On 5/30/12 5:13 AM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 26, 10:06 am, "David E. Ross" wrote:
On 5/26/12 6:34 AM, BlackThumb wrote:

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!

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.


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


See http://www.rossde.com/garden/pruneCamellia.jpg. 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.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary