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| Can you cut forsythia to the ground? |
If you are a big fan of yellow then Forsythia species and cultivars are definitely for you. They are one of the earliest of all ornamental flowering shrub to bloom and they are tolerant of most sites and soil conditions. However, when left to their own devices Forsythia can become large and unruly so if you wanted to cut a Forsythia down to ground level there are a couple of questions to ask first. Can I cut a Forsythia to the ground without killing it and, what is the best way to cut a Forsythia to the ground?
The good news is that for the most part, almost all of the species and cultivars within the Forsythia genus are as tough as old boots, so if the reason for such an aggressive cut it to reinvigorate a tired, old specimen then you can, but on very old specimens I would advise cutting the plant back in progressively lower sections over a period of two to three years as old plants can be shocked to death this way. The truth is that the ornamental value of Forthysia specimens can benefit from such a cut in order to maintain a good show of blooms the following year.
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| Can you cut forsythia to the ground? |
Always make sure that you make an angled cut on your truck to reduce the risk of water sitting on top of the fresh cut which can increase the risk of pathogen infection. A horticultural bitumen paint with added fungicide will further reduce this risk.
However if your drastic cut is designed to kill your plant then no, this will not kill it. It is likely to just shoot out new stems from below ground. That being said they can be dug out, eventually, or just used one of the many insidious weed killers available on the market. Then once it has been killed off you can cut it down to the ground with peace of mind.
Main image credit - 松岡明芳 - 松岡明芳, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11642218
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