For competent pruning of trees, it is important to correctly assess the value of a shoot. Fundamental criteria are age, position and decoration with flower buds. This guide provides an overview of the most important types of shoots on shrubs and trees.
Which types of shoots are important in woody plants?
In woody plants there are different types of shoots such as bouquet shoots, fruit shoots, fruit spikes, competitive shoots, short shoots, long shoots, leading shoots, stand shoots and water shoots. These shoots differ in age, position and the number of flower buds, which is important for expert pruning care.
Types of shoots with a short definition - overview in alphabetical order
The following overview provides you with a brief overview of all the important types of shoots that home gardeners should be familiar with for skillful tree pruning:
- Bouquet shoot: short branch stub with 5 or more flower buds; mostly cherries and some types of plums
- Fruit shoot: perennial shoot that is richly decorated with flower buds and bears a corresponding amount of fruit
- Fruit spike: very short, annual fruit shoot with a single flower bud at the tip
- Competitive shoot: annual branch that sprouts from the first bud below the top bud and competes with its shoots
- Short shoot: a shoot less than 20 centimeters long
- Long shoot: a shoot more than 20 centimeters
- Leader shoot: supporting branch that, together with the central shoot, forms the framework of a tree crown
- Stand shoot: taut, upright, strong-growing shoot on the top of branches or on worn fruit wood
- Water shoot: steeply upward shoot from old wood, a sleeping eye or a game pad
Assessing the age of a shoot type correctly – this is how it works
In order to reliably determine the value of a type of shoot, you should be able to estimate its age. Gardeners distinguish between this year's and one-year shoots, two-year-old shoots and old wood. You can read about the criteria that differentiate these three age groups here:
This and annual shoots
We are talking about this year's and annual shoots as long as a branch grows in length during the first summer. If the shoot has completed its growth before winter or completes it the following spring, it is considered an annual shoot. These shoots are characterized by unbranched growth with clearly visible buds. Popular summer bloomers, such as the butterfly lilac, bloom on their shoots this year and are therefore heavily pruned every spring. On spring bloomers, such as spiraea, the annual long shoots contain the most vital flowering wood. Here the gardener also uses scissors once a year (€14.00 on Amazon).
Two-year-old shoots
If the second summer is coming to an end for a branch, it is classified as a two-year-old shoot. As a rule, a two-year-old shoot can be identified by the fact that it has several annual side branches. Over the following years, further branches emerge. These are this year, one year and two years old, while the supporting shoot is visibly aging.
Old Wood
When we talk about old wood, it is usually three-year-old or older shoots. Flowering bushes that bloom on old wood are rare in the plant kingdom. A typical representative is the witch hazel. The autumn or winter flowering shrub lays its buds on this year's and perennial branches in the summer, so that it is only subjected to moderate thinning pruning. The fruit trees include apples and sweet cherries, which impress with fruit wood that is several years old and are also very conservative to prune.
Tip
The younger the shoots of a flowering shrub or fruit tree have to be in order to bloom and fruit, the more time-consuming the pruning care is. Buddleia, spar bush, peach and sour cherry depend on young flower and fruit wood. These plant species should only be included in the planting plan if the gardener has the time available.
