Bonsai Tonight

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Pinching spring buds on Japanese maple

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Spring is a busy time for keeping after refined Japanese maples. In order to keep internodes short, I pinch new shoots as soon as they emerge.

Shohin Japanese maple – 6.5″ tall, 13″ wide

Because the buds open at different times, I check this tree daily to see if there are new shoots to pinch.

I leave the first pair of leaves alone and pinch the next pair as soon as I can reach them. Here’s what this looks like.

New shoots on Japanese maple – time to pinch!

I use tweezers for this work as the interior shoots are too small for me to reach with my fingers. The tweezers are handy as they can be used to separate the outer pair of leaves and then grab the young shoot inside.

Spreading the first pair of leaves apart to expose the inner shoot

After removing the interior shoot

Most of the buds on the maple opened over a period of about one week, but as I have several Japanese maples that open at different times, it can be a month of careful monitoring before the trees are all open. At that point I can let the trees grow for a while and revisit them in May to see if cutback or wiring is necessary.

 

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Comments

  1. I’ve been waiting too long to take the second bud. I look forward to trying this method. Do you practice this on developing trees or only on trees in refinement?

    • Hi Charles – I pinch maples when I’m working to improve the ramification. If I’m still thickening the trunk, I let the tree grow.

  2. I will definitely pinch out the new growth this spring. Would you recommend the same treatment on trident maples as well?

    • Hi Lani – trident maples are generally treated differently. I let these grow in spring and cut them back once or twice a year.

  3. Does this only apply to small maples? I have a tamukeyama that’s about 3 feet tall and it’s been one year since it’s been planted on our property. I’m not familiar with the grooming process but I understand they’re super growers. Just wondering if I needed to pinch like you demonstrated. Thanks 🙂

    • Hi Florence – pinching is not necessary for your tree. For landscape trees the process is a little different. The main way to control vigor is by removing strong shoots and replacing them with less vigorous shoots.