juniper pinching ? ? ?
I need help with pinching my juniper. can I pinch in the winter its about 55 on ave. I'm not sure exactly how to perform the pinching or when, / often or not. will to much pinching shock the follage and turn follage brown? I have about 5 needels that are a lil brown is that common and can I just pinch them off. what do I do with thees lil brown seed looking things on follag tips, I heard I'm suposed to squeez them to open them up to aid in blooming. or do I just leave them and let them do there thang and only pinch them to thin the follage as desiered ? I also heard I'm suposed to pich the new lil growth along the length of the trunk to redirect neutrients. I have a verry helthy 5 year old juniper. my last two died but dida lot of researh and this one is doing great just not sure on the triming(pinching) ill worry about trimming the roots in a year or two when I repot it
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alexinoklahoma
- Senior Member
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:21 am
- Location: Central Oklahoma
Pinching is to 'thicken' foliage (making the pads, so to speak). What juniper do you have (diffs exist)...?
Typically, winter is not a time for 'trimming/pruning' as no growth is happening, plus the wounds cannot heal 'normally'. Pinching does not shock, per se, it only removes terminal growths with hope that new stuff appears proximal to that terminus you made. Make sense? Plus, any 'evergreen' will brown at area of where needle was smushed (edges go brown) unless you can remove the whole 'needle' (which is hard to do!). If you have more than a few needles browning (like whole branch or such), it is NOT related to pinching. It'd be some other thing, for sure. It is normal for inner (shaded or older) needles to die off as branch extends, but not at distal ends of growths.
https://evergreengardenworks.com/pruning.htm
https://evergreengardenworks.com/pruning2.htm
https://evergreengardenworks.com/articles.htm
All of these would be of import for you
One other thing...you cannot really redirect nutrients in junipers (for most part) as they have very 'dedicated' ~supply lines, call them 'lifelines' 'cause I forget the trade term for the usually-visible 'lines' that supply each branch. On older specimens you can trace with finger the route the sap takes from ground to tip - cut that 'line' and the whole branch is a goner (!). This is a very liberal way of explaining it, but it is not quite like how other types of species can 'adjust internally' to a redesign of the internal 'plumbing'....
HTH,
Alex
Typically, winter is not a time for 'trimming/pruning' as no growth is happening, plus the wounds cannot heal 'normally'. Pinching does not shock, per se, it only removes terminal growths with hope that new stuff appears proximal to that terminus you made. Make sense? Plus, any 'evergreen' will brown at area of where needle was smushed (edges go brown) unless you can remove the whole 'needle' (which is hard to do!). If you have more than a few needles browning (like whole branch or such), it is NOT related to pinching. It'd be some other thing, for sure. It is normal for inner (shaded or older) needles to die off as branch extends, but not at distal ends of growths.
https://evergreengardenworks.com/pruning.htm
https://evergreengardenworks.com/pruning2.htm
https://evergreengardenworks.com/articles.htm
All of these would be of import for you
One other thing...you cannot really redirect nutrients in junipers (for most part) as they have very 'dedicated' ~supply lines, call them 'lifelines' 'cause I forget the trade term for the usually-visible 'lines' that supply each branch. On older specimens you can trace with finger the route the sap takes from ground to tip - cut that 'line' and the whole branch is a goner (!). This is a very liberal way of explaining it, but it is not quite like how other types of species can 'adjust internally' to a redesign of the internal 'plumbing'....
HTH,
Alex