How to properly prune lilacs: 3 different sizes to achieve
The lilac, this magnificent shrub with colorful flowers embellishes and beautifies your garden as soon as spring arrives. Thanks to it, you can also compose pretty bouquets that bring a country touch and a sweet perfume to your home. However, pruning is recommended in order to promote the growth of new stems. Permapote gives you its best advice to take full advantage of the beauty of lilacs.
The three types of lilac pruning
Refreshing pruning
This should be done once the flowering phase is over, i.e. around May-June. The purpose of this annual maintenance is to encourage the future flowering of your shrub. It consists in cutting off the faded flowers and the offshoots with the help of secateurs. Do not forget to disinfect your tool between each plant to avoid the propagation of diseases. The cut must remain relatively soft and reasoned. Also remember to get rid of the shoots that tend to take energy from your lilac. From its second year, you can perform a ball pruning by removing the branches that are too low and badly formed.
Thinning pruning
In order to promote oxygenation of the plant, it is advisable to perform this maintenance every 4 or 5 years. This operation also has the advantage of preventing the appearance of diseases. To carry out this pruning, you must eliminate the dead wood and the badly formed branches. Also cut a third of the stems that have already flowered. Once this step is completed, only the center of the shrub should remain, i.e. about ten branches.
Rejuvenation pruning
This last cut concerns old shrubs or those that have never been maintained. You can do it in October or between March and April. Be aware that this maintenance will deprive your lilac of flowering for two years. Use a pruning tool such as a lopping saw or a small chainsaw. Make a hard cut of the large branches 20 to 30 cm from the ground. Cut them at an angle to avoid water accumulation at the ends. Then refresh your cuts with a rag and coat them with a homemade putty or ointment to promote healing.
How to easily make homemade ointment?
Saint-Fiacre's ointment
Very easy to make, it will not cost you a cent. To make it, mix equal parts of clay and cow dung. Then add rainwater to make the mixture more homogeneous.
Wood ash putty
To make this one, mix fireplace ash with clay. Then dilute with a little rainwater until you get a paste. Apply the product directly to your tree. Be careful, you will have to repeat the operation if the weather is rainy.
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