How do you prune camellias? (New to pruning)

[BlackThumb]

Hello. Sorry, to ask another question so soon!

I have a young camellia sinensis, which recently grew a new leaf and has some buds. I was wondering how to prune it to make grow bushier. I am new to gardening, so this will be my first time pruning.

I have attached some pictures, incase they help. Sorry about the poor quality!

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[David E. Ross]

Camellias should be pruned shortly after flowering. Although evergreen, camellias do go dormant in that they stop growing in the fall and winter; but that is when they flower (C. sinensis in the fall).

To make a camellia more bushy, cut a stem just below the scar for the past year's growth. That is, early in 2012, you remove the growth from

2011, cutting just below the joint between 2011 and 2010. If you merely head the latest growth, you will normally get only one new shoot. If you remove the entire latest growth, several buds from the prior year should all send out shoots.

Feed LIGHTLY after pruning. Camellias do best with a relatively lean soil. They also want an acidic soil that is always moist but never wet; thus, they require perfect drainage.

[BlackThumb]

Thank you very much. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the 'scar of the past year's growth' though. Also, i haven't had the plant for a year, so am not sure how old each stem is. All Ive seen it do is grow bud into a leaf.

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[David E. Ross]

Let it grow without pruning for a year. Next year, you will see a sightly thick spot on the stem between this year's growth and the growth that existed when you bought the plant. The thick spot might be as long as 1/8 inch or less and have very small rings and grooves. That is the scar. When pruning next year, you remove this year's growth including that scar.

NOTE WELL: Camellias do not need to be pruned every year. They don't need to be pruned at all except to remove dead or broken growth. I only prune mine when they begin to grow above my dining room window sill.

[BlackThumb]

Thank you, David. That was a good explanation. I wanted to start pruning to make it bushier for producing more tea leaves. I'm assuming what you said would do this?

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[David E. Ross]

Yes. Although grown for its leaves (the source of tea), C. sinensis should still flower. Pruning is then timed according to when flowering is done.

Other than the removal of dead and broken growth, pruning is done only to make the plant more bushy. It will thrive and flower -- or, in your case, produce new leaves -- without pruning. However, it will become lanky and not bushy. Bushiness requires pruning to force multiple shoots. Heading last year's growth will only force a single shoot. Multiple shoots are forced when last year's growth is removed entirely. This will not work repeatedly for annual pruning because the new shoots are then from two-year-old wood. You must allow the multiple shoots to grow for at least two years before pruning again.

[BlackThumb]

Thank you very much. That was just the information I needed. How did you learn this though? I have been searching online, but could not find the correct information.

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[David E. Ross]

Here in the U.S., Sunset Books publishes a number of specialied gardening books. Among those that I have, one of them is about camellias.

I have a camellia bed (only four plants) that I first planted about 38 years ago. Two of the plants are from then; a third is almost as old. The bed is edged with azaleas under which I have candytuft (Iberis sempervirens).

[Higgs Boson]

Could you post a picture illustrating this method? I don't think I can find the right joints.

TIA

HB

[David E. Ross]

See . In the middle, there is a thin yellow circle around the scar between last year's growth and the year before. A pencil is pointing to where the cut should be made according to Sunset's "How to Grow and Use Camellias" (Lane Books,

1968). This is above the scar, but I generally cut just below the scar.

Remember, pruning is done just as flowering ends. Camellias flower when they are dormant -- not leafless but not actively growing -- from late fall until very early spring. Thus, the branch above the scar is from the prior year's growing season; and the branch below the scar is from the growing season of the year before that.

I plan to remove the image in about a week.