Bonsai cannot be created without pruning. Using this technique, they solve such problems as creating the desired crown shape, limiting the size, maintaining the appearance of an already formed bonsai. Some Chinese bonsai schools generally mold the plant only by pruning, completely abandoning the technique of wire forming.
It is necessary
- - secateurs;
- - nippers with semicircular edges;
- - scissors;
- - garden variety for bonsai;
- - BF-6 glue;
- - egg white;
- - camera;
- - graphic editor (Photoshop).
Instructions
Step 1
Take your time to trim the branches at the base of the trunk. Due to the long stay of these branches there, the thickening of the trunk occurs - the most desirable and most difficult to achieve goal when forming a bonsai. All other branches should be removed immediately.
Step 2
Categorical pruning is the pruning of skeletal branches or even truncation of the trunk. It is carried out during the period of the least sap flow: in early spring or after leaf fall.
Step 3
Before making a categorical cut, make a "fitting". Previously, "fitting" was done with a blanket. The branch was covered with a piece of cloth and we looked at how the bonsai would look from different angles. This is now easily done in graphic computer programs. Take pictures of the bonsai from different angles, digitize the image and model the future appearance as you please.
Step 4
Once you have identified the branches to be removed, prepare the tool. All cutting surfaces must be very sharp and decontaminated.
Step 5
Cut the branch to be removed as close to the base as possible. Unlike garden pruning, bonsai pruning involves removing branches with a piece of the trunk. In the future, the hole in the wood will be covered with bark and will be completely invisible. This trimming is done with special nippers with semicircular edges.
Step 6
Treat large cuts with a special garden varnish for bonsai, BF-6 glue or egg white. Small sections do not need to be processed.
Step 7
Pruning is done to form the shape of the shoot. Using this method, you can give any shoot the most bizarre shape.
Step 8
Determine the bud on the shoot from which you plan to emerge a new shoot, and cut the branch with pruning shears just above the bud. The direction of new growth is determined by the location of the bud, so do not cut or shorten the branches above the buds that point into the crown.
Step 9
To make the crown more dense, trim the branches regularly. Do not allow the shoot to lengthen by more than one or two internodes per year, even if it grows in the right direction.
Step 10
Cut regularly with long, narrow scissors during the growing season. Slow growing bonsai, such as boxwood, can only be trimmed once a season, and some deciduous plants will need to be trimmed almost every day.
Step 11
Prune young shoots of coniferous trees with tweezers or just fingers. This is done in order not to damage the young needles. When shortening with scissors, this cannot be avoided, because the distance between the needles can be less than a millimeter. This pruning technique is called pinching.
