How to Prune a bougainvillea

The bougainvillea is a flowering vine or shrub, native to Brazil. This perennial plant gets its name “paper flower” because of its thin bracts in a variety of colors such as purple, red, and orange. The thick thorny vines of bougainvillea need to be cut, pruned and apexed regularly to keep the tree healthy and beautiful. You can keep this tropical plant in great shape with a few simple steps below.

Table of Contents

Preparing to prune trees

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Prune bougainvillea in early spring. Technically, you can prune bougainvillea at any time of the year, but the best time to prune it safely is early spring, before the tree begins to bloom. If you wait until the plant has budded to prune, the new flower buds will be cut off and reduce the number of flowers. If you prune too soon, frost can kill the young shoots that sprout immediately after pruning. ^{[1] X Research Source}

The bougainvillea blooms in cycles, with months of full bloom alternating with periods of non-flowering. Pruning before the start of a new cycle will help the plant to grow strongly.
The exact time to prune bougainvillea can vary from region to region. The easiest way to determine the right time to prune bougainvillea is to check the weather or use Farmer’s Almanac. ^{[2] X Research Source} When the last frost has passed but the branches have not yet begun to bud, it is time to prune.

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Wear thick gardening gloves. Many varieties of bougainvillea have very sharp thorns that can hurt you, and there are also poisonous confetti that can cause rashes or skin inflammation. If you’re going to be doing a large pruning, prepare carefully by wearing thick gardening gloves. You should also wear long sleeves of thick fabric to protect your arms and wrists. Some bougainvillea branches have almost no thorns, but others are full of thorns. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Cut, trim and press the tops of bougainvillea

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Cut off dead or diseased branches. This is the first step of the pruning process. To ensure the long-term health of your tree, you need to trim away any parts that look dead or discolored. This way, you can prevent the pathogen from spreading to the rest of the plant. Cut the branches to the point where the eyes or buds of the main branch are located.

Be sure to wipe the pruning shears with disinfectant after pruning diseased branches before pruning healthy branches to prevent the disease from spreading.
Discard the infected branches so that they do not infect the plant.

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Remove large branches that are in the way. Pruning will help keep the bush open and in good shape. Cut off any branches that appear to be damaging the tree. Step back to see the bougainvillea bush and keep pruning until the tree has the shape you want. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Remember that every time you prune, new branches will grow. Pruning will help the tree grow thicker, more luxuriant. If you see an area where the branches are sparse, you can cut there to help the plant grow new shoots.
Many bougainvillea plants are curled for hedges or along hedges. When cutting trees, you can wrap new shoots around hedge structures to stimulate the plant to grow in that direction.
The bougainvillea bushes can be pruned to create all sorts of shapes. If you grow bougainvillea in a pot, you can even prune it to make it look like a small tree.

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Prune bougainvillea during the growing season. Pruning is different from pruning in that you won’t cut off all the branches, but just trim small branches to maintain the shape of the tree. Use pruning shears to prune the top of the branch just behind the last eye on the branch. This will stimulate new branches to grow at that location.

You can remove dead branches from a tree by pruning at any time of the year, but you should save a large pruning until early spring, when the tree is undamaged.

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Press the top of the branch when the flower has faded. Press the tops of bougainvillea branches between regular pruning sessions. You just need to manually pluck the faded flower clusters and press to the nearest branch. This helps stimulate the plant to grow new shoots and flowers.

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Prune new shoots mid-blooming. You can stimulate blooms by cutting new shoots midway through the bloom cycle. Cut just above the buds to stimulate new shoots. ^{[5] X Trusted Source Royal Horticultural Society Go to Source}

Do not wait until the end of the season to prune the buds, because by the end of the cycle it is too late to stimulate new blooms.
Do not cut old branches before early spring.

Advice

When learning how to prune bougainvillea, you should keep in mind that the more often the dead flowers are plucked, the more new flowers the tree will produce. This method is both quick and easy and suitable for the time between large pruning sessions with pruning shears. You can press the tops at any time of the year and as many times as you like.
The bougainvillea is very hardy and can withstand all types of pruning. Try creating different shapes for the bougainvillea while pruning. You can cut off the lower branches to create a beautiful woody shape.
Thanks to its thick and flexible vines, bougainvillea is very suitable for bonsai. Trim the tree to the shape you like and keep it low. Regularly prune the branches until the tree achieves the shape you desire, then tip the tree’s new shoots as it grows to maintain the tree’s bonsai shape.

Warning

Don’t forget to pluck the dead flowers. Faded flowers that are still left on the plant will prevent new flowers from forming.
Never attempt to prune bougainvillea without using gardening gloves. Its branches and thorns can injure you.
Do not prune bougainvillea too short or too low to the ground. This may cause the flower to not bloom.

Things you need

confetti
Thick gardening gloves
Tree pruning scissors
Disinfectants such as bleach or rubbing alcohol
Fertilizer

Steps

Preparing to prune trees

Cut, trim and press the tops of bougainvillea

Advice

Warning

Things you need

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