Had a warm afternoon recently and decided to do a little pruning.
First up, Prunus mume which has yet to bloom.
Typically Ume is pruned back to 5 nodes, then the first and second leaves are removed to encourage interior leaf buds. Ume tend to get leggy over time and the interior buds aren’t always viable.
Next up, the ginkgo.
I’m letting this one get a little taller, so the leaders of the two primary branches were trimmed back to 3 nodes, otherwise the shoots are pruned back to 1-2 nodes, and the spurs are not touched.
Trident Maple, root over rock.
Tridents grow strong. Cut back to 1-2 nodes, and then remove the remaining large leaves to allow light to the interior.
Satsuki azalea
This is about to bloom, so I’m only trimming back long shoots so the tree looks great in bloom. It will get a heavier pruning in a month or so after flowering ends.
Finally, Hawthorn, which required a little more effort, since I lost a branch in the upper right.
I like to let this one run strong for a couple months.Starting from the top, working down.This branch, important in the upper right, has weakened over the last few years and did not survive the winter. Here is the spot it was removed.After a couple branches were wired into the gap, pruning is complete for the spring.
What’s next? It’s late April, so my feeding routine is in place: organic cakes on and weekly fish emulsion. I’m also routinely applying fungicides on those prone to disease: particularly the hawthorn, quince and black pines.
The last post showed some branch work. Now, a few weeks later it is time to continue the work on this Japanese maple, by repotting, evening out the trunk tones with some lime sulfur, and beginning the bud-removal work associated with developing short internodes and controlled growth.
Here is a quick rundown on the annual repotting, with effort concentrated on keeping the roots flat, radial, and swelling around the base.
BeforeUnpotted, and combed outTrim around the outside firstAfter remaining soil is combed out, and roots are shortened againRoots on the bottom are removed, keeping those that grow from the “skirt” around the base, on a flat plane. Anything growing down and on the bottom are removed.Settled back into the same pot, a beautiful, yet simple 3rd generation Yamaaki.
Next up, I’m working to show more of the widening nebari, but under the soil, the roots are darker and painting them with a little lime sulfur evens out the tone until exposure to air can do that naturally.
And the last of the spring projects is bud removal. This is a refinement technique that is a final step in the training process. It used to tighten up the internodes, and over a few seasons, it should result in some dense twigginess. I use tweezers, just as the first pair of leaves is opening and you can see the next pair, remove the second pair.
This is about perfect timingA touch late
Since the shoots open over the course of a week or two, it’s important to spend a few minutes each day pinching out that center bud. This stops the internode from stretching out, increasing the density. it results in a single pair of new leaves at the end of last year’s growth. It will not normally continue growing once the center bud is pinched out.
With March being a windy month, good watering is critical.
In a few weeks, I’ll begin fertilizing, and when the leaves have hardened off in May, I’ll remove one leaf from each pair., which will allow light to reach weaker buds inside the canopy. This is important so that I’ll have interior branches to prune back to in the future.
This one is pretty well developed, but needs some tidying up every year to keep it in balance. here is a shot from before work started. Branches getting relatively too thick for their position on the tree, congested branches, and raising branches all need to be addressed. Look below and see which ones jump out to you.
After the first round of pruning and wiring, I evaluated the progress, made some “notes” on a photograph…
And went back to address those areas. below is a before-after:
Nebari Bonsai 
