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Should training plants be pinched/pruned?

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Old 26-Feb-2008   #1
froufrou
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Should training plants be pinched/pruned?

Should plants (e.g. junipers, pines) be pinched/pruned when young and still growing in a training pot or field? To develop ramification?

Should I pinch on the branches I want to keep, and let a sacrifice leader grow tall without pinching?
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Old 26-Feb-2008   #2
yenling
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I believe it all depends on what your goal is. Usually the first step w/ creating bonsai is "growing a trunk." If this is your goal then you don't want to pinch and prune your tree, as this slows down the growth.


Once the trunk size is what you want, then usually you will chop the tree and raise a branch which will become the apex. Hope this helps!
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Old 26-Feb-2008   #3
froufrou
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I'm afraid the outer growth will block off light to the inner leaves and kill them off though.
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Old 27-Feb-2008   #4
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Yep, as those branches grow outward to "reach" for the light, the inner foliage will die off. In exchange for this you get increased thickening of the branch, and therefore the trunk as well. The longer branch is blown around more by the wind, and droops more from rain and snow loads over time, so it needs to thicken up to compensate; a close-trimmed, heavily ramified branch doesn't have these forces working against them, so they never need to thicken.

Remember that even though these long, untrimmed branches will be sacrificed later on, you can replace them with a simple thread/approach graft on trees that refuse to back-bud on old wood.
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Last edited by kompik : 27-Feb-2008 at 12:11 AM.
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