How to Prune a Bird's Nest Spruce
- 1). Put on gardening gloves.
- 2). Lightly prune the bird's nest spruce with small hedge shears. Do this in late May or early June to form a desired shape and size, making slanting cuts on limbs that grow upward to prevent water from pooling in the cut. Leave at least one live bud on each pruned branch, pruning 1/2 inch above the bud, or the branch will die.
- 3). Lightly prune new growth as it develops, maintaining the shrub's shape. If two leading shoots develop on the top of the spruce, prune back the weaker one to keep the shrub structurally sound.
- 4). Prune out lower branches of an older spruce to open up the canopy.
- 5). Cut off branches identified with disease, pruning back to the nearest living lateral branch or to the main stem. Prune these branches in late winter before diseased spores are released in the spring. Cut off shoots infected with bug invasions. Put the diseased or insect-infected cuttings in a garbage bag and dispose of them.
- 6). Prune away dead or damaged branches, cutting them off flush with the main stem. You can prune dead branches throughout the year as long as the weather is dry. Otherwise, remove them in late May or early June when you do the rest of your pruning.
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