• 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

Refining a slender Korean hornbeam

July 2, 2021 by Jonas Dupuich

A year-and-a-half ago, I started working on a Korean hornbeam by removing a few branches and repotting the tree (see “Defining the branch structure” for details).

Korean hornbeam in January 2020

After pruning and repotting, January, 2020

I let the tree grow freely last year to gain strength after an extensive repot. Here’s the tree last July.

Korean hornbeam in July 2020

July, 2020

By fall, the tree still hadn’t grown much.

Korean hornbeam in November 2020

November, 2020

I don’t do much work when trees are growing slowly. As a result, I did little pruning beyond removing the longest shoots.

After removing leaves

After removing the old leaves

After pruning

After reducing long shoots

Giving the tree a break last year made more new growth possible this year. By June, the tree was ready for light pruning.

Korean hornbeam in July 2021

Korean hornbeam – June, 2021

After reducing the longest shoots, I applied wire to the primary branches.

Korean hornbeam bonsai

After pruning and wiring, 36″

I’ll let the tree grow freely through summer and prune again in fall when the leaves turn color. Once the tree shows signs of stronger growth, I’ll cut back harder so I can make improvements to the branch structure.

These initial steps can be slow, but as soon as the tree starts putting on more growth, I expect the pace of development to speed up.

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: Korean hornbeam

Previous Post: « Bonsai Development Series #25: Pruning exposed root pines
Next Post: Rehabilitating a coast live oak – part 2 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Henry Herrera says

    July 2, 2021 at 7:25 am

    I truly enjoy your emails and articles. I have learned lots and apply my learning to my Bonsai hobby, (10 years now). I would like to know what type of soil you used for this slender Korean hornbeam?
    Thanks and keep them coming.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      July 2, 2021 at 8:11 am

      Thanks, Henry – I’m happy to hear it! This tree is planted in a mix that’s 50-60% akadama with the remainder pumice and a small bit of lava rock.

    • Alessandro says

      July 2, 2021 at 11:10 am

      Ciao Jonas! How do you explain that yellowish new growth? Maybe you have apply less nutrients because of of the non ideal health of the tree? Thank you!!!

      • Jonas Dupuich says

        July 2, 2021 at 2:51 pm

        Hi Alessandro! I think part of the yellow color is because new growth is naturally lighter in color, and the tree has mostly been indoors for a couple weeks and the new leaves have yet to have any sun on them. I expect they’ll darken up before long.

  2. Sam Bryan says

    July 2, 2021 at 9:20 am

    I’m happy to see the improvements.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      July 2, 2021 at 2:50 pm

      Thanks, Sam! From here I don’t expect many changes beyond increasing the branch density.

  3. Yoru says

    July 2, 2021 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you for sharing your (great) work.
    A little question: the main branches seems to go straight down like pine.
    Just for my understanding, is it on your choice or constraint coming from that particular tree?

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      July 2, 2021 at 3:02 pm

      Thanks, Yoru! Great question. The tree has been trained with descending branches for several decades so the option was to cut off all of the branches or work with the descending angles. I thought it would be fun to create a tree with some upward growing branches (the upper ones) and some descending branches (the lower ones). Plus, I wanted to keep as much character as possible so I opted to work with the older branches instead of just growing new ones. Considering the height of the tree, I think descending angles is a good choice for the tree.

      Of course, if I have two of these, I’d train the branches upward on the other one so I could see which I prefer!

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