Simple Steps to Prune Chaste Tree

Do you own a chaste tree? Have you thought about pruning it, but you are somewhat intimidated? You have come to the right place for the complete directions to prune your tree.

If you have seen someone pruning on a gardening show, you may be thinking “this looks hard”. It’s not. You are essentially cleaning up a plant, tree, shrub, etc. so it looks and performs better for the next growing season.

Still sounds hard? No worries. Let’s get you started with pruning.

This post is all about how to prune a chaste tree that will grow beautiful and full next season.

What is pruning?

One of the main reasons you grow a tree is to get good results. You want a healthy tree with healthy foliage and blooms that are free from disease. Part of growing and maintaining a healthy tree is creating a pruning schedule.

Pruning helps to keep your tree small, manageable, shapely, or for any myriad of reasons. Insert pruning.

When pruning, you are essentially removing smaller (and sometimes major) branches from the main branch of the tree. During your process of eliminating branches, always remove any dead branches that you come across. You will also want to remove any branches that show signs of disease.

Which pruning tools do I need?

It depends on the size of your tree. But you can’t go wrong with the following basic set of tools:

Loppers
Pruning Shears
Gloves
Hand saw

What is chaste tree?

A chaste tree might also be referred to as a vitex. It is a very resilient tree as in it doesn’t require very much care.

One very important thing to note is this tree attracts a lot of bees (and other pollinators)! So if you are looking to grow something that attracts pollinators to a garden or fruit tree, this is the one you need! But, if you don’t care to have this type of activity close to your front door or high traffic areas, plant this in a different spot.

Which zones does chaste tree thrive in?

Chaste trees thrive in warm climates. So it is no surprise that they grow best in USDA zones 6-9. As long as your zone does not go below -9°, your chaste tree will survive the winter.

What is the best time to prune?

Technically, there isn’t a bad time to prune this tree. The buds usually form in March on this tree. But you can prune anytime up to the buds forming or after the blooms have arrived.

Some trees and shrubs have to be pruned in late winter or early Spring. Again, you can prune this tree at any time before bud formation and after the blooms appear.

How to prune?

The chaste tree is very resilient. It isn’t much you can do to it that would hurt it.

Initially, you want to locate the main branch(es). They will be thicker than the rest and will serve as the trunk of the tree. Depending on how old your tree is, you may see suckers coming out of the ground. Suckers are small branches that grow out of the ground at the base of the tree.

So what exactly am I pruning?

The first group of branches you want to remove are:

suckers from the base of the tree
branches that are growing towards the middle of the tree that will reduce sunlight when the tree is full of leaves
dead, diseased, or damaged branches

Now take a step back to see if you like the shape of your tree. Do you have any branches growing in an undesirable direction? Do you want a wider or taller shape? This is the time to “shape” your tree by removing branches that are not growing in the shape you want.

Chaste Tree Care

Chaste trees thrive in hot weather. They bath in the hot sun and don’t particularly care for moist soil (wet feet). Other than that, they don’t need any additional attention.

Enjoy the bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies!!!