Oleander Pruning: [Proper Period and Technique]

Oleander is a small evergreen shrub that produces very pretty pink flowers.

It is also known as garden laurel and pruning is one of the most important care that we must give it if we want it to be healthy and grow correctly.

The reason is that oleanders tend to grow a lot and you could even say a little messy, so pruning is important.

Do you dare to know how to prune oleanders correctly?

Why should we prune oleanders?

The pruning of the oleanders is done in order to keep the plant in optimal conditions for the next flowering.

This is as a result of eliminating all the parts that block its optimal development, such as dry branches.

When pruning is done at the right time, the oleanders will be able to go through their full cycle and flourish abundantly afterwards.

Another reason that can lead to pruning the oleander is to maintain the structure we want.

This allows branches growing in an odd direction to be removed and the bush to remain in a more symmetrical and thus prettier state.

When should we prune oleanders?

The time to prune oleanders will vary, as it could be winter or late summer.

winter pruning

In winter, the most common thing is to work on pruning, whose main objective is to eliminate dead zones.

As the plant will not be blooming, there is no risk of affecting the beauty that it achieves during the spring time.

summer pruning

On the other hand, it is given the necessary time to recover before spring arrives and new flowers begin to appear.

At the end of summer, pruning will be done with a view to flowering. It is a time when the plant has already completed its flowering period and begins to rest.

If the time has passed to carry out this pruning, it should never be done at the beginning of spring because the plant will produce far fewer flowers.

The reason is because your energetic attention will not be on flowering but on healing from wounds.

What tools do we need to carry out the pruning?

Since the oleander is a rather short plant with not very thick branches, the only tools needed are pruning shears.

For user safety, it is also a good idea to have gloves and protective glasses or goggles to avoid accidents.

It is very important that the scissors are well disinfected before proceeding to make the cuts to prevent diseases from occurring.

In any case, if you have a thicker branch, a hand saw will be more than enough.

How should we do the pruning of the oleander without damaging the plant?

To prevent the plant from suffering damage, it is necessary to focus well on the areas in which the pruning will be carried out.

The first thing will always be the areas that look dry or dead or that may be causing damage to each other.
Of course, if any areas appear diseased, they should be removed more quickly to avoid contaminating the rest of the oleander.
It is applied mainly to branches, but in case there is any flower or fruit in poor condition, it should be eliminated without thinking twice.
The shoots that are produced from the root must also be removed as they have the bad property of removing nutrients from the base plant.