Pruning is vital to Bonsai art as well as the overall health of your tree, as with everything it may seem hard at first but can be mastered through repetition.
The most common techniques are as follows:
- Metsumi: It is the pinching of the tender shoots to stop and stop excessive growth helping your Bonsai grow more evenly.
- Mekiri: It is the cutting of developed shoots with scissors.
- Mekaki: Bud selection pruning.
- Hagari: Cutting the leaves
Metsumi, or the pinching technique is the best known of all because the tender shoots are easy to remove, the purpose of this is to shorten the new shoot. This can be total or partial, but in most cases, two pairs of leaves are left.
By eliminating these apical buds, the vitality or energy is distributed between the axillary buds causing secondary branching, giving your Bonsai more vigour.
Also, with this technique the internodal length is reduced.
Logically, these pruning techniques increase the foliage, but to avoid your tree becoming too dense you must also thin out your branches to prevent the internal branches from drying out due to lack of sunlight. This will also prevent your Bonsai from doing unnecessary work defoliating and eliminating branches affected by the light deficit.
We prune our Bonsai throughout the growth period from April to August, the dates vary according to the species or the climate, and we begin when the branches are established and have between 7 or 8 leaves. This way the leaves that are left are mature enough to already carry out the work of photosynthesis.
Pruning a Bonsai too early can weaken the tree.
You must know that pruning can weaken a tree because it stimulates growth, making your Bonsai keep sprouting and growing, which weak trees cannot sustain.
Pruning is repeated every time it is necessary during the period from April to June or August. Consider that ONLY those trees that are healthy and vigorous and that have been well fertilized in the previous year should be clipped.
The pruning technique used will vary depending on the type of tree.
In general, it will be done in a balanced way zone by zone: for example, in the upper zone, the most vigorous pruning will take place leaving one or two leaves, in the middle of your Bonsai use an intermediate technique leaving two or three leaves and in the lower part leave about four leaves.
In conifers, the same idea will be followed, although the type of leaves or needles is different and it will be done on new shoots, leaving a part of them depending on the area of the tree in which they are found.
Bonsai Pruning is a technique that must not be neglected and must be done systematically as many times as necessary.
To prune Bonsai over 40cm. in height, begin to prune when the branches have lengthened to 7cm., you can then cut this leaving two leaves to balance it out.
With small bonsai about 20 cm. start pruning when the branches are 3 cm. and leave two leaves in April and May to balance out and leave as for the weakest.
Flowering and fruit trees must be left unpruned three months after budding to allow time for the following year’s flower buds to mature.
It is necessary to prune correctly at each season to achieve good branching and balance of the tree.
If your Bonsai is healthy, and one or two branches come out of the point that has been pruned At that time, remove the two leaves that were left the first time, and then it is possible that it will branch where the first two leaves were.
From the middle of July and August, the trees sleep when the temperature reaches 33º so do not prune during the summer.
Pruning Techniques in Different Bonsai Species
As a general rule we will say that:
Bonsai fruit trees:
Fruit tree Bonsai should be pruned after flowering, since most of them produce buds at the tips of their branches, if we do it before we will not enjoy the colour and aroma of their flowers. We will let the branches grow and with scissors, we will cut the strongest branches into two leaves, and the weak ones into four.
Bonsai pine trees:
For pine tree Bonsai, carry out pruning in May, cutting the growth of the longest candles completely with scissors, in half those that have an intermediate growth and those that are very small, we will not touch them.
Bonsai spruces and firs
Pruning is done with the fingers. In low-branched trees, to increase their density, the new buds are totally eliminated as soon as they take an ovoid shape. In heavily branched trees, the top two-thirds of the strongest buds are pinched.
