• Research your tree’s species and habit in the current season (e.g. growth, dormancy, etc) as well as your climate zone

• Some work will slow down growth as it recovers or additional stress may impair recovery (e.g. pruning, repotting, defoliation / de-candling)

• Know if your tree is “high water mobility”, if so then avoid pruning during high sap flow periods

• Signs of insufficient watering:

  • Foliage appears off-colored but consistent across much of the plan (e.g. browning and brittle)

  • Inspect if the root-ball is too dense and not permeable—aerate by piercing holes through the root-ball, or try to submerge the pot in water up to the lip and soak for 10 min then let it drain—plan to repot in the right season

  • Some soil breaks down over time and drainage can be reduced

  • Consider the location of your tree, and if sun exposure or wind may be drying out the soil faster than others

  • Consider a top dressing of chopped sphagnum moss to take root and manage moisture from evaporation

• Signs of over-watering:

  • Know your tree species watering preferences, including sensitivity to minerals or water quality

  • If your tree prefers to be drier than moist between watering, look under the pot if the table is dry or moist.

  • Foliage off-color and consistent (e.g. yellowing and supple)

  • Reduce watering frequency, or only when soil 1/4” deep is dry or if the table under the pot is relatively dry

  • Consider having your water tested, or experiment by watering with cleaner water (?)

• Signs of local browning (in areas or spots, not all over)—consider moving that plant apart from others until resolved

• Visible signs of small pest with magnification, or shaking foliage over a piece of paper

• Signs of webbing or foliage clinging together—likely a pest

  • explore treating with a soap-based pesticide or ask local club experience or nursery advice

• Signs of foliage spotting, irregular color or finish, or holes—likely a pest

  • explore treating with a soap-based pesticide or ask local club experience or nursery advice

• If not a pest, consider a fungus (seek advice from a nursery) and treat with a fungicide

Movement reflects character and dynamism

• Consider the option of an Informal Upright form, with a trunk base with a slight angle

• When the tree is young and pliable, apply wire and develop movement—consider asymmetry, avoid repetition, and intentionally move in 3D

• Apply more exaggerated curvature early on, where age may smooth out over time

• Consider adding twist to the trunk (in the same direction as the wire) that will accentuate with age

• An alternative to wiring movement is “clip & grow” pruning or use of guy-wires

• Formal style recommends moving towards the back, then alternate left or right, and eventually the apex may be centered and leaning towards the front

Desired Trunk size

• Ground grown encourages unrestricted growth, recommending periodical root maintenance

• Consider growing in a colander or pond basket (more watering & aeration) allowing escape roots or self-pruning, but preventing encircled roots

• Let it “grow out”—restrain yourself from pruning until after the growing season

• Allow a Sacrifice branch to grow long and with vigor; ideally located away from “front”, which will be removed eventually

• Fertilize (potassium, ground gypsum)

Nebari/Base as desired

• When repotting, remove the tap root

• Fan out ground roots radially, during repotting

• Consider planting a wide “fender“ washer an inch below the soil line, over time it will force surface roots to radiate out

• Consider planting over a ceramic tile or felt disc to encourage flatter, radial roots while not constraining the overall root ball

• Use inorganic, high drainage soil—Akadama blend will encourage fine roots

• Confirm the “front” of the tree with nebari as an important factor (widest)

• To mitigate gaps, consider “approach graft(s)” at the root line

• Consider air-layering at a point in the trunk, which will develop plenty of radial roots to repot

• Root Layering involves removal of a cambium ring at the base and a strong wire tourniquet will encourage new roots to radiate out over the tourniquet

• Root-over-Rock form can be away to maximize surface roots

Develop or preserve Taper

• Depending on the final height, techniques to exaggerate taper can involve selecting a new apex, then prune the prior apex

• By developing the primary branch and each successive branch, select branches that enable ever decreasing trunk internode lengths

• Avoid or correct any trunk internode that has little to no movement (long & straight)—consider a trunk chop in the right season

Bark can accentuate age

• Certain species may build up more exaggerated bark scale and or fissures.

• Certain species may have more color , or greater contrast to jin or shari (deadwood)

• Certain species have bark that may be thicker and more pliable—to peel and leave jin or shari

Primary Branch:

• Based on desired tree height (1/3 from top of the pot—formal style)

• Opposite from any angle of the trunk base

• Outside of any trunk curvature

• Formal styling would prefer the first Primary branch 1/3 of the total tree height, and the next Primary branch to be 1/3 of the remaining height (roughly 20% of the total height)—leading to the opposite side of the first Primary branch

• Formal styling would repeat this, with alternating “back” branches to add depth

• Allow the branch to grow long; one may orient the end up towards the sun (wiring)

• Orient slightly upward for deciduous or slightly lower for conifers (characteristic of age and weight of the primary branch)

• Avoid whorls or bar branches—both contributing to inverse taper

Secondary branch (and subsequent branches)

• Opposite side from Primary Branch (formal style)

• Should decrease successive internode length(s)

• Leave inner foilage or buds

• Consider removing branches directed up or down

• Reduce upper foliage if shading out lower, inner branches (or partial defoliate some leaves or leaf size) to allow energy distribution and inner light

• Maintenance—avoid long internodes by pinching

• Consider pruning branches or foliage above the first Primary branch to maintain proportion and energy—unless focusing primarily on lower trunk development first

Orient subsequent Primary branches alternating towards the back, to add depth

Peter Tea “Bonsai By Numbers” (Peter Tea Copyright 2018-2020)

Remedy for Poor Branch Locations

• If the initial branch locations do not support the final design goal, consider techniques to encourage back-budding or grafting

• Some species (e.g. maples, hornbeams, etc) may grow long and flexible whips—that can be used for Thread Grafting to a desired location—the graft is nourished by the tree itself until weaned and pruned off

• Approach Grafts is similar technique where the grafted branch is nourished independently until the grafted input is weaned and pruned off

• Some species (e.g. junipers, pines, etc) may allow for scion grafts

Tertiary branches should decrease successive internode lengths

• Selective pruning—remove crossing, upward & downward, bar branches, or those lacking taper

• Depending on species, prune alternating foliage or prune for branch direction

• Consider thinning out foliage to enable light to lower & inner branches and redirect energy to lower or weaker branches

Ramification development (after primary & secondary branches are developed)

• Pinch out tips to next bud to encourage bifurcation (release of hormone)

• Partial defoliation for reduced leaf/needle size