{"id":2879,"date":"2020-01-16T00:06:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T08:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-180\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T12:50:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T19:50:48","slug":"pinching-rhododendron-buds","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pinching-rhododendron-buds\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinching rhododendron buds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A friend was told that pinching out growth buds before they begin to elongate as a means of shaping young rhododendrons would only stimulate buds further down the stems that were less than 4 years old &#8211; older than that and the growth buds would no longer be viable. I cannot find any information to suggest 4 years viability of dormant buds to be true, or untrue. Can you help?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though pinching encourages multiple branching lower down the stem, I find no reference to it being done at a particular age.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This practice (pinching) is recommended for most larger rhododendrons until they reach flowering size&#8230;&#8221;<br \/>\n(Source: <i>A Plantsman&#8217;s Guide to Rhododendrons,<\/i> by K. Cox, 1989, p. 101)<\/p>\n<p>That statement indicates a younger plant, but the author then mentions several exceptions.<\/p>\n<p>Here is some how-to information about pruning online:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhodies.org\/resources\/files\/overgrown.pdf\">7 Solutions to the Too-Big Rhododendron.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-keyword has-text-align-right wp-block-post-terms\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/pruning-shrubs\/\" rel=\"tag\">Pruning shrubs<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/rhododendron\/\" rel=\"tag\">Rhododendron<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A friend was told that pinching out growth buds before they begin to elongate as a means of shaping young rhododendrons would only stimulate buds further down the stems that were less than 4 years old &#8211; older than that and the growth buds would no longer be viable. I cannot find any information to suggest 4 years viability of dormant buds to be true, or untrue. Can you help? Though pinching encourages multiple branching lower down the stem, I&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pinching-rhododendron-buds\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pinching rhododendron buds<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[275,36],"class_list":["post-2879","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-pruning-shrubs","keyword-rhododendron"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2879"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}