the following features:

• curved shape;
• the presence of lichen on them.

But young shoots that have appeared over the past year can also be under attack. For example, if they grow in the center of the bush. They do not get sunlight, nutrients also reach in small quantities. And there is not enough room for intensive growth. They only overload the bush.

It is also better to get rid of shoots that have not survived the winter cold. They can no longer be revived.

But cutting the upper parts of the branches, shortening the bush, is not worth it during this period. After all, there are also kidneys.

Pruning after flowering

The next pruning should be done after flowering. The best time to do this is between the end of May and the middle of June.

During this pruning, the target is no longer old and damaged branches, because they are disposed of in early spring. Now you need to get rid of the inflorescences that dry out after flowering. If this is not done in time, then seeds will begin to form on them. And all the nutrients received by the plant will be transferred to them. Because of this, you may not be able to wait for re-blooming in the spring.

It is also after flowering that long branches can be shortened. Now there is nothing to worry about the emerging kidneys. After pruning, you will notice that voids are visible in the crown. There is nothing to be afraid of - by next spring they will overgrow, new shoots will form.

When is it better to prune after flowering - immediately after it ends, in spring, or can you wait until autumn? For beginner gardeners, this is a serious question. Pruning in the fall is not strictly prohibited. And if you did not have time to shorten the branches immediately after flowering, then you should do this in autumn period. But there is a risk that you cut off parts with already forming buds. For this reason, flowering in the spring may not begin at all. So it is better to prune before mid-summer.

Formative pruning

Pruning is needed not only to get rid of damaged branches. With it, you can change the shape of the lilac. Typically, such procedures begin when the bush reaches the age of three years.

Pruning must be planned in advance because it will take several years to create the shape.

1. In the first year, you will have to get rid of a large number of branches. Ideally, no more than four should be left. These should be the strongest and most even branches on which there is no damage. Also, they should all be directed in different directions. That is, even if there are two branches that are ideal for forming a bush, but they grow side by side and are directed in the same direction, one of them will have to be disposed of. It is also necessary to shorten the remaining branches by about half. They should all end at about the same level.
2. By the second year, branching will appear at the tops of the branches left. It will also have to be worked on, leaving only those forks that have become the strongest.
3. In the third year and beyond, you need to repeat the same actions - get rid of weak growths, maintaining the necessary shape.

In the future, you also need to control the resulting shape and prevent the formation of a large number of branches.

Stamp pruning

Another type of form is the standard one. This way you can get a small tree. Firstly, it is a more unusual and beautiful form. Secondly, in this way you protect the bush from external influences. For example, if your lilac was chosen by a dog, because of which the lower branches constantly rot.

1. In the first year, immediately after planting, cut off all side branches. You need to leave only the central one, which is the strongest and strongest. During this year, remove young shoots that appear laterally on the remaining stem.
2. In the second year, when the lilac grows to the required height, you need to stop its growth in this direction. To do this, pinch the bush, that is, remove the top. As a result, the shoots will begin to grow to the sides. But you will have to get rid of most of the shoots, keeping no more than four of the strongest. It is these branches that will become the basis of the tree.
3. In the future, you need to act in the same way as with the usual formative pruning. That is, every year to process these skeletal branches, leaving the strongest growths on them, to adjust the length of the branches.

The height of the lilac in the second year should be no higher than a meter, but not less than sixty centimeters. If the lilac is too high, it will be difficult to adjust its shape. A low stem does not look very nice.

Anti-aging pruning

Over time, the lilac, which was not initially shaped and not trimmed in a timely manner, grows too much. Its branches grow in all directions, differ in length, appear a large number of old and damaged branches. Trimming the old bush will help to rejuvenate. The circuit is pretty simple.

• It is also necessary to cut the bush before spring, before flowering begins. And if during the usual annual pruning it is not recommended to shorten the branches so as not to remove the emerging buds, then with anti-aging pruning you will have to do this. Yes, you will get fewer shoots. But it's really a radical pruning that will bring positive result next spring.
• Before pruning, you need to clarify whether the seedling is grafted. To do this, you need to examine the trunk of the lilac. At the grafting site, you will find a change in the thickness of the trunk, as well as differences in the bark - below the grafting level, it may be of a different color or with a different pattern. You can cut such a lilac only above the vaccination site. Otherwise, it will lose its features and grow into an ordinary bush.
• Very old and damaged branches must be removed without leaving stumps. Stronger specimens, which will become the basis for rejuvenated lilacs, can be cut by half or a third.
• In the future, adjust the shape of the bush every year. It will take about one or two seasons to fully restore lilacs.

Section processing

After pruning, the wounds remaining at the site of cutting the branches heal over time. However, this is not such a fast process, and during the period when new shoots have not yet formed, the lilac is in danger. Damage can be especially serious after the removal of thick branches, because fully formed wounds may not heal. Viruses and fungal spores often enter these openings. A collision with them can lead to the death of the bush, which is why it is so important to process the pruning site.

• After removing or shortening the branch, work the cut a little with a very sharp knife.
• If moisture does not get into this area, then after about ten hours cracks form on it. This means dry upper layer, which is approximately 5 millimeters.
• After that, it is necessary to process the place of the cut with a garden var.

Garden Var is special remedy, which accelerates wound healing and prevents pests from entering. It is sold in gardening stores. But you can cook it yourself. This will require three ingredients:

• rosin;
• wax;
• vegetable oil.

For one part of rosin, two parts of wax and oil are required. Melt the rosin, add the wax. Pour the oil into the resulting liquid, mix and turn off the heat.

To prevent the mixture from stratifying, after removing from heat, pour it into water. Then drain it, leaving the var to dry. Store in closed containers.

Conclusion

An important procedure in the care of lilacs is pruning. It helps to regulate the growth of the bush by getting rid of old branches that absorb nutrients in vain. Also, with the help of cropping, you can change the shape of the lilac. You can get both an ordinary bush and a beautiful tree. Pruning will help rejuvenate the lilac.

It is better to carry out this procedure in the spring - before flowering and after it. You can cut the lilac in the fall, but then there is a risk that it will not bloom this season.

It is extremely important to process the cut point so that the bush is not attacked by viruses.

Pruning - important element caring for ornamental shrubs. It promotes the formation of flower buds and rejuvenation of the plant. Lilac also belongs to crops, the crown of which is desirable to constantly form. How this manipulation should be performed in the spring and autumn periods and according to what scheme can be found in the article.

Why cut bushes

Everyone knows that most plants consist of aboveground and underground parts, which are completely dependent on each other. Any impact on one of them is instantly reflected in the second. Therefore, only correct pruning- a guarantee of good health of the plant as a whole.

It is no exception to the general mass. Its shoots are arranged in such a way that 2 branches grow from each node. Over time, the root system is simply unable to provide nutrients to the overgrown crown, as a result of which the plant will be weak and very few buds will form on it.

For achievement decorative look regular pruning is required. Any deviation from the rules in this case will cause irreparable damage. For those gardeners who very often and thoughtlessly cut something, the bushes may die altogether.

Attention! Pruning lilac every year and existing rules, established empirically, you can get bushes literally strewn with flowers over the entire height.

It should be borne in mind that lilac, like any other plant, “gets a shock” during pruning, and thick sections can rot in steady wet weather. Experts recommend during this period to exclude top dressing, and to avoid problems, lubricate all wounds with brilliant green or other suitable antiseptic.

How to prune in autumn

Pruning lilacs in the autumn is required to achieve several goals:

• removal of old and damaged branches;
• bush rejuvenation;
• giving shrub beautiful shape, that is, its formation.

As usual, all these procedures are carried out in the early spring period, but they are practiced by many gardeners in the fall.

Attention! Work should be done no later than a month before stable cold weather. Otherwise, the plant will not have time to recover.

Sanitary pruning is the cutting of all shoots that have dried up or been damaged. This also includes the removal of spent inflorescences. The anti-aging procedure is recommended to be performed only from the age of 15 years of the lilac bush. It includes cutting off excess young shoots and shortening the tops. The latter is performed in order to activate the branching of lateral shoots. Lilac shaping pruning is also included in autumn care. Thanks to her, the plant is given the intended shape. For example, to get a bush in the form of a cylinder, the following scheme is required:

• On a lilac that has reached 3 years old, 4-5 main shoots are left, the growth of which is directed in different directions. The rest are carefully cut to the ground. The tops of the branches left are trimmed at the same level.
• For the second season, the most powerful, well-branched shoots are left. They should be at the top of the bush and point outward. The rest, thickening the crown, are removed.
• Each subsequent season, the scheme is repeated until the crown takes on the intended form. In this case, neither thickening nor noticeable voids should be observed.

Such a scheme, in addition to the main purpose, will not allow the shrub to grow old.

Attention! All pruning work should be done on a cloudy day. This will help avoid sun damage to injured shoots.

In addition to the cylinder, lilac looks good in standard form. But such plants cannot be called strong. They often get sick and freeze.

How to prune lilac before flowering and during

Lilac pruning spring time mainly carried out for sanitary purposes. Remove all darkened and broken shoots during the winter. It is not recommended to thin out the lilac strongly at this time - there is a threat that the plant will “refuse” to throw out buds this season.

Formation of a lilac bush

In addition, in the spring, before bud break, old, lichen-covered branches or those that have cracked bark should be removed. Such shoots consume quite a lot nutrients, while flower buds are not formed on them. Of the young shoots on the lilac, a few of the strongest are left in order to maintain the annual growth. They should grow up and not break the shape of the crown. During the flowering period of lilac, cutting of many fragrant inflorescences is allowed, with which gardeners like to decorate their homes. This procedure has a beneficial effect on the shrub.

Attention! Can't be broken blooming lilac. At the site of the fracture, an ugly trace remains, into which pathogens can get.

Lilac pruning for rejuvenation

This procedure is performed on old, heavily overgrown lilac bushes. After that, be sure to water and feed the plant. They do this in early spring, at the time when the buds have not yet blossomed, according to the following scheme:

1. Weak and unnecessary shoots are cut to ground level.
2. Those branches that you decide to leave are cut 40-60 cm from the root neck.
3. next spring season most the left shoots are cut into a ring. At the same time, several strong branches will be obtained on each stump.

Buds on a lilac bush are formed 3 years after the start of rejuvenation.

Attention! Strong pruning of such a plan prolongs the decorativeness for only a few years. Old stumps quickly collapse and the plant dies.

Lilac is a plant that requires minimal care. Several bushes with different colors flowers, which are pruned annually according to the rules, can become the main decoration of the entire site.