Spring is a good time for managing vigor on deciduous species. We can fully defoliate our strongest trees, and partially defoliate less vigorous bonsai. An alternative to defoliation for species with larger leaves is leaf pruning. Leaf pruning works best when you want more light to reach the tree’s interior but you don’t want to […]
Chinese Quince
Bonsai Development Series #15b: removing unnecessary growth, part 2
In the last post we looked at the benefits of removing root sprouts on developing bonsai. We can take the same approach with water sprouts. Water sprouts are shoots that emerge from the trunk and generally grow straight up. If we don’t plan to use these branches in the final design, it’s best to remove […]
Cutback on young quince
I’ve been pruning and wiring my young quince twice a year – once in spring and once in fall or winter. I’ve been doing this work to set the shape of the trunk before I let the trees grow on and thicken up. Five year-old Chinese quince Reducing sacrifice branches early keeps wounds small so […]
Cutback on Chinese quince
A few months ago, I brought a small Chinese quince into the garden. Chinese quince The tree is relatively refined, but the branch structure has a ways to go. The best way to fix it is to cut the branches back to short stubs. Before doing this, however, I want to make sure the tree […]
Bonsai Development Series #9: Evaluating sacrifice branches mid-season
For my young trees in development, I tend to focus on a single question during the growing season: do I prune now or wait until fall? Chinese quince – four years old from seed The goal at this stage is to develop the trunk as fast as possible. Because the sacrifice branches are well-positioned, I’ll […]
