When is the best time to prune peonies?

Peony pruning time and season

Spring pruning: The first time is in early March. Leave 6-8 branches on each plant, with 2 flower buds on each branch. The rest can be pruned away.

Autumn pruning: The second time is after the flowers fade, you need to prune the remaining flowers and flower stems in time.

Winter pruning: The third time is from October to November, mainly pruning diseased and insect-infested branches, dead branches, overlapping branches, inward branches, crossed branches and overgrown branches.

Peony pruning methods and steps

Determine the main trunk: select several evenly distributed sucker buds as the "main trunk" to form a "crown", and maintain 3-5 evenly distributed strong branches in each pot.

Bud removal: Just use your hands to break off the side buds that you don’t need to keep, leaving 1-2 outer flower buds on each branch.

Bud thinning: To maintain the elegant flower shape, it is necessary to thin out the excessive buds so that the nutrients are concentrated on the main buds for flowering. The second pruning is after the peony flowers fade, and the remaining flowers, dead leaves and dead branches are cut off, mainly to reduce the consumption of nutrients and keep the plant shape neat and beautiful.

Things to note when pruning peony

In spring, many tillers sprout from the base of the plant. If the plant is a grafted seedling, you should understand whether the tiller is on the rootstock or the scion. All the tillers on the rootstock must be removed.

Also pay attention to applying callus antiseptic film on the pruning site to protect the wound and prevent bacteria from invading and infecting it.