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Pruning advice

mikedplantukmikedplantuk Posts: 4
in Plants
Hello, I have a pampas grass bush and was wondering how to prune it. Can I just cut it down short? Thank you in advanced.

Posts

  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,160
    I think I am right that the old way of dealing with these was to set fire to it! That is bad for the environment so I guess you can cut it right back. Happy to be corrected if I am wrong.
    AB Still learning

  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,363
    Cut out / pull the collapsed old flower stems , I've raked them in the past and cleared out the crown ( centre ) of the dead material . You don't cut any green grass. 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,041
    might sound obvious, but wear REALLY  strong gloves and good thick sleeves. The foliage has tiny "teeth" all along the edges.
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,722
    edited January 2020
    I’d wait until late March to do it ... pampas grass is a favourite hibernation spot for hedgehogs ... don’t want to make anyone homeless 🦔 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mikedplantukmikedplantuk Posts: 4
    Thanks for all your advice. Would it be ok to trim some of the green leaves/stems off to tidy it up a bit?
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,041
    you , presumably , know what folk say about having a pampas grass in the middle of your front lawn??????? ;)
    Devon.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,088
    If it were mine, I'd probably decapitate the entire thing as low as possible with some electric hedge trimmers and then get OH to dig it all up so I could plant something attractive.

    However, if you like it I would suggest you remove all the spent flower stalks as low as possible, rake the remaining foliage to remove loose and dead foliage and then stand back and consider.   If you do cut back some of the remaining green foliage make sure you do it at the base of the stem rather than giving it a crew cut/Bart Simpson chop as the ends of those leaves will go brown and unsightly.

    Once you've done all that, consider digging a bed all round in which you could plat more interesting foliage - shrubs and perennials - so it looks less like a sore thumb sticking up.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • mikedplantukmikedplantuk Posts: 4
    Yes Hostafan1 I do! However I didn’t plant it as it’s a rental property. Unless the land lord is/was that way inclined 🤷🏼‍♂️😂
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    i'd hack it back as hard as you can, it'll grow back fine
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 11,408
    edited January 2020
    My next door neighbour took a powered hedgecutter to his. Ironically it ended up looking like a large hedgehog in the middle of the lawn. 
    If they are up to "that sort of thing", we haven't been invited 😳
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