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Old wood/new wood

11 years ago

Could someone please explain;

On our mature macro hydrangeas they bloom primarily, if not exclusively, on old wood. The old wood seems to be dying out and per Luis' advice, I've been trimming it down. What happens when all the old wood is gone? Does new wood eventually become old wood?

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Comments (6)

luis_pr
11 years ago
Old wood is a term used in the Spring that refers to the time when the flower buds form in old or new stems.

All macs begin to develop flower buds around this time time of year. July-ish in the South and later the further you go north.

In the southern states, the stems and the flower buds survive winter generally unaffected. The majority of the flowers then originates from these old stems that used to be in the plant when it went dormant in the Fall.

In the northern states close to Canada, the stems and the flower buds will many times die if left unprotected from winter. Reblooming plants start new stems from the base or crown and these new stems develop flower buds around mid-to-late Spring (and later).

If the old stems (old wood) does not look well, you can usually prune it be the end of May. That is probably the latest it will leaf out if it leafs out late. New shrubs will do this because they have been trained to leaf out and bloom at unusual times in order to put the plant for sale at times when a normal hydrangea would not be blooming.

The crown or base will generate new growth almost every year and after one year, it is considered to be old wood.
lavenderlver
Original Author
11 years ago
Luis, you rock! Again, thank you for your help!
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Comments (1)
Yes. But think of ES this way: while ES blooms several times a year but you are not guaranteed that stems will survive winter. ES stems are probably starting to develop flower buds for Spring 2009 in some areas (this usually happens between August-September). During winters like those up north, it is very likely that flower buds will be killed. And it is also likely that the stems will also be dried out so you have to prune them because they will not leaf out. In that scenario, when Spring arrives, all growth comes from the bottom. You get new stems, new leaves, etc. The old stems and buds now being developed may be dried out. After a while, ES develops flower buds and blooms in the new wood. It may develop blooms on the new stems one or more times even. But always on the new stems because the old ones dried out. The old ones can be pruned away if they do not leaf out by mid-to-late June. For those south of you, all or some of the old ES stems may survive. If they do then they will leaf out. If the flower buds survived the winter too then ES will bloom on old wood. If the buds did not survive, ES the stems will continue to leaf out, grow and will develop buds later on; those stems may bloom later on. Blooms in ES can be deadheaded to promote more blooms.
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Comments (2)
ostrich - Thank you so much for the link on pruning information. It is just what I was looking for. I would love to show you pictures but these plants don't look very good right now. They are suffering from heat and humidity and most of the flowers have dead florets on the topside. I am going to work on these plants - following the instructions in your link.
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luis_pr
11 years ago
Glad to help, lavenderlver.
lavenderlver
Original Author
11 years ago
It's comforting to know that there's a small handful of experts here that give their time and efforts to help us garden novices, so appreciated.

I don't know if you recall, but I transplanted 2 mature macros around mid May. One is fine so far, although blooms have gone from purple to hot pink. The other is prone to wilt and sunburn (brown crispy leaves). A few buds (looking purple, yaah!), no flowers yet. They are right next to one another, go figure, lol

I noted when we dug them up that their root ball was wide and shallow (maybe 8-10" deep). There's an irrigation system here and I think as youngsters they were subject to frequent, but short waterings. They are receiving more pm sun in their new location, but I'm hoping they adjust - we'll see.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
Just to make sure no one overlooked Luis' last statement, "new growth" is the growth produced the current growing season. "Old growth" is any growth remaining from previous seasons.
lavenderlver
Original Author
11 years ago
Duly noted Gardengal, thanks! I'm keeping a close eye on how much of this years new growth blooms next spring - hopefully alot as there not much of the old growth left.

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