Hard pruning euonymus

Janetl

Hello,

I have some old knee high euonymus bushes (green/white and green/yellow) which are starting to look what I can only describe as a little 'threadbare'. There seems to be holes appearing in the leaf cover and you can see the stems through.I am not sure how old they are but would guess at over 8 years. Can I prune them right back or have they just got too old and need replacing?

They line the driveway and maybe they just need a very good feed and manure mixed in the soil as they do bake in the afternoon summer sun.

I have kept them trimmed and I notice one of them starting to produce just green leaved shoots. (one of the big bushes in the back garden has just turned all green which is annoying - but at least it is some colour in winter!)

many thanks

Palustris

They may be pruned as hard as you need to. Just leave some of the growth at the base of the shrubs. Now is the correct time to do it too.

musher

Make sure to wear Protective Gloves. The sap can burn

Janetl

Thanks. I will leave them a few weeks until other things start to flower so it does look too bare!

Fairygirl

They're tough old things Janet - quite hard to kill  

I've never found sap in them musher. Are you maybe thinking of Euphorbias? 

floralies

I had to cut a couple of mine back to almost ground level the year before last, as they had very bad scale insect infestation, they are growing back very strongly, they seemed to have liked the hard prune. I have never found any sap in them either.

madpenguin

floralies said:

I had to cut a couple of mine back to almost ground level the year before last, as they had very bad scale insect infestation, they are growing back very strongly, they seemed to have liked the hard prune. I have never found any sap in them either.

I have just discovered a bad scale insect infestation on my Euonymous and am planning on a hard prune,good water,feed and rake out the debris underneath.
Hope it does the trick.
Would now be a good time to do it? (July)

nutcutlet

musher said:

Make sure to wear Protective Gloves. The sap can burn

there is no sap, are you thinking of Euphorbia?

Fire

Wow. 1.3k views. A popular post.

Borderline

Madpenguin, the more mature a shrub, the more it is able to cope with hard pruning, and at this time of year, it will be fine. Euonymus Japonicus are quite prone to scale, so be prepared that even with a hard prune, they can return from time to time.