Pruning Salix integra

Can I cut back my Salix integra now or should I wait until spring?
It has grown at an enormous rate this year and will start attacking me soon.

 

Hi, I had a look around the internet and found this bit of advice;

"Regular pruning during the growing season encourages the development of new shoots, giving the tree a halo of candy-floss pink. "

And....

"RECOMMENDED PRUNING REGIME:

The aim of pruning is to encourage a pleasant shape, plenty of young, pink leaves and new red stems in winter.

The most foolproof method of pruning this tree is to remove about a third of the stems each year back to the central grafted bud, or the point at which the main stem of the leafy part meets the top of the trunk.

By doing this you will encourage the formation of new shoots, and therefore pink leaves and red stems, without removing the whole of the top growth which could weaken the plant. "

Hope this helps a little :thumb:

 

Thanks Bilbo675. I did find something similar. Unfortunately I'm still unsure whether it's too late to prune now.
I think I had better leave it till the spring (as we now have frosts) and then keep trimming it throughout the summer.

 

For some reason, I've only just noticed your question, so I hope I'm not too late to offer my twopenno'th.

I've several Salix integra, (one I've had for about 5 years, the others more recently and one I planted earlier this year). If yours is a fairly new tree, my advice would be to do nothing too drastic until next year. We've had a couple of frosts here but the leaves on the older ones have been largely unaffected, so I had no hesitation in just nipping off the ends of those 'branches' which were in the way. The one I planted this year, has lost almost all it's leaves and although not yet the shape I want, I've left that one alone.

They can, as you say, put on a lot of growth, but I usually wait until they are in leaf when I just go round them with a pair of shears. They don't need 'pruning' as such, but benefit from a regular 'trim' just to keep them in the shape you want them to be. They will continue to grow throughout the summer, so I just go round them when I think they're looking a bit straggly, there are some wayward long shoots, or when as you say, they threaten to engulf you - at which point I just hack off those bits that are in the way (please note the use of the technical term 'hack'!! ).

For what it's worth, I've found that new trees can take 3 or 4 years to 'fill out', but that doesn't stop me giving them a light haircut in between just to encourage them into the shape I want, it also encourages more of the white/pink tips. The only other thing I'd add is that the creamy coloured tips are/can be prone to scorching and if, as we did this year, get some very hot sun during Spring, the ends can suffer quite badly and look awful so I nip those off and make sure I give all the trees plenty of water - they're thirsty little fellas.

 

Thanks for that Fidgetsmum. Mine is about 4 - 5 years old. It used to be in a large pot on the patio but never did that well. So I planted it out last year. Since then it has taken over. (It does get burned ends in the summer too.)