The decorative lamp cleaner grass usually has to be cut once a year so that it does not lose its beautiful appearance. The following article explains how this is ideally done and when is the best time to do so.
Table of Contents
Ideal time
Pennisetum pruning is done once a year. Autumn should not be chosen as the time for plants that have been cultivated outdoors in the garden bed. Pruning should always be done in spring. For this purpose, the time before the new shoot must be adjusted:
- after the last frosty days
- no earlier than the end of March
- no later than April
preparation
Since the lamp cleaning grass in the garden bed is not hardy, it is only cut in the spring. Because the long stalks and remaining ears are also needed as winter protection. Therefore, these are loosely tied together in autumn to protect the roots from cold and wet. The same procedure is also used for plants that overwinter in the bucket outdoors:
- provide the appropriate tool
- remove the applied bark mulch and brushwood
- cut ribbon
To cut
There are different types of lamp cleaning grass in different heights, which can be between 60 and 120 centimeters in length. Depending on the breeding form, the length of the stalks should also be different after the cut. The plants can be cultivated all year round in the garden bed or in a bucket in the garden:
- Cut off all ears close to the ground
- all blades of grass in tall varieties to 10 cm
- in low varieties to 5 cm
When cutting, care should be taken to ensure that new, healthy shoots can form from the rootstock. Therefore, there must be enough light between the cut stalks and enough space for new shoots.
Further care
After the pruning carried out in spring, Pennisetum setaceum needs further care in order to be able to sprout again and to show the first flowers again in July/August and the second flowers in September/October:
- Water well when dry
- last application of fertilizer should have been in August
- now well supplied with fertilizer
Cultivated in tubs
The situation is completely different for plants that have been cultivated in tubs and move to a frost-free location in winter. Because here the stalks and ears should be cut before moving to the winter quarters, since no winter protection of the roots by the stalks is necessary:
- cut back to ground level
- between five and ten centimeters in height
- depends on the height and type of plant
- before the first frost
- overwinter in a dark, frost-free place
- Garage, staircase or basement
- avoid direct sunlight
- to March, April in winter quarters
The plant in the bucket, which was cut back in autumn, is brought outside again with the first warm days. However, cool, frosty nights should be avoided. Since the rootstock is still exposed when it is cut back in autumn, it could still be damaged by frost in spring.