I have as many trees as I really need. So does nearly every person reading this article. But are each of my trees the best that they can be? Are my trees improving with each passing month and year? Bonsai is an art that definitely takes a long time to learn, and each tree takes many years to bring into top form; but am I making the most of the time that is passing? Am I moving each of my trees along the road to becoming a refined bonsai as quickly as I can?

You should be asking yourself these same questions as you are walking around your garden or thinking about your trees. There are many things that need to be done to make sure that your trees grow and become more refined. The first thing is that your trees need to be properly watered. People think that watering is easy and that they can water their trees once per day and keep them healthy. Last year I started 30 pine seedlings. I gave half of them to my father to take care of and kept half in my own yard. I watered my trees once or twice each day, my father watered his once or twice per week; since January mine grew from 2-8 inches, his grew no more than 1 inch, many only 1/2 inch. What does this tell you? It should tell you that proper watering and fertilization can mean the difference between almost no growth and explosive growth.

Beyond the daily care that you give your trees, to refine a tree you have to use techniques periodically to control and direct the growth. Wiring, decandling, defoliating, repotting, pinching and trimming can all help, but not if you don’t apply them in a timely manner and in a way that keeps your tree healthy. Defoliation can give your tree a whole new level of refinement, introducing smaller twigs and smaller leaves and intensifying the color of fall foliage…or it can kill your tree. Which will it do to your tree? That depends on how healthy it is and how well you time the work and execute the aftercare. Trimming can make your little bush look like a tree, revealing the pads that you have been working hard to create, or it can destroy years worth of work. How can you ensure that you get the result you have been working toward? Plan ahead and think about which branches should be removed, which should be wired into position and which should be left alone.

To ensure that all your trees become what you ultimately want them to be make sure that you pay attention to the care calendar, listen to your teachers and most importantly: do the work. If you can’t manage all the work on all your trees then you have too many. Don’t ignore that little reminder you saw in a book or that blurb in the newsletter. Get your trees healthy, get them growing vigorously and get them on their way to being as good as they can possibly be.

Tag: Tree Care