• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Bonsai Development Series #15: removing unnecessary growth

April 30, 2019 by Jonas Dupuich

Although I typically wait until May or June to start working on deciduous bonsai, there are a few jobs that I try to do sooner rather than later. One of these is removing unnecessary root sprouts.

Root sprouts, or root suckers, are shoots that emerge directly from the roots. As you can see from the photo below, they are often the most vigorous branches on the tree.

Root sprouts (left side) on a Japanese flowering quince

When root sprouts grow freely, fewer resources are available for the branches I’d like to develop. To encourage the tree to produce new growth on established branches, I remove root sprouts whenever they appear.

Root sprouts on the left side of the tree

After removing the root sprouts

After pruning the root sprouts, I’ll remove any flower buds to prevent fruit from forming.

Spent flowers

Removing the spent flowers


Spent flowers removed

These simple maintenance tasks encourage the tree to produce new growth where I want it – on the existing trunk and branches. Here’s the tree after a few minutes of clean-up.

After removing the flowers and root sprouts

I’ll revisit these trees in another month or two to see if new root sprouts have developed. When the wired branches have produced new growth, I’ll look to do cutback and additional wiring.

Learn How to Identify the Next Step: Introducing the Bonsai Development Intensives

I’m kicking off an intensive program this spring with a three-day course scheduled for June 21-23 at my garden in Alameda, California. The program is designed to help you identify next steps for improving trees at all stages of development using bonsai from my collection.

We’ll cover techniques you can use on your own trees this time of year including cutback, wiring, defoliation, and decandling. Over the course of the intensive, you’ll have ample opportunity to work on a mix of conifers, broadleaf evergreens, and deciduous bonsai.

Click here to sign up or to learn more about the Bonsai Development Intensives.

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: BDS, Flowering Quince

Previous Post: « Learning about accent plants at Bonsai on the Bayou
Next Post: Bonsai Development Series #15b: removing unnecessary growth, part 2 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jonathan says

    April 30, 2019 at 9:04 am

    Thank you for this informative blog post. Two questions:

    1. If you see the root suckers just sprouting out of the soil, would you cut them back then? or wait till they’re more established like you showed in your pictures?

    2. I see you have a lot of fertilizer in what looks like a small 5 gal or 3 gal nursery can. How do you know how many fertilizer cakes to put on each tree? Is it species specific? In this case, a J-Quince in development needs a lot of fertilizer?

    Thx, jon

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      April 30, 2019 at 9:09 am

      Great questions Jon!
      1. The sooner you remove the shoots you don’t need, the better. You can cut them when they are small.
      2. The fertilizer is mild (4-6-2) and I want the trees to grow quickly so I tried using a lot. I will find out in a couple months if the amount is too much or just right.

      • Jonathan Jee says

        May 2, 2019 at 9:36 pm

        Thank you.

  2. shay cohen says

    May 1, 2019 at 2:20 am

    Hi Jonas,
    I got a hold of a nice chojubai this year and very excited with working on it.
    How will one fruit influence the energy levels? I left one for fun… 🙂
    Thanks!
    Shay

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 1, 2019 at 11:06 am

      Hi Shay – I don’t expect one fruit to cause a problem. Leaving one is a good way to see what the fruit looks like and what effect it has on the branch.

      • shay cohen says

        May 2, 2019 at 8:59 am

        Thanks!

  3. Olivier says

    May 3, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    Hi Jonas,

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Would you remove root buds on freshly collected Chojubai ? Is it better to help the tree to recover or would those buds help creating roots ? Thanks ! Olivier.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 3, 2019 at 1:46 pm

      Hi Olivier – good question, I’ve wondered about that myself. Sometimes the only new shoots come from the soil which makes me think twice before removing them. If I know the tree will grow well after collecting or repotting, I’ll cut the root shoots. If I’m not sure the tree will live, I’ll let everything grow for a while and remove the root shoots later.

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2025 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT