How to Prune a Pomegranate Bonsai? Latest Techniques and Methods Tutorial
Pomegranate trees have strong sprouting ability, producing new branches several times within a year, so pruning is very important. If not pruned in time, it will affect flowering and fruiting. Usually, after new branches grow, overly dense, weak, and basally clustered branches should be pruned promptly to ensure the main branches have sufficient nutrients, which is conducive to flowering and fruiting. Now let us take a look at pomegranate bonsai pruning techniques!
How to prune a pomegranate bonsai?
For potted pomegranate, before spring bud break, cut off excess branches and irregular branches according to the shape already envisioned in your mind. For young seedlings, pruning is mainly pinching, usually carried out when they reach a height of 10 cm or more. For dense parts of new lateral branches, they can be cut off from the base. For vigorous water sprouts, multiple pinching can be used for shaping, while also promoting the early formation of plump and full lateral buds in the leaf axils, to store nutrients for producing new fruiting mother branches the following year. Dense needle-like short branches can be cut off.
How to thin fruit on a pomegranate bonsai?
After the pomegranate bonsai fruits have set firmly, excess fruits not needed for the shape should be cut off. A medium-sized pomegranate bonsai only needs to keep 3-5 fruits. The fruits should be distributed with varied heights and staggered arrangement, some sparse and some dense, not evenly spaced. If there are too many fruits, besides appearing messy and disorganized, it will also affect fruiting next year.
Precautions for pruning pomegranate trees
1. In spring, pomegranate trees should have dead branches, diseased branches, weak branches, and water sprouts from the overwintering period cut off, retaining healthy branches and crown shape, which helps promote more new branches, more flowers, and more fruit. When seedlings reach 10 cm in height, begin pinching multiple times to promote branching and achieve a full crown.
2. When pruning pomegranate trees, pay attention to keeping outer branches and removing inner ones, keeping straight branches and removing horizontal ones. The cut should face outward.
3. The focus of pomegranate tree pruning should be on water sprouts and root suckers, because water sprouts sprout from latent buds in the cortex of the trunk or large lateral main branches. They grow vigorously, growing upright or diagonally upward, but are not easy to differentiate into flower buds and interfere with the tree shape. Root suckers sprout from the underground root crown. Their growth is faster than the crown branches, but most of them only consume nutrients.