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Today we will look into different types of pruners and garden cutting tools and by the end of the video, you should be able to decide which gardening cutter or pruner is best suited for your gardening level.
Pruners also called as Pruning shears or hand pruners or secateurs and even garden scissors, are a type of cutting tools for use on plants and gardening.
Pruning is one of the most important and useful practice in gardening that needs to be performed irrespective of the type of plant you are growing in your garden. Whether ornamental plants or flowering or fruiting plants, these cutting or pruning practices are indispensable for your plant health and you should never avoid pruning on emotional grounds. You all must be aware of the benefits of pruning – whether to get rid of diseased branches or to promote branching and plant growth or even improving flowering and fruiting. We will not go into details of the benefits of pruning right now. But in this video we will learn about the different types of pruners or cutting tools we use in home gardening.
There are many gardeners and beginners who are not aware of the correct type of pruners they require. It is important to note that using the wrong pruners might adversely affect your plants instead of improving it.
So, now lets look at the different types of Pruners:
- Hand Pruners or Hand Shears: These are the most commonly used cutters in home gardening. These are of two types:
- Anvil pruners
- Bypass Pruners
Anvil pruners have a straight upper blade that cuts against a flat lower plate – that looks like an anvil. ANVIL means a heavy iron block on which hot metals are beaten into shape.
Well, These Anvil pruners tend to crush the stem as they cut, and are best for woody branches that won’t be harmed by crushing. So remember to use them only on woody or semiwoody branches and not soft branches that can be crushed.
Bypass pruners have curved scissor-like blades that overlap. These are ideal for cutting younger and soft branches. These are the commonly used pruners in home gardening. Also they are best for making stem cuttings at 45 degree cutting angle for propagation of plants from stem cuttings.
- Lopping Pruners or lopping shears: These are similar to the hand pruners but have long handles that provide a little more reach than hand shears and are they are suitable for heavy duty pruning for upto three-fourth to 1 inch diameter cuttings. Again similarly these are of two types – Anvil and Bypass type.
- Pole Pruners: Pole pruners are made of blades attached to hooks. These hooks are mounted on long poles and a chain or cord controls the blade, which is usually spring-loaded. Pole pruners can typically reach branches that are 12 feet or more above the ground. These are typically used when the use of ladder is not possible.
- Hedge Pruners or Hedge Shears: These are designed for rapid trimming of hedges. Hedge means a boundary or fence formed by closely growing bushes or shrubs or even grass. The hedge shears come in a variety of sizes and designs. They have long, straight or angled blades that are sharp enough to cut several branches at once shot. The longer blades of hedge shears ensure an even cut across the plant branches to maintain a neat and balanced border. You can also use them to make a neat border of many other plants as well like bougainvillea bush and stuff like that.
- Pruning Saw: Even these come in variety of sizes and blades with teeth that are fine or coarse. and even a folding type like this one is available. This looks pretty handy and sturdy for home gardening purpose. These are typically used for Stems that are more than 1-1/2 inches in diameter which are usually too large for hand pruners or lopping shears. You can find the links to purchase these items from my website www.gkvk.in
- Flower Cutter. This is a simple bypass pruner to cut small branches or flowers. These are light weight and have a spring system. And they are Best for performing dead heading. Am sure you all must be aware of what is dead heading and its benefits. You can watch this video on what is dead heading from HERE.
- Last but not the least – A simple Scissor does a lot of job. Am sure all of you agree with this. This is quite handy and most useful tool in gardening.
