How to prune to maintain passionflower?

The maintenance pruning of passionflower, light, allows to discipline this very growing vine and to clean it from old wood. On the other hand, after a few years, the passionflower becomes important and confused. It must be folded down to refresh it. The operation is also necessary when it freezes.

When to prune passionflower?

Always prune the passionflower in spring (March). It flowers mainly on the twigs of the year: pruning allows them to be obtained in large numbers.
There is no need to intervene during the first years of the plant. Start after about four to five years, then renew annually thereafter.

How to prune passionflower?

Tools needed:
pruning
shears
hedge trimmers

• To prevent the whole from becoming a muddled mass, shorten all the shoots from the previous year (unbranched) to about 20 cm with a secateurs.
• Remove the weakest among them.
• If in doubt, or if the plant has been neglected for a long time, “comb” it with a hedge trimmer.
• Return to normal size the following spring. On very vigorous plants, summer pruning helps to avoid lawlessness. It is enough to cut back by two-thirds the unruly new shoots.
• After a few years, we must resort to coppicing, as well as in case of frost. A good way is to shorten every three years a third of the carpenters (the diameter of the finger, approximately) to 50-60 cm from the ground.

When to cut back passionflower?

Work in the spring (March).

Necessary material

• Secateurs ,
• Shears,
• Force pruner (delimber).

How to cut the passionflower?

For a four-five-year-old plant:

• Shear the whole plant, like a hedge. It should lose about two-thirds of its thickness and height.
• With the secateurs, remove at the base the strong branches badly placed.
• Repeat about every four years.

For a neglected plant it is impossible to catch with the shears:

• Cut the carpenters with secateurs at about 1 m from the ground.
• Eliminate the rest.

Following a frost:

• Cut back the carpenters short, to the living wood. Frozen woods are easy to recognize (they turn black very quickly).