Wall shrub
How to grow pyracantha
Pyracantha coccinea and hybrids
Pyracantha grows on any drained soil in sun or shade, including a cold north or east wall, though it berries most heavily in sun. Plant between October and March, at least 50 cm out from a wall or 50 to 60 cm apart for a hedge. Two things decide whether you get berries: choosing a scab-resistant variety, and pruning so you do not cut off the flowering wood.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Full sun to shade
- Soil
- Most soils; free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.5
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting pyracantha
WhenPlant Oct to Mar; flowers May to Jun; berries Sep to Feb; trim Aug
Starting off
Plant pot-grown stock Oct to Mar, or bare-root hedging Nov to Mar, wearing thick gloves against the 2 to 3 cm thorns. Propagate by 10 cm semi-ripe cuttings with a heel in Aug to Sep in gritty compost at 15 to 18°C, rooting in 8 to 12 weeks.
Spacing and planting
Free-standing it reaches 3 to 4 m by 3 m; wall-trained 2 to 3 m each way on wires. Hedge at 50 to 60 cm spacing in a single row (2 plants per metre); plant wall specimens 2 m apart and at least 50 cm out from the wall so the roots are not in the dry footing, leaning the stem in. Not a container plant beyond a couple of years in a 50 cm pot.
Varieties worth growing
- 'Saphyr Rouge'
- Red berries on a plant bred for resistance to scab and fireblight. The safest red.
- 'Saphyr Orange'
- Orange-berried partner to 'Saphyr Rouge' with the same disease resistance. Vigorous enough for a 2 m hedge.
- 'Teton'
- Upright habit, yellow-orange berries and good resistance to scab and fireblight. Suits a narrow space or a hedge.
- 'Orange Glow'
- Very free-berrying, with orange-red fruit that lasts well into winter. Widely sold and reliable on a wall.
- 'Soleil d'Or'
- Golden-yellow berries, which birds tend to leave until last, on a broad shrub of 2.5 m.
Pyracantha month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Berries still on show unless the blackbirds have finished them. Nothing to do.
- February
Fix horizontal wires 30 to 45 cm apart for new wall plants.
- March
Renovate overgrown plants now, accepting no berries for a year or two. Light feed for young plants, then mulch. Tie in new shoots on walls.
- April
Plant pot-grown stock. Water new wall plants; the foot of a wall is very dry.
- May
Flowers open; bees work them hard. Do not clip.
- June
Flowering finishes. Watch for fireblight. Water plants in their first summer.
- July
Berries set green. Cut back any outward-growing shoots on wall plants that carry no fruit.
- August
Shorten the new side shoots back to just above the berry clusters, about two or three leaves from the base of each shoot. Clip hedges lightly. Semi-ripe cuttings.
- September
Berries colour.
- October
Planting season opens.
- November
Plant bare-root hedging, with thick gloves on.
- December
Cut a few berried sprays for the house. Plant in mild spells.
Feeding pyracantha
A light feeder. Young plants get a small feed and a mulch for two springs; after that pyracantha flowers and berries better without fertiliser, and too much nitrogen gives thorny growth and no fruit.
Low, undemanding; a light feed.
Feeding plan
At planting, October to March
5 g per litre of root ball: 15 g for a 3 litre pot, 25 g for a 5 litre pot. For bare-root hedging allow 2.5 g per plant (about half a litre of root), dusted onto damp roots. Once only.
March, years 1 and 2
50 g per plant, scattered over about half a square metre around it (the label's 100 g/m²), or 50 g per metre run of hedge. Water in.
March, wall-trained plants every year
Garden compost
A 5 cm mulch over the root area after a thorough soaking. A wall foot is dry and poor, and this does more than feed.
Year 3 onwards
Nothing
No fertiliser unless growth is weak. Plenty of leaf and few berries means stop feeding.
Signs to watch
Lots of thorny leaf growth and few berries
Excess nitrogen or clipping in May to Jun removing the flowers
Stop feeding, trim only in Aug
Yellow leaves with green veins against a limestone or mortar-rich wall
Iron locked out by lime from the footings
Chelated iron, sulphur and a compost mulch
Older leaves yellow between the veins in Sep
Magnesium short in a dry wall bed
Epsom salts drenc
Pests, diseases and problems
Olive-brown or sooty black patches on leaves and berries; berries small, cracked and dull; leaves fall early
Pyracantha scab, a fungus that is worst in wet springs
Grow a resistant variety such as the Saphyr series or 'Teton'. On an existing plant, prune out badly affected shoots, rake up fallen leaves, and thin congested growth so the foliage dries quickly.
Flower clusters and shoot tips wilt and brown as if scorched, and the dead leaves stay on
Fireblight, a bacterial disease that enters through the blossom
Cut out affected branches at least 30 cm below the browned wood, disinfecting the blades between cuts, and bin or burn the prunings.
Silvery-white blisters on the upper surface of the leaves over winter, the leaf folding upwards
Pyracantha leaf-mining moth; the caterpillar lives inside the blister
Tolerate it. The plant is not weakened, and badly mined leaves are shed and replaced in spring.
White fluffy wax on the stems and around old pruning cuts, with lumpy swellings on the bark
Woolly aphid
Scrub small colonies off with a stiff brush in spring. Prune out badly galled shoots.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Flowers and then berries form on the previous year's growth, so time cuts to keep them: trim in Aug after flowering, shortening the new leafy shoots to just above the developing berry clusters, about 2 to 3 leaves from the base of each shoot so the berries show. Wall-trained plants are tied to horizontal wires 30 to 45 cm apart in a fan or espalier, with outward-growing shoots cut right back in Aug. Renovates to a framework in Mar at the cos
Good to knowVicious thorns make a great security hedge; trim after flowering to keep berries.
Growing pyracantha in pots
Pyracantha will grow in a 50 cm pot of loam-based compost for two or three years, trained on a small frame or as a clipped shape, but it is thorny, top-heavy and berries less freely than in the ground. Water regularly from April to September, give 2 g per litre of the 4-4-4 in March (about 90 g for a 45 litre pot), and plant it out against a wall before it becomes root-bound.
Pyracantha: common questions
Why has my pyracantha got no berries?
The usual reason is pruning at the wrong time. Pyracantha flowers on the previous year's growth, so clipping all over in spring or autumn removes the flowering wood. Scab also ruins the fruit, a plant in deep shade flowers sparsely, and heavy feeding produces leaves in place of flowers.
When should I prune pyracantha?
Do the main prune in August, shortening the new side shoots back to just above the berry clusters, about two or three leaves from their base. On wall-trained plants you can also remove outward-growing shoots that carry no flowers in late spring. Save hard renovation for March, and expect to lose a year or two of berries.
Why are my pyracantha berries turning black?
Black, cracked or shrivelled berries are caused by pyracantha scab. The same fungus puts dark sooty blotches on the leaves and makes them drop. There is no organic cure on a susceptible variety beyond pruning out the worst and clearing fallen leaves, so the lasting answer is to replant with a resistant variety such as 'Saphyr Rouge' or 'Teton'.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.