Understanding a Little About How Plants GrowIf the end bud is removed, either by accident or by pruning, growth will stop at that point on the plant and the energy will be diverted to lower buds. The bud closest below the cut will take over the leader's job, and grow in the direction that it is pointing. If a pair of buds are in the leader position, and are removed, the pair of lateral buds immediately below the cut will grow, like twins, unless one is removed. In both cases the remainder of the lower side buds will not be greatly affected and will generally remain small and secondary. The amount of foliage that you remove from a plant makes a difference in your pruning results. Ordinarily, in established plants, the tops and root systems are approximately in balance. The leaves manufacture food necessary for the entire plant. They depend on roots fro raw supplies. Plants are thrifty, there are just enough leaves and roots to support each other. Prunig upsets this balance in ways that you can turn to your advantage. If you take away only a moderate portion of the leaves, there will be a burst of new top growth. This is because the roots will continue to furnish to the fewer remaining buds the same amount of nutrients that they formerly divided among many more. (This is the principle you will use in rejuvenating old shrubs.) However, if you take away too many leaves, especially on a young or un-established plant, the roots will stop growing; the plant will be starved and dwarfed. If roots are reduced by pruning or injury, foliage will become less abundant. This is the principle used in making a bonsai, whose tops and roots may be pruned regularly. Whether you make your cuts high or low on a branch determines the general style of new growth that will result. Generally speaking, high pruning--far from food-supplying roots, and at the far end of old and inefficient food-conducting channels--produces numerous but small branches, and numerous but small flowers. Low pruning--at the base of a stem or branch, relatively close to food supplies--will give fewer new stems, but they will be larger and more vigorous, and flowers borne on them will be bigger. This is a basic principle you can follow on everything from house plants to roses, shrubs and trees. For instance, when a shrub is given a shearing across its top, the new growth emerges there, and it is small and twiggy. The lower branches never fill out so the shrub always looks leggy and spindly. --------------------- |
