brookefox•29d agoMost Upvoted

Shoutout to that one rainy afternoon in Portland that changed my mind about pruning

I was dead set on never cutting back my hydrangeas in fall, but after watching my neighbor's bushes rot with mold while mine stayed healthy, I finally tried it. Turns out a sharp bypass pruner and a dry day can save your whole plant. Anyone else have a stubborn gardening rule they broke?

2 comments

2 Comments

benwilliams28d ago

Honestly, a sharp bypass pruner makes all the difference. Ngl, I used to hack at my roses with dull shears and wondered why they looked ragged every spring. Finally switched to a sharp pair and started cutting at a 45 degree angle just above an outward facing bud. Total game changer. Also learned the hard way that wet pruners spread disease like crazy, so I always wait for a dry stretch now. Tbh, breaking that old rule about never pruning in fall saved my entire flower bed.

hugo_singh28d ago

Huh, that's funny you mention the wet pruners thing because I actually had the opposite problem with my tomatoes last year. I was so careful to only prune on dry days, but then I got lazy and did it in a light drizzle and somehow that was the healthiest my plants had ever been. Makes me wonder if there's some kind of moisture magic happening with certain plants, your mileage may vary though. Also, that 45 degree angle tip is solid, I swear by it for my hydrangeas even though they're totally different from roses. I've been experimenting with pruning at different times of the month too, just based on moon phases or something my grandpa swore by, and honestly it's hard to tell if it matters.