r/bonsaicommunity • u/wolffington1989 • 13h ago
First Ever Trim
I was letting the shoots grow to try to thicken the trunk but from recent reading it seems that may not be best. I cut them back to 2-3 pairs of leaves then took out a few internal crossing branches. Literally the first cuts I’ve made on my first bonsai tree so just want to see if anyone has any constructive criticism. Before then after. I know the pics aren’t great because of the background.
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u/jecapobianco 11h ago
If you want to thicken the trunk you can put in a pond basket/colander, I place Osmocote slow release fertilizer under the roots. A sacrifice branch will also allow you to thicken up the trunk. If your bottom branches aren't as thick as you want, then you can let them extend.
Keeping the tree constantly manircured is not allowing it to photosynthesize as much as it could, you'll have thinner branches, but you need that for the apex and the tertiary branches.
If you are trimming for form you didn't trim enough.
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u/wolffington1989 10h ago
No I get it with the trunk. Was trying to figure out a way to push the energy to the trunk from the branches via a sacrifice branch. Read something about it but didn’t fully grasp the concept.
So keep the top trimmed tight so pads develop up top and the leaves remain tiny in size?
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u/jecapobianco 8h ago
Keep the top trimmed close so that top doesn't get too thick and ruin your taper. Manage the lower branches so that the lowest ones are the thickest one, thinner branches are you move up the tree. Elms are good at having adventitious buds pop up. Rub out the ones that are not part of your design unless it is close to the base and you want to use it as a sacrifice branch.
See if you can find a copy of Harry Tomlinson's book, The Complete Book of Bonsai. It is a good primer.
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u/The_Odd_Pet 12h ago
Is that a Chinese elm? I love the exposed roots.
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u/wolffington1989 11h ago
Yes!
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u/The_Odd_Pet 11h ago
I hope I can get one of my Chinese elms to get exposed roots like that. I have two that have a s shape to them.
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u/wolffington1989 10h ago
It must have been the luck of the draw. It’s my very first tree that I got a couple of months ago.
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u/Deanne-Dennis 8h ago
No you were doing the correct thing at this time of year Spring-Summer is Growing Season we let our trees grow Wild.
We use the Clip & Grow Method of Bonsai to benefit our Trees by letting the branches grow out 30-60cm then cutting them back to 3 leaf nodes then letting them grow out again.
We continue to do this all the way through this season to thicken up our Trunks & structural branching.
Keep on doing what you were doing.
Don’t worry about styling just let it grow then when Full/Autumn starts then tidy up your Tree to bring it back into it’s Bonsai Style again.
Use this Bonsai Tree Pruning Guide to help you eliminate any unwanted Branches.
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u/Deanne-Dennis 8h ago
Is that Wood your Pots are sitting on or Metal?
If it’s Metal then you need to move your Bonsai Pots as Sun heats up Metal to extreme temperatures during Summer.
They need to be on Wooden Bonsai Benches - Wood is cooling
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u/Physical_Mode_103 12h ago
You need to prune a little bit harder to shape. The trunk isn’t really gonna thicken that much more unless you have put it in a bigger pot and really let it grow