We acquired a forsythia when we bought this house and I've never had one before...I know pruning after bloom is best but the thing is sending out long, straight branches (looks like suck ers to me, but what do I know?) and they're 3 or 4 feet long! The leaves on these branches are larger than on the old wood and they don't arch at all. What to do? I'm in zone 5 but my yard is probably a micro climate (town, not country). I'd love to leave them because they help to hide a neighboring eyesore, but if they won't produce flowers, they're probably hurting rather than helping...right?


ETA: These are growing straight up out of branches, not out of the ground!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Belstone,

If this yard/home is a recent purchase...I might leave it alone for now. (Bet you have lots of other things to care for)

It won't hurt anything. They do tend to get overgrown and leggy under certain circumstances. If you want blooms next spring, just concentrate on other areas of your yard/home. If blooms are not so important, you can trim some of the worst branching now and really give it a go after next spring's blooms.
The blooms will appear on this years growth.

I have actually cut large bushes of these near to the ground and kept them trimmed/shaped throughout the season to get bushy compact plants. One does sacrifice some of the natural fountain shape doing so, but it just depends on the results you want.

To renew your shrub, yes its best to do pruning immediately after bloom but at the expense of some flowering you can refurbish the shrub by every year remove the oldest shoots.
They are the ones in the center of the plant. Cut them down at ground level; new ones will grow in their place.
Do this every year for 4 years but remove no more than 25% of the plant. In this way you renew a shrub wholly. Old shoots can be identified by their hardness of wood--new shoots are thinner, more tender with greener leaves.

Thanks, conrad and Loonie, but perhaps I was beating around the bush (punny!) too much. I was really asking if the shoots are worth keeping, i.e. will they flower, or are they just junk? Worse, will they hurt the overall plant?

Once established, forsythia is a very tough shrub, so I doubt even severe pruning will cause any damage to the whole. It just keeps the flowering from happening next spring , since you are removing this years and older growth. Remove whatever you want, would be my advice.

They won't hurt the bush at all if you leave them. They'll probably bloom next spring & if they're hiding the neighbor's house, they're helping. If they don't bloom, then you can cut them back. Mine was getting terribly overgrown with those long branches shooting everywhere & they all bloomed.

quote:

Originally posted by mgt:
They won't hurt the bush at all if you leave them. They'll probably bloom next spring & if they're hiding the neighbor's house, they're helping. If they don't bloom, then you can cut them back. Mine was getting terribly overgrown with those long branches shooting everywhere & they all bloomed.

Thank You!!! That's exactly what I wanted to know. It's the ugly, unpainted back of their garage I'm trying to hide...as well as the neighbors themselves. Not enough privacy!

Thanks to all.

There is a method of growing a new plant from the cuttings of some of the shoots. I used to have it years ago but it went with my old computer.
It probably is on the web somewhere however.
It entails cutting only the young shoots--identified by the outer part of the plant.
It seems too that the shoots to be cut have to be kept in the direction of top and bottom so as you cut them gather in the same way and band them together. Then they are planted in soil...where and how...I will stop writing and let you decide whether the hunt is worth it.

Forsythias produce next springs blossoms now, so you do not want to prune off any new wood. You can prune out wood that has dark brown bark that often is split since these canes are past peak flowering stage.

You want to use new shoots because they are the ones that want to grow....old shoots might take forever.
I should have added; the cuttings are about 10" to 12" long...the top of the shoot will be the top as it is...so measure down 10" and cut.
Gather about 10 of them in this way and band them together. Plant them in this manner in fresh potting soil as you would any other plant or cutting.
It can take many weeks to form roots so be guided by the time interval. This suggests it be done immediately after blooming and the shoots are invigorated to grow.
This method can be copied by many other shrubs.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Loonie:
You want to use new shoots because they are the ones that want to grow....old shoots might take forever.
I should have added; the cuttings are about 10" to 12" long...the top of the shoot will be the top as it is...so measure down 10" and cut.
Gather about 10 of them in this way and band them together. Plant them in this manner in fresh potting soil as you would any other plant or cutting.
It can take many weeks to form roots so be guided by the time interval. This suggests it be done immediately after blooming and the shoots are invigorated to grow.
This method can be copied by many other shrubs.

A very simple way to know whether a shoot is of the older growth is to just place it in your hand and bend it. If it bends easy--its probably new - to newer. If it breaks, you can definitely say 'its old growth'.

It doesn't do the plant any good by removing new growth when its much easier to remove the old and let the plant grow new.
Take, for example, how we renew monarda which has to be done every 2 - 3 years ). The shrub is dug and the outside perimeters are saved, the center portion is thrown away; then the two is brought together.
Done every 3 years or so, we keep one of the nicest flowering plants in our gardens looking like new.

All the branches should bloom unless you trim them at this time of year. Usually, don't trim after the Fourth of July to ensure that it has time to make those long stems and blooms for the spring.
After the bloom, you can cut the entire shrub halfway down or more...as you can see, it grows very fast.
It's very hard to kill.
You didn't mention wanting more, but
everywhere one of those long branches touches the soil, there's a good chance it will root all by itself.
You can help it along by placing a rock on the stem touching the ground to help the branch make good contact for rooting.

Most of us who have them laugh at places selling them since they are so easy to propagate for free.

The information in this link may be of some use.
http://www.clemson.edu/extensi...shrubs/hgic1064.html