Time to prune pines

Do you know the difference between a pine and a spruce or other evergreen? And do you know why it’s important to be able to determine the difference?

It’s very important to know the difference, especially if you are planning on pruning your pines.

Regular readers of my column know that I have talked about this before, specifically around the holidays when people are cutting evergreens to use as decorations.

The difference between a pine and other evergreens is this: A pine has needles attached to the stem in bundles, and all of the others have their needles attached directly to the stem.

Look closely at your evergreen and look at the base of the needle. Pines have bundles of needles attached together at the base with a brown papery substance called the fascicle sheath.

In fact, this is how we identify pines in most cases. White pines have needles in bundles of five, while mugho, Austrian and Scotch pines have needles attached in bundles of two needles per bundle.

All of the other evergreens have needles attached directly to the stem. In fact, if you pull a spruce needle off the stem, you may even get a piece of the bark attached.

Now is the time to prune pines and the only time to prune them unless you are removing lower limbs in order to be able to walk, mow or plant under them.

Pines have their primary growth buds at the ends of the branches. You will notice that they have started to grow and are in the “candle” stage right now. Once the new needles start to expand and open up, you can prune your pines.

Pruning of pines should be completed by mid-July.

After mid-July, pines set their buds for next season. If you take off the new buds, you won’t have any new growth on that branch next season.

The purpose of pruning pines at this time is to encourage branching and a more compact plant. This is more common on those pines used for Christmas trees as well as mugho pines and new, smaller pines that are just planted.

Pines are sometimes limbed up (lower limbs removed) in order to allow for traffic or plants underneath. If you do this, cut the branch all the way back to the main trunk. Otherwise, you will have a branch that will eventually decay. It will not have any new growth.

Other evergreens can be pruned now as well without any concerns. Many people like to wait until the new growth is finished so that you know what has to be removed.

Pruning cuts on evergreen shrubs should be made on branches and stems that are about the size of your little finger. The farther back you go, the bigger the branch or stem, the longer it will take for the plant to leaf out again.

Any spring blooming plants that have finished blooming (forsythia, lilac, etc.) can be pruned now if needed. These plants form their flower buds for next year around August; at least get it done before then.

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