Ag Chat from 3/25/26: Taking Care of Hydrangeas for the Upcoming Year
From our Field Crops/Horticulture Agent, Matt Solomon
When wanting to know how and when you should be pruning your Hydrangeas for the upcoming year, the first question to ask is what varieties you have planted in your landscape. If you have French, Bigleaf, or Quericifolia varieties your blooms will actually form on the old wood (last year's steams).
So when we are looking at our plants we can either perform a simple scratch test at the end of the buds to see if the wood is still green and if so we do not prune that stem or we wait till the hydrangea blooms to see what dead stems are left and then remove them. Varieties from the paniculata or arborescens family form blooms on new wood. Most of these blooms will form in spring or early summer, so it is best to prune in the fall or winter to remove old growth. Some growers will even prune them back to the ground to have taller bloom stems the following year.
Early spring is a great time to apply your fertilizer for the best bloom results. Most recommendations is to use a complete slow release fertilizer such as 10-10-10 once in early spring. This will be enough to supply the hydrangeas the nutrients they need for the growing season. If you have ever wondered why some people may have blue flowers and some only have pink, it is because of the pH of the soil.
If your pH in the soil is less than 5.5 then you will have blue flowers, if it is 6.5 or higher then you will have pink flowers and anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5 may produce purple flowers. This can be adjusted with lime to raise the pH or sulfur to lower based on your desired colors. To figure out the pH in your soil around the hydrangeas you can bring in soil samples to the extension office for us to send off.
The free period for soil samples will begin on April 1st. One thing to keep in mind if you are considering adjusting the pH is whether or not you have other landscape ornamentals close that could be affected by the change.
When it comes to diseases or insect issues with your Hydrangeas or would like a walk through with pruning them we ask that you please reach out to the local extension office and we would be glad to come out and diagnose any problems that you may be encountering.
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