Re: prunning sappho Rhododendrons
((no email))
Sat, 1 Feb 1997 11:29:21 -0600
I have had a lot of experience pruning these shrubs. It would appear
that the wrong plants were selected for this site. This is a common
mistake in lanscape designs of the last 20 years. If replanting the
bed is unrealistic. Selectively remove 1/3 of the longest sprouts and
branches back two or three growth incriments to the nearest crotch. This
thininng will leave you with an open structure to the plants and they will
never have a chance to become real dense. Shearing will increase density but
will make future pruning difficult and very time consuming.
Repeated each year, you will beable to keep the plants at their current size.
Marty