Hawthorn adorns the garden as a lavishly flowering house tree. Equipped by nature with tree-like growth, a shape and maintenance cut is only occasionally on the care plan. Find out here when and how to properly cut hawthorn.

In summer, only small cuts are permitted to protect birds

Prune crown after flowering

Like all spring-blooming trees and shrubs, hawthorn also lays its buds in late summer for next year's flowering period. If you have prescribed a shape cut for the treetop, you should get to work between the end of June and mid-July. A later pruning time carries the risk that the scissors will sacrifice valuable flowering plants. How to perfectly trim a hawthorn crown:

  • Check hawthorn crown for nesting birds and cut later if necessary
  • Cut back shoots that are protruding from the crown or are hanging down too much
  • Set pruning shears just above an outward-facing pair of leaves or side shoot
  • Optionally cut off wilted flowers to avoid self-seeding

You are trimming the tree canopy in accordance with the Federal Nature Conservation Act if you limit the amount of trimming to this year's growth.

Thin out at 3-year intervals

A light-flooded crown is the secret of the success of lavish blooms. For this reason, please devote yourself to an extensive clearing cut every three to four years. To do this, cut out dead wood, damaged branches that are growing towards the inside of the crown, and branches that are growing transversely. An old peasant saying goes: after an exemplary thinning cut, a hat that has been thrown into the crown should fall to the ground.

Rejuvenate old hawthorn - this is how it works

If a hawthorn crown is not granted the occasional pruning, bareness and senescence are inevitable. The abundance of flowers visibly decreases from year to year and shifts to a few shoot tips. That is not a reason for the clearing. How to successfully rejuvenate a hawthorn:

  • The best time is during the leafless period, ideally in late winter
  • To start, saw off dead branches on the Astring
  • Cut back the remaining scaffold shoots by up to two thirds

Like all hawthorn species, hawthorn is also busy when it comes to creating sleeping eyes as a growth reserve. From these dormant buds, the crown sprouts vigorously, even after a radical pruning.

Cut off the thick branch in stages

Often a rejuvenation pruning requires you to completely remove an old, thick branch. If you saw off the branch in question in one go, there is a risk of breakage with damage to the trunk bark. This risk is avoided by cutting in stages. At a distance of 30 centimeters from the branch ring, saw the branch from the top to the middle. Now move the saw 10 centimeters and saw from below until the branch falls. Saw off the stump just before the knot ring.

tips

The high esteem as a house tree does not mean that hawthorn resists cultivation as a shrub. Thanks to its good-natured pruning tolerance, the ornamental tree cooperates if you prefer to grow it as a hedge. In this variant, the cut care consists of a shape cut in summer and a thinning cut in late winter.

Category:

Vegetable garden