How To Prune Wax Myrtle
Michael dirr says in his book trees and shrubs that the tree withstands the endless pruning required to keep it in check wax myrtle will need pruning to keep it specimen beautiful.
How to prune wax myrtle. Wax myrtle can withstand heavy pruning easily and can grow several feet each year. Training a wax myrtle into a tree. Pruning and caring for common myrtle. Other common names common myrtle myrtle family myrtaceae genus myrtus are evergreen shrubs or small trees with aromatic leathery leaves and solitary bowl shaped white flowers followed by fleshy often edible berries.
Heavy pruning of wax myrtle to reduce size or to tree form should be performed in late winter while the plant is dormant. This fragrance still used today has earned the shrub a common name of southern bayberry. To keep a compact appearance prune the year s new shoots back to half their length after the blooming. Use a sharp pair of bypass hand pruners to selectively remove stray or damaged branches.
You can increase the blooming by often. These suckers are stealing nutrients and water from the tree and make the planting look messy. Prune the wax myrtle to shape the tree remove diseased wood and improve air circulation. The tree tends to grow sprouts from the roots.
Training a naturally shrubby wax myrtle myrica cerifera into a tree isn t difficult but it will require diligent pruning throughout the season to keep it. Step 1 remove sprouts growing along the base of the wax myrtle in the summer. Prune the sprouts by cutting them where they meet the tree trunk or ground. Historically leaves of the wax myrtle tree were used for fragrance and flammability when making candles.
Waxmyrtle is a very forgiving tree when pruned. When removing a stray branch make your cut at a point along the branch even with main form of the plant. Wax myrtle care involves fertilization and pruning for shape or pruning when limbs are damaged or split off by heavy ice and snow. Although not pruning at all will suite the shrub fine since it rarely exceeds 16 feet 5 m in height you can balance or reduce the breadth of your common myrtle at the beginning of spring pruning delicately.