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I have a mimosa and I have to prune it. I'd like to be less invasive and do this "operation" in the best way.

Which is the best weather to prune mimosa?

Which is the best time to do it?

sunrise
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1 Answers1

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I've decided to give you the information anyway, and you can interpret it for wherever you are in the world in terms of your spring/flowering times. Usual pruning time for this plant (Acacia dealbata) is immediately after flowering is over, when you remove any dead or diseased wood, thin out crossing branches/stems and reduce the size - you can take off two thirds of the growth if necessary.

UPDATED RESPONSE: I don't know whether you get very low temperatures where you are - the risk with pruning now is that you may induce new growth on the plant, which you really don't want before winter arrives, it won't have time to harden off. What you can do, though, is top any long branches to reduce windrock - this is best done when the weather is very cool, so if you can wait till end of November, that would probably be better,on the assumption it's colder then and a greater degree of dormancy is present in the plant. And make a resolution to give it a good prune and reshaping, taking out crossing/twisted stems, next spring after flowering.

Bamboo
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  • Thank you, I wasn't logged in and so I couldn't read your comment.. I live in South Europe, autumn is just arrived but now the weather is windy and cold. It is a little rainy... The problem is that mimosa is grown twisted, this summer it has grown a lot and I'm afraid that it couldn't resist strong wind and cold. I haven't pruned it before, because I've wrongly thought that it wasn't necessary. Now, can I prune it although the weather is humid? – sunrise Nov 10 '12 at 22:53
  • See added answer above... – Bamboo Nov 11 '12 at 13:00
  • I have an other doubt.. I know that if I cut an olive tree at base of trunk the olive tree grows again. Is it the same for a mimosa? My mimosa is twisted because one part of it is dead. I wouldn't insert an artificial support, so I would cut it at the extremities and the fork with dead part. If the mimosa would be still crooked, could I cut it at the base? (it is a young mimosa, it is 6 years old ;) ) thanks again – sunrise Nov 11 '12 at 19:33
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    Here in Texas, Mimosa trees are considered partly invasive but still grown. Although they can injure easily (eg. branches prone to breaking, growing bud eaten by squirrels, etc), they usually grow back fine if crooked. Mine grew crooked but I didn't worry about it. It probably would grow back from the base but personally I wouldn't risk it. I found them fairly easy to grow from seed, so you could try to grow a replacement? (mine were volunteers collected from city soil fill!) – winwaed Nov 12 '12 at 13:51
  • @winwaed, Bamboo: thank you for your answers/comment :) Do you know if I have to wait for a sunny day for pruning Mimosa tree or if the weather is not important? Is there the best time (in the day) for pruning Mimosa tree? – sunrise Nov 14 '12 at 16:01
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    No not really, although you might choose a sunny warm day rather than a wet, cold and windy one because its more pleasant for you to work in! – Bamboo Nov 15 '12 at 12:02