Once you have received an awesome Bonsai tree gift from NetFlorist such as the Grow Your Own Bonsai kit where you start from the beginning with bonsai seeds and grow it into a beautiful bonsai plant or the Bonsai Tree in Pottery which is an already-grown bonsai tree, it is time to take care of your precious plant to ensure it lives for as long as possible. There are several techniques to prune and take care of your bonsai. The Japanese developed bonsai when they adopted some of China’s cultural practises of growing trees in containers. Bonsai is the ancient art of growing trees in containers and is kept miniature by pruning and wiring techniques. Before you start pruning, you need to know the basics of tree growth, a tree competes with its branches in order to reach the sunlight Apical Dominance but this results in disproportionate growth, and therefore regular pruning is needed! Let’s look at how to prune your bonsai in a step by step guide:
Step 1: Remove those weeds!
Weeds are those pesky things that get in the way of plant growth by stealing the nutrients and water! Get rid of them by gently uprooting them, being careful not to hurt the roots of the bonsai tree. Now that the roots are gone, it’s time to get down to business:
Step 2: Decide on the Bonsai’s size
Once you have decided how big you want your Bonsai to be, you can start pruning by cutting outgrown branches and/or shoots using twig shears or a normal cutter. New shoots need to be pruned throughout the year to maintain shape and don’t forget to water the tree thoroughly after pruning!
Step 3: Prune the crown
Prune the crown in order to distribute sunshine equally throughout the tree, thin out the crown by carefully cutting, removing small branches along with the shoots.
Step 4: Defoliate
Be careful not to do this at the wrong time of the tree’s life. Defoliation involves removing leaves of deciduous trees during the summer to force the tree to grow new leaves. This technique ultimately leads to a reduction in leaf size and an increase in ramification
Step 5: Make it pretty
The wonderful thing about Bonsai plants is that you can manipulate the tree into the shape that you want. Bend thick branches or cut them out if they are too thick and don’t affect the new look. If there are two similar branches together cut one of them and keep the other.
Sources:
WikiHow: How to Prune a Bonsai Tree
Bonsai Empire: Pruning Bonsai and Cutting Branches to Shape the Tree
