Before I prune on my deciduous bonsai in spring, I check to see if they’re up for the work. Here’s a trident maple at the end of March. Trident maple – March 30th Although the leaves are healthy, they are pale green and there are no new shoots developing. This tells me that the tree […]
Trident Maple
The right way and wrong way to make major cuts on young maples
Taking care to identify healthy buds before major cutback can make all the difference.
Bonsai Development Series #21: The effect of removing a sacrifice branch
Reducing sacrifice branches can give you a lot of new growth – here are tips for redirecting young trees’ resources effectively.
Pruning a field-grown trident maple
When I picked up a field-grown maple to work on a few days ago, I had no idea what the trunk and branches looked like. The tree had grown almost four feet since last year and the foliage was too dense to see through. Trident maple This made pruning difficult as I had to make […]
Bare-rooting a trident maple
The first thing I want to do when I acquire a new tree is get a look at the soil. Based on what I found when I started repotting the trident maple below, I decided to bare-root the tree. Trident maple After removing the soil The tree had been well-cared for but was growing in […]