How to Prune Pikake Jasmine

The Jasminum sambac shrub, known to Hawaiians as pikake, produces fragrant, white flowers in the spring and summer months. In Hawaii, farmers grow pikake commercially, harvesting the flowers to sell to lei makers. It is not usually necessary to prune pikake, but doing so forces the plant to grow more flowers and extends the harvest. Pruning also helps rejuvenate older, less-productive pikake plants. For workers on pikake farms, where plants grow close together, pruning makes it easier to move between the rows and harvest the flowers.

Things You'll Need

• Hand pruners
• Hedge trimmer

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Prune the tips of the pikake shrub, up to the next bud, to induce lateral branching and encourage more flowers. Pikake flowers 30 days after pruning in warmer months and 40 days after pruning in cooler months.

   • 2

     Trim the pikake plant with a hedge trimmer during November through January. Doing this allows you to harvest the flowers more easily.

   • 3

     Prune old or unproductive pikake plants back to a height of 2 feet after the harvesting season ends.

   • 4

     Check the base of the shrub for root suckers, or clone shrubs growing off the main plant. Root suckers sap nutrients from the main plant, so carefully remove them.