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In Today’s post, let’s learn about different types of plant trimming and cutting tools for your garden and learn which tool you must choose for what purpose, whether you are a beginner or an expert gardener.
Pruning or trimming your plants, 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. 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. You can check my detailed video on Pruning tips and Concepts here.
There are many gardeners who are not aware of the correct type of pruners they need, like for instance – which of these two you would choose. What is this flat surface and why? Choosing wrong pruner for a wrong task can adversely affect you plants as well as your gardening practice.
So, now let us look at the different types of Pruners. Pruners are also called as Pruning shears or hand pruners or secateurs and even garden scissors:
- Hand Pruners or Hand Shears: These are the most commonly used cutters in home gardening. These are of two types:
- Anvil pruners
- Bypass Pruners
So, most gardeners are not aware of the purpose of these two types of pruners.
Anvil pruners have a straight upper blade that cuts against a flat lower plate – that looks like an anvil. 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 semi woody branches and not soft branches that can be crushed.
Whereas the Bypass pruners have curved scissor-like blades that overlap. These are ideal for cutting younger and soft branches but can also be used for cutting semi woody and woody 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 and also easy to use. The durability varies from brand to brand. In my experience this one is the best heavy duty pruner I have used till date and also pretty cheaper and can cut even thicker branches like upto 20mm. If you want a simple light pruner which can cut upto 10mm this much cheaper parrot beak pruner will do its job. Now we will quickly check out some more cutting tools one by one.
- Lopping Pruners or lopping shears: These 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.
- 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. 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: These come in variety of sizes and blades with teeth that are fine or coarse and even a folding type like this one. 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.
- Flower Cutter (floral snips). 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 and also PINCHING technique for more branching and making your plant bushy.
- Grass trimmer: If you have a lawn and you don’t want to invest on a lawn mover, this is the tool for you. You can check this high quality grass trimmer and find out more details about it – links below.
- Last but not the least, A simple good quality Scissor does a lot of job. Am sure all of you agree with this. This is quite handy and most useful all-purpose cutting tool in gardening.
PRODUCT LINKS:
1) GardenJoy 12V Li-ion Electric String Trimmer
https://www.5startool.com/gardenjoy-12v-li-ion-electric-trimmer.html
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2)Consumer-oriented model tools within affordable range on 5startool:
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