Questions on Terms

[Dannyo]

I know this is very much a beginner question, but that's just what I am. What's the difference between pruning, clipping, pinching, and cutting/ other?

I know the difference is important, just not always sure what y'all are talking about.

[hendi_alex]

I'll take a stab at this one, just based upon experience as am no terminology expert or even close to that. Pruning is a process of cutting back a plant. Pruning can have several objectives, some of which are removal of dead wood, shaping, removing weak branches, stimulating lateral branching, stimulating additional flowering, developing a specific scaffold or inner branch network, etc. Clipping, pinching, cutting are simply different ways of removing the material when pruning.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Pruning and cutting are pretty much the same thing (except cutting can be a noun in gardening)

Pinching is just that; fingernail meets thumb nail at the tip of a branch...

HG

[Dannyo]

So with plants like strawberries or tomatoes do you want to pinch to prune and things like grapes or apples you would cut? Is there any kinda general guidelines for when to use which method?

[!potatoes!]

if you don't want to try to force your fingernail through it, cut it.

[hendi_alex]

Selecting the proper scaffold structure for a fruit tree is somewhat technical and requires a bit of thought and selection. Selecting the right structure for bonsai or an ornamental shrub draws in art and design considerations. But the typical kind of pruning like tip pruning, pruning dead wood, pruning overgrown branches, is not rocket science and is done by many or most in a very informal way. What better way to tip prune, say dead heading flowers, than when walking the yard in the evening and enjoying a glass of wine and the company of a friend. I rarely carry pruning shears on those occasions, but the pinching pruners are always at my finger tips, for anything in need, as long as the nails will do the job.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Good point Alex. And you should only pinch soft tissue that you KNOW will cut cleanly; leave it if it is the least bit woodt until you can get pruners...

HG