These tropical climbers are suitable for large containers placed in the garden during summer but must be kept frost-free in winter. Exposure to them may cause a painful skin rash. My Bougainvillea glabra is a flowering machine. Perform “soft pinch” pruning on a bougainvillea plant any time of the year to promote bushier, lateral branches. Read tips & tricks to keep your plants looking healthy & vibrant with BOUGAIN®. Discard the removed tip. Prune suckers -- small branches that appear between the intersection of two more major branches -- from the base of the plant using sharp, sterilized pruning sheers to promote vigorous growth and branching at the top of the plant. Continue to bend the tip until it snaps off completely. This bougainvillea is now pretty much the way I want it but I did take off a few of the taller branches. If you wait until the buds have formed, you'll cut off the new growth and limit flower production. You can prune late in fall or very early in spring. This practice causes several new stems to grow from the pinched tip. Don't be afraid to prune to shape or rejuvenate the plant. Once the bougainvillea pot starts to grow again, start to pinch the tips to make it bushy. Bougainvillea can be pruned at any time of year. Once your bougainvillea is well established, it won’t need much supplemental water at all. Always clean a pair of clippers with a disinfectant before using them. Once I get in pruning groove, the rest falls into place. Read tips & tricks to keep your plants looking healthy & vibrant with BOUGAIN®. If you want a bushier growth, you should pinch and trim the plant regularly. Pinching is a gentler form of pruning that works well for bougainvillea. This will not affect blooming, but will encourage the growth of new side shoots from buds below the pinch. Read tips & tricks to keep your plants looking healthy & vibrant with BOUGAIN®. Trim bougainvillea regularly to maintain the shape – the plant withstands year-round trimming as long as you do not remove more than a third of it at a time or denude it of its foliage. If your bougainvillea doesn't get direct sunlight --... Too Much Water. Bougainvillea are vigorous growers as well as vigorous bloomers. The colorful climbing bougainvillea plant adds a splash of red, pink or purple (or less common orange and yellow) to arbors, walls and fences as it showcases its papery flower bracts. Wiring is possible on young shoots and twigs but older branches are very stiff and break easily. The brilliant colored crepe-paperlike blooms can nearly cover the plant. Pinch the tips of the new growth in the branches of your bonsai bougainvillea to encourage bushy growth and flowering. Once the plant is about 5 or 6 inches (12.7 or 15.2 cm) in height and has about 5-6 swollen leaf nodes in evidence on the stem, remove or pinch off the tip of the stem above the sixth leaf node. Pinch off about 1/2 inch of the stem tips and prune plants in early spring to encourage more flowers. Using thumb & forefinger, bend the very tip of the shoot (approximately 1 inch). The bracts are fairly large and crinkled, and come in shades of rose, rusty-red, and purple. The bougainvillea plant is a popular ornamental plant that is often time used in Barbados as a beautiful barrier. Trim bougainvillea any time of the year as needed. Wear gloves when planting or pruning to avoid getting stuck with thorns. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in art with a minor in English. I would, however, like to be able to print the, "This article was exactly what I needed. Bougainvilleas also make good pot or container plants which can be grown either indoors or outdoors. Pinch off the ends of the bougainvillea plant as soon as new growth begins to encourage the plant to branch. How to Encourage Bougainvillea to Bloom Bougainvillea Information. PINCHING, STEP 1: Identify new shoots. If you do not want to trim your bougainvillea and only want to pinch it, it will have to be done with a pair of compact hand shears or by hand. Mix the loose soil from the planting hole with an 8-8-8 fertilizer. A neighbor pruned her bougainvillea and left long branches. Prune off dead, diseased or damaged wood and wilted or faded flowers throughout the year as they appear. Prune in early spring. Pinching is the method of removing the soft, growing tips of young plant stems to encourage fuller growth. It tolerates all levels of pruning, trimming and pinching back at any time of the year. In the fall, trim a container grown bougainvillea back to the edges of the container. When the plants start growing in the pot, start pinch to avoid it becoming a bush. Find out how to properly pinch Bougainvillea with help from an experienced professional gardener … Or they pinch the soft tips after a flowering cycle to encourage branching. The more you prune and pinch to encourage growth, the more color you get. Bougainvillea can technically be pruned at any time of the year, but the best time to do so for the integrity of the plant is in very early spring, before the plant has begun to produce buds for new flowers. Avoid "hard" pruning the bougainvillea after late summer or early fall. Keep pruning! I had them growing over our screened porch in San Diego - ours had witched thorns. The bougainvillea was named in honor of Count Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, an 18th century French aristocrat, navigator and explorer. These thorny, woody vines thrive best in somewhat dry and fertile soil conditions and are known for literally stepping over anything that gets in the way of its growth. The stem should be tender enough to do this with your fingertips. "I am new to growing Bougainvillea, so everything I read helped. Use your index finger and thumb to pinch off the top 1/2 inch of new growth you find on stems. The more regularly you pinch, the more your bougainvillea will branch and bloom. For that, you must pinch the soft tips of the Bougainvillea every month when it is actively growing. You have to repot a bougainvillea when you see that there are more roots than the soil. Hard pinching is removing long lengths of vine or trimming entire sections of the plant. When in bloom, it is clear which branches are dead. As you can see, pruning your bougainvillea is also an act of trimming it. My Bougainvillea glabra is a flowering machine. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Clean your pruning shears with hand sanitizer before pruning to prevent the spread of plant disease. Hard pinch the bougainvillea at least once per year, after the plant has finished a blooming cycle. Here’s how I prune and trim my bougainvillea for maximum bloom. East Texas Gardening: Bougainvillea Not Blooming? Pinch your carnations with your fingers. The mere mention of ‘bougainvillea’ can send many gardeners into an immediate state of panic. The stem will snap off easily. If you’re pruning in this manner and the plant is getting too big for you, take your cuts down to your desired height/size and trim the plant uniformly. Viney varieties of Bougainvillea require an arbor or trellis for support. Pinch off the soft, growing tips of young plant stems to encourage thicker, fuller growth. I love the location of this bougainvillea because we see it when driving up into the garage and also from the kitchen and patio. What a bougainvillea likes is full tropical sun, moderate watering (unlike most plants, it does better if you keep it on the dry side than evenly moist) and regular fertilization during its growing period. Bougainvillea blooms on new wood. Growing a Bougainvillea Hedge. This could well be the plant for the gardener… Feb 15, 2020 - While I would not recommend “pinching” many plants, that delightful shrub bougainvillea thrives on it. Here’s how I prune and trim my bougainvillea for maximum bloom. Part of the series: Gardening Advice. May 28, 2014 - Bougainvillea twigs have long thorns covered with a potentially irritating substance. Bougainvillea responds well to clipping and pruning, and you can employ certain trimming techniques to encourage its showy blossoms. Pinch: To remove or shorten (buds or shoots) in order to produce a certain shape of the plant, improve the quality of the bloom or fruit, or increase the development of buds. How Do I Pinch Bougainvillea?. Pinching back growth at the right time and place on your bougainvillea will promote a thick shape that branches out. With the fingernails of your thumb and forefinger, pluck off 1/2 inch from the tips of soft new growth. Shrubby forms and heavily pruned plants make good self-supporting container plants for terrace or patio. It is a good idea to trim after each bloom cycle. The more you prune and pinch to encourage growth, the more color you get. How much you pinch is up to you; there is no limit to how much pinching is acceptable, according to the Houston Chronicle. It can reach 6-8 meters high, so it is used to cover pergolas and roofs. As they're fast growers, all varieties require frequent pruning. It too is colorful, jazzy like Carmen and not exactly cold tolerant, making it a good choice for container growing. Pruning your bougainvillea to keep the plant within bounds, is necessary. And that’s why you want to prune or lightly prune your bougainvillea after each big round of flowering. Prune your bonsai lightly once a month during the growing season. It is a good idea to trim after each bloom cycle. You can use rubbing alcohol and always prune the Bougainvillea plant after it has finished blooming. Start by watering two times per week and cut back gradually to once a week and then once every two weeks. Dan's diverse professional background spans from costume design and screenwriting to mixology, manual labor and video game industry publicity. Tropical Garden Prune Citrus Plant Plants Hardy Plants Bonsai Plants Lawn And Garden Bougainvillea Care Plant Care. In its warmest zones, it may seem evergreen and can bloom most of the year. You can add this fertilizer when you give the water to the plant. The more you pinch, the more your bougainvillea will branch and bloom, so prune and pinch after a flowering cycle has completed. Promoting Strong Growth Through Responsible Care, How to Keep Your Miniature Bougainvillea Alive, Clemson Cooperative Extension: Bougainvillea, University of Hawaii at Manoa: Bougainvillea, How to Care for a Purple Queen Bougainvillea, How to Care for an Umbrella Plant Capella. Pruning your bougainvillea to keep the plant within bounds, is necessary. Nip back long stems during the growing season to produce more flowering wood. After planting the bougainvilleas, soft pinch every few weeks to encourage thick, bushy growth. Use your fingertips or sterilized pruning sheers to pinch off the ends. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. 28-jul-2019 - While I would not recommend “pinching” many plants, that delightful shrub bougainvillea thrives on it. Bougainvillea can technically be pruned at any time of the year, but the best time to do so for the integrity of the plant is in very early spring, before the plant has begun to produce buds for new flowers. Pinch the tips out of the each limb to encourage a thicker, bushier top.Image Source: mgonline.com Training Bougainvillea - Bougainvilleas Can Be Trained to Grow in a Variety of Shapes and Sizes Bougainvilleas have to be one of the easiest, most versatile, blooming plants! During a mild winter, feed only once every four to six weeks. Under the right conditions, a healthy bougainvillea will usually grow vigorously and enthusiastically. Soft Pinching. A tropical that Carmen Miranda would choose, bougainvillea hails from Brazil, her … Pinching is also important. When pinching Bougainvillea, you're always going to want to make sure that you're making good use of just the right technique. In the spring, soft pinching will produce bushier growth. Cut off old bloom clusters and half of the new growth stems. The term “pinching” comes from the fact that gardeners actually use their fingers (and fingernails if they have them) to pinch off the tender, new growth at the end of the stem. Article by BGI Fertilizer. Those heal over slowly. You can also use a sharp pair of pruning shears to pinch … Left alone, most varieties of bougainvillea will grow long, trailing vines with no offshoots. It can also be grown as a houseplant. Use a pair of sharp, sterilized pruning sheers. Cleeve Nursery: Tips on Growing Bougainvilleas, How to Trim Lilac, Rose of Sharon and Forsythia Bushes. Use soluble fertilizer for plants engaged in the container. I cut just a handful (8-12) of branches back by half. Bougainvillea is a deciduous, tropical vine, hardy in zones 9-11. Prune a bougainvillea plant regularly to encourage prolific flowering and bush growth. However a bougainvillea will grow best when it is root bound. For instance, take about 2 inches off the stem where new blooms occur just after the stem has grown out about 4 inches. Perform a “hard” shaping trim in spring or early summer. Find out how to properly pinch Bougainvillea with help from an … Pinching or snipping off the tips of new shoots is an easy way to shape smaller plants to be more full and bushy, and is especially recommended for shrubby cultivars. Or they pinch the soft tips after a flowering cycle to encourage branching. You have to repot a bougainvillea when you see that there are more roots than the soil. Use a water-soluble balanced fertilizer, 20-20-20, every other week during the growing season. Remove hardwood growth from previous growing cycles, causing your bougainvillea to fill out and become bushier. At this time, cut back lateral shoots to about two or three buds of the main stems to encourage flower growth. It is a good idea to trim after each bloom cycle. Tips On Growing Bougainvillea. Trim bougainvillea any time of the year as needed. When pinching Bougainvillea, you're always going to want to make sure that you're making good use of just the right technique. PINCHING, STEP 1: Identify new shoots. It tolerates all levels of pruning, trimming and pinching back at any time of the year. Leslie Rose has been a freelance writer publishing with Demand Studios since 2008. By following the tips below you will be rewarded a stunning display Pinch the bougainvillea regularly, working in this manner. Providing your plant with the appropriate heat and bright sun will encourage their growth. How to Pinch a Plant. Pinching is a gentler form of pruning that works well for bougainvillea. Even in its proper zones, bougainvillea is extremely sensitive and can be nipped by frost in abnormal weather. Pruning your bougainvillea to keep the plant within bounds, is necessary. How much you pinch is up to you; there is no limit to how much pinching is acceptable, according to the Houston Chronicle. Take the bougainvillea pot out of the soil and then be careful to handle the roots so you do not damage them. With the fingernails of your thumb and forefinger, pluck off 1/2 inch from the tips of soft new growth. Bougainvillea is native to arid areas and prefers a site with drier soil and full sun. The Bougainvillea is an immensely showy, floriferous and hardy plant. ", I have ever had before. If you want a bushier growth, you should pinch and trim the plant regularly. Pruning your bougainvillea to keep the plant within bounds, is necessary. Once the bougainvillea covers the entire trellis, hard pinching will be necessary yearly to keep the vines from trying to take over the rest of the wall. Like David said prune only your canes. My Neighbors chose to use iron bars. Wearing gardening gloves is recommended when pinching by hand. If it is root rot, remove the plant immediately and trash it. Pinch off the soft, growing tips of young plant stems to encourage thicker, fuller growth. Bougainvillea, like most vine like plants, will continue to grow outward without sending out side branches from each leaf-bud point unless the stem is pinched.