Basic Guide to Prunning

Today I am going to discuss one of the important aspects of bonsai. If you think that by keeping  a bonsai potted in a small pot will keep it small than its a great misunderstanding.  In order to develop it into  a tree that conforms in all aspects to a normal tree we need to Prune, pinch back new growth and wire its branches. I will eventually be discussing all the techniques involved in making a bonsai. 

  

   Since I have said before in an earlier post that its late winter in Pakistan and spring is less than a month away. The trees are still dormant and according to some Bonsai specialist; its the best time to do some major branch prunning and wiring. So first I will discuss Prunning  i.e what prunning is what are the rules that should be kept in mind.

Now lets start with it. Our goal is to make bonsai appear old and natural. Therefore the branches that do not work towards this goal would need to be removed. This is called prunning. 

But unfortunately prunning branches especially larger ones put the tree at risk of having big unattractive wounds. I will come back later to this point in order to tackle this problem. For now we need to know which branches should be trimmed. As said earlier any branch that makes our bonsai look unnatural should be removed. This includes branches that cross each other, growing back sharply toward the trunk or from the underside of the main branches.                                 

(I'll try to keep things simple but for more comprehensive information check out http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/pruning/branches/branches.html.)

You will observe this when type of branch structue when you end up with a cluttered or messy appearance that takes away from the artistic line of the tree.  So you need to remove all these type of branches. There is a saying that you should have open spaces betweens the branches to let the birds fly through. I think you got my point. For more detailed information do check the link above. It has a more detailed explaination and it would be pointless for me to put useless effort into rewriting something thats already present in a great form. 

So you got some basic information on prunning. But now the problem is you dont have proper tools to do the job. Remember concave cutter is recommended to prune medium to large branches as it leaves minimum to no visual scars on the trunk (for more detail click the above mentioned link).  But there is an alternative to it. The purpose of concave cutter to bite into the tree and leave a dimple which heals better. This can also be achieved by using a normal cutter. The thing is you first cut the branch that you want to remove and then make the wound deeper by means of some sharp object. It can be a knife etc. But make the cut in an oval shape as shown in the picture on the right. Because sap flows upwards and this shape allows better healing of the wound and doesnt leaves a bump on the trunk.