landscape

Pruning Guide

hydrangea plant

Check out this handy pruning guide and refresher from our Sustainable Landscaping and Nursery IPM Educators.  This was written for professionals, and is also applicable to home gardeners just getting started with the basics of pruning. It includes links to other resources for continued learning as well!

PRUNING TIPS AND RULES OF THUMB

– Identify the purpose of each pruning job. (Table 2)
– The amount of living plant material that can be re-moved at one time depends on the age and level of establishment of the plant (Table 3).

– Dead, broken, or diseased plant material can be pruned at any time of the year.

– To rejuvenate multi-stemmed shrubs, remove one or more of the oldest stems at the base each year to stimulate new shoots to arise from the base of the plant. Many flowering shrubs bloom more prolifically on younger, 2 to 3-year-old wood. Shrubs that respond well to having some of the 3+ year-old stems removed include forsythia, weigela, deutzia, mock orange and beauty bush.
– Newly established hedges should be pruned early in the growing season to promote the desired growth and density. More established hedges may be kept vigorous and dense by thinning out older branches, which will encourage new growth.”
Read more at bit.ly/Pruning_UConn

UConn Native Plants and Pollinators Conference

native plants and pollinators conference bannerSTUDENT UNION BALLROOM (ROOM 330) 2100 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269 October 3, 2019

Join us for the second biannual UConn Native Plants & Pollinators Conference! Come for an exciting day of presentations featuring current science-based research and information on supporting pollinators in managed landscapes. This program is designed for growers and other green industry professionals, landscape service providers, landscape architects and designers, town commissions, municipalities, schools, and homeowners. Learn how to utilize native plants to provide the greatest value for pollinators throughout the year!

Download the agenda: NPPC2 Agenda (1)

Register online at s.uconn.edu/pollinators2019.

Register online or visit the UConn IPM website (www.ipm.uconn.edu)

Early registration $50.00, by Friday August 30, 2019 $60.00 after August 30, 2019

Students $25.00 with valid school ID

The registration fee includes: Admission to sessions Lunch & Parking

Parking is available in the North Parking Garage (103 North Eagleville Road) and South Parking Garage (2366 Jim Calhoun Way). Please bring your parking garage ticket with you to check-in for validation. See Link to UConn Storrs Campus map.

Questions about registration? Contact: Alyssa Siegel-Miles, alyssa.siegel-miles@uconn.edu or call at 860-885-2821.

Pesticide Recertification credits: PA, 1A, 3A, 3B, 3D, 6, 10/5

UConn is an equal opportunity employer and program provider.

Beware of Volcano Mulch

volcano mulch around a tree in Storrs, Connecticut is damaging the bark and the tree
Volcano mulch on a tree. Photo: Stacey Stearns

In three short decades, volcano mulch has become one of the greatest threats to newly planted and young trees and shrubs. If unchecked, the significant monetary and human investment in greenscapes will result in more and more dead and dying trees.

Volcano mulch is the over-mulching of plant material, notably trees and shrubs. Mulch plays an important role in protecting plant material from irreversible lawnmower and weed whacker damage as well as providing for some control over weed competition and soil water retention. Seemingly, rings of mulch have also become landscape design features.

While deadly, the problem is simple; people are placing heaps and heaps of mulch around trees and shrubs and right next to the thin, vulnerable bark. The fact is you do not need more than 2-3 inches of mulch in depth for the desired purposes. Mulch should not come closer than 2-3 inches from the plant.  Yet people are piling mulch 6 inches or more, and right on the trunks of the trees, causing damage to life sustaining cambium (the live tissue just below the bark). Beware of volcano mulch in your yard.

Article by Robert Ricard, Ph.D.