Effects of Pruning Liriope Bibs During Division on Subsequent Growth

Abstract Three experiments were conducted to determine if shoot pruning of liriope [Liriope muscari (Decne.) L.H. Bailey ‘Big Blue’, ‘Evergreen Giant’, and ‘Variegata’] at division affected subsequent growth of roots and shoots. Plants were divided into single bibs and shoots were either left unpruned or pruned 5 cm (2 in) above the plant crown. Plants with shoots pruned took longer to develop 25 new root tips and had smaller root masses at the end of the experiment. ‘Big Blue’ plants had 7.5 bibs per container when plants were not pruned and 4.2 bibs per container when plants were pruned. Root system number at division was also evaluated. Plants with larger roots systems (10 or more roots) developed 25 new roots faster, and produced more bibs than plants with smaller root systems (3-5 roots) at division. In experiments 2 and 3, ‘Evergreen Giant’ was similar to ‘Big Blue’ in that plants that were not pruned developed 25 new roots faster and had larger root systems at the end of the experiment than plants ...