Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Prune a honeysuckle bush
• Method 2 of 3: Maintaining a honeysuckle creeper
• Method 3 of 3: Trimming an overgrown honeysuckle
• Tips
• Warnings

Honeysuckles are beautiful and fragrant plants that grow as shrubs or creepers. However, they grow very quickly and can choke out other small plants in your garden. Annual pruning is necessary to control your honeysuckle shrub or creeper, or to control an overgrown honeysuckle.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Prune a honeysuckle bush

1. Prune the shrub between April and June. It is best to wait until after the flowering period to ensure that the branches bloom. After the plant blooms, look for branches that have not produced leaves or flowers.
   • Do not prune the plant during the blooming season, as this can stop growth and cause the flowers to wilt prematurely.
   • Disinfect the pruning shears with rubbing alcohol or bleach before use to reduce the spread of disease and pests.
2. Remove any branches that are dead, damaged, or diseased. In the shrub, look for dead branches that have no leaves or produced no flowers. Note the areas where branches have broken or bent. Look around the bottom of the plant for branches with insects or wilted leaves.
   • Cut infected and broken branches before "styling" the shrub by removing healthy branches.
3. Hold the pruning shears at a 45 degree angle. By cutting at an angle, the water runs off the end and the risk of stem rot is prevented. Do not cut the branches straight as this can kill the rest of the branch as water collects on the surface and attracts the pests to settle in the branches.
   • Always use sharp pruning shears or long-handled loppers to avoid tiny tears in the branches.
4. Cut the branches about half an inch for a bud. If you leave a piece of old branch behind, it will be stimulated to regrowth. To find a bud, find a spot where there is a leaf or other branch on the branch that you want to cut. This is a place where growth takes place.
   • If any part of the branch is badly damaged or diseased, cut it back to a healthy main branch in the center of the shrub, also called a "mother branch."
5. Remove a few branches from the center to increase light and air flow. Select some of the long and healthy stems in the center of the shrub and prune them to a bud close to the center of the shrub. This allows more sun and air to penetrate the middle and lower parts of the shrub, encouraging further growth.
   • Never remove more than ⅓ of the shrub's healthy branches, even if it is overgrown.
   • If you have a lot of long branches at the top of the shrub, you may want to cut some of them down to the center of the shrub. This also allows more sun to reach the lower part of the shrub.

Method 2 of 3: Maintaining a honeysuckle creeper

1. Prune the creeper slightly in late summer to shape it. Honeysuckle creepers can grow quickly and spread quite a bit during the blooming season. After the season is over, reshape the plant to a more manageable size.
   • During the first few years that a honeysuckle grows, do not cut more than ⅓ off the stems. Cutting off too many stems can kill him.
   • Disinfect the pruning shears with rubbing alcohol or bleach before use to reduce the spread of disease and pests.
2. Before pruning, pull off or trim dead stems and wilted flowers. Before shaping the creeper, remove any remaining brown leaves or flowers with your hands or pruning shears.This will give you a better idea of ​​the size and shape of the climbing plant and you can focus your attention on places where the plant needs more water, sun or air flow.
   • If any area has a lot of dead leaves, prune around that area with the scissors to increase the flow of light and air to that area of ​​the creeper.
3. Remove tangled stems from the top of the creeper. The top portion of the creeper is more tangled than the bottom, and cutting the stems promotes growth later in the season. Cut only the tangled stems and slowly work the bottom of the creeper.
   • If you want to divert the creeper, cut more of one side of the plant to encourage growth in the opposite direction.
   • Do not prune stems from the bottom of younger plants, as this "old growth" supports the plant. Without it, the creeper could die.
4. Use sharp pruning shears to cut just above a leaf node. Leaf nodes are the part of a stem where the leaf begins to form from a "parent branch". Hold your shears at a 45 degree angle at the node and make a clean cut all the way over the stem.
   • Wherever you cut, use this technique to keep pests and diseases from choking the creeper.

Method 3 of 3: Trimming an overgrown honeysuckle

1. Wait until winter to prune overgrown honeysuckle. During winter, the honeysuckle shrubs and creepers are dormant and more intensive pruning will not harm the plant. Aim to prune in early winter to avoid flowering, although late winter pruning is also acceptable as long as the plant does not have new growth.
   • Winter pruning increases flowering in subsequent years as the branches can heal completely before blooming.
   • Do not give honeysuckle a good pruning more than once every two or three winters. Pruning too much can kill the shrub.
2. Cut severely overgrown plants about 12 inches from the ground. Using a handsaw or loppers, cut all the stems so that only 30 cm long stems remain. The plant will continue to grow, but it will not produce flowers for the next one to three years.
   • In this case, it is okay to cut even the oldest and thickest branches. They make up most of the remaining shrub and will produce new growth in the years to come.
3. Only remove ⅓ of the branches if you want the plant to flower that year. For a more gradual rejuvenation of the plant, remove only ⅓ of the branches, starting at the top of the shrub and working your way down. The plant will still produce flowers from the remaining branches the following spring.
   • In this case, remove ⅓ of the branches each winter for three years in a row, until the shrub is a reasonable size.

Tips

• Keeping an annual schedule for pruning your honeysuckle will keep it from becoming overgrown.

Warnings

• Contact the local government to check honeysuckle status before planting it in your garden if you don't live in the Netherlands or Belgium. In some places it is considered an invasive species and its planting is illegal.