What Is Root Pruning and How Can It Help My Old Shrubs?

Question: What Is Root Pruning and How Can It Help My Old Shrubs?

If you're asking, "Why are my old shrubs not blooming the way they used to?" root pruning could offer a solution....

Answer:

Root pruning isn't the first option you should be considering if your shrub isn't blooming up to its potential. But if you need to rejuvenate an overgrown bush that is not blooming the way it used to, then root pruning may help improve flowering.

Note that the practice of root pruning is better known in the context of transplanting shrubs, in which case root pruning is often recommended as a way of facilitating the transplanting operation. Root pruning is typically performed in either March or October. The Clemson University Extension suggests that root pruning be performed "only after leaves have fallen from deciduous plants in fall or before bud break in the spring."

The procedure for root pruning is simple enough. Using chalk, mark out a circle around the shrub to indicate how far out from the base the root pruning will be done. The Clemson site provides some sample measurements: for instance, for a deciduous shrub 7 feet tall, the diameter of the root ball when you're done root pruning should be 22 inches (i.e., 11 inches out from the base on each side).

Then, following your marking, just plunge a spade into the ground to perform the root pruning. The root pruning severs the outlying roots from the rest of the overgrown shrub's root system, making it more compact.

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