Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

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roger brown
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Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby roger brown » Mon Sep 10, 2018 11:07 am

We have a lot of Oleanders along our road which we planted.Should they be pruned back and if so,when and how??

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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby El Cid » Mon Sep 10, 2018 11:36 am

We have a hedge of about 40 Oleanders. In 15 years it had grown from tiny plants to a 3m high monster! After a few half hearted attempts at reducing the height (in parts it was 4m) and depth, we had it seriously pruned in November last year. I estimate that about 80% of it was removed to the point where you could easily see through it as there was very little foliage left.

I was concerned that it might take a year or two to re-establish itself, but in the spring it started shooting all over the bare wood. It flowered about a month later, but it looks almost as big as it was before it was pruned. The main advantage of the exercise was to make into a more compact hedge rather than a collection of sprawling trees, that could easily be trimmed every year. It has certainly succeeded in that and will be trimmed up again in November.

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peteroldracer
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:50 pm

Be very careful with that stuff: wear strong rubber gloves, eye protection and cover as much skin as you can. It is highly poisonous (there is enough poison in a branch to kill or seriously affect a horse!) and the smoke should you be foolish enough to burn the trimmings is as lethal.
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby Pamela1 » Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:13 pm

Good tip Peter, i also have a few of them and i didn't realise they were poisonous, they only thing they told me at the garden centre was that i should cut them back by a 3rd every year. I will be more careful in future and follow what you said.

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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby ashtondav » Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:11 pm

They make a good hedge. I wouldn’t have one if I had pets but they sure keep the local goats out!

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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby Gasman » Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:10 pm

Our dogs show absolutely no interest in our various bushes, except perhaps for the male one to pee up! We do take care to dispose of trimmings out of the garden, either burn or take to local disposal centre.
Best to prune at the back end of the year and burn - they will happily grow back from very short, as in practically up from the base, or from any level you want to chop at. Usually each limb you chop will sprout new growth from the nearest buds either side of the branch, and cutting back often encourages new growth further back on the branch also, so you should get new more compact growth.
Start with the long straggly lengths and cut back firmly fairly short, take out any dead stuff and damaged or crossing branches that are rubbing, stand back, decide on what shape you want and trim the rest back to fit. May look a bit bald to say the least initially but will grow back quickly.

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peteroldracer
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby peteroldracer » Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:15 pm

“Best to prune at the back end of the year and burn”
Just repeating advice, the smoke from burning oleander clippings is poisonous....
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spanish_lad
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby spanish_lad » Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:14 am

We´ve got some olleander that we bought from the garden centre .. to make a hedge. They have been in the ground for 6 months or so now, but they havent grown 5cm taller yet.. I have no idea whats going on, the blackberry bushes are going crazy and they are close by.

As regard to cutting them - as Cid said - when they are big you can chop them down to 3cm from the ground and they will grow again in a few weeks
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby gerrynag » Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:45 pm

A lot of shrubs will take a year or two to establish and really get going. Certainly during the long hot Spanish summer there won't be much growth. Hopefully by late spring you will have some growth, especially if you have a reasonable amount of rain.
A handful of general fertilizer at the base of each plant wouldn't hurt either.

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spanish_lad
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Re: Right time to prune Oleanders and how?

Postby spanish_lad » Sun Jul 07, 2019 12:44 pm

Thanks Gerry - I might dig some compost into the ground near the bases, its doing wonder for our vegetables at the moment, we have tomatoes, cuecumbers, lettuce, mint, and some things that have yet to sprout any vegetables but the leaves look very healthy.. :lol:
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