Matthew

Home / Bonsai are pruned on a regular basis so they keep their diminutive size. Without pruning, their natural apically dominant growth habit will take over; the upper and outer branches and shoots will extend strongly at the expense of the inner and lower growth, that could eventually dieback. Without the restriction at the roots […]

Home / Every Spring and Fall people will purchase bare root trees to plant and use either in their gardens or as bonsai. Bare root trees are cheaper to purchase usually because the shipping costs are cheaper since no soil is shipped with them. So the question has come up time and again on how

Home / Informal Upright Acer palmatum/Japanese Maple bonsai by Harry Harrington in early Spring The basic Japanese tree forms have evolved over the years as a way of categorising bonsai and also helping to establish basic guidelines for styling trees. These form definitions are helpful to the beginner to help develop an eye for different

Home / Most species of shrubs or trees commonly used for bonsai cultivation rarely succumb to disease if looked after carefully and given the correct environment to grow in. It is my experience that 95% or more trees that are affected by disease or bugs are also in poor general health. Under or over watering, under

Home / To the beginner at bonsai there would seem to be a bewildering number of tools available. However a large number of these tools are designed to aid the bonsai enthusiast who is carrying out more advanced techniques. For your first attempts at bonsai practise, where basic maintenance is essentially all that is being

Home / Bonsai must be pruned throughout the growing season to keep them in shape. Some species such as Acers have a number of growth spurts through the year, after each which they require pruning back; other species such as Junipers require almost continual maintenance pruning. When growing bonsai, it is nearly always found that

Home / Pinching Out Developing Buds on Broad-Leaved Species to Aid Refinement To increase refinement on bonsai that have their basic trunk and branch structure established, a technique called ‘pinching out’ can be used. With this technique, new growth within the vigorous areas of the tree is either partially or completely removed before it extends.

Home / Note: This article is intended to be read as part of the ‘Repotting and Rootpruning’ series. After a number of years in a pot, all soils begin to break down and congeal. Soils that have broken down become dense and airless. The majority of the old soil is removed during the normal course

Bonsai are ordinary tree species that require regular pruning to keep their diminutive shape. Without pruning, branches extend and the tree begins to lose its shape. Given enough uninterrupted growth, these branches can eventually thicken out of scale with the trunk and become coarse. Eventually, if left unpruned for long enough, a bonsai will simply