How to Prune a Bonsai Ficus? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Methods
In ficus shaping, pruning is the most important technique; pruning can achieve the goal of giving the ficus a beautiful form. Generally, pruning can be done in all four seasons. In actual care and shaping, pruning is the main method and wiring is supplementary. Cutting once a year is appropriate; for vigorously growing ones, you can prune twice, and once the forked branches growing from the shortened branches become thick and strong, prune again. There are several techniques: pinching, bud thinning, leaf removal, heading back, and renewal pruning.
Pinching
Pinching can stimulate axillary buds to sprout, produce more branches, and expand the crown, while also inhibiting leggy growth of branches. The timing and frequency of pinching are closely related to the tree species. For pines, for example, it is best to pinch off about 2/3 of the bud center when the new buds swell but before the needles unfold, leaving only a small section at the base. In the future, two lateral buds will sprout here, sending new branches in two directions. For evergreen broadleaf trees and deciduous trees that readily send out new shoots, you can generally pinch off the leaf center when the new shoots sprout and grow 2 to 3 leaves. When new shoots and leaves sprout again, pinch in the same way. Repeating this can achieve the goal of making the crown full.
Bud Thinning
Bud thinning means that when a tree sprouts, many buds often sprout at the same time. To ensure a concentrated supply of water and nutrients, keep the well-positioned buds and remove unnecessary buds to form a more ideal tree shape. For species with strong sprouting ability such as Chinese elm and serissa, pay even more attention to wiping off buds that are unfavorable to shaping at any time.
Leaf Removal
Leaf removal can promote a tree to sprout new leaves. For some species such as Chinese elm and Vitex negundo, leaf removal can make originally large leaves become smaller and finer, making them more elegant. For some colored-leaf tree species, such as maples and pomegranate, leaf removal can make the leaf color more vivid. However, removing leaves eliminates the photosynthesis of these leaves, which makes the tree stump lose a great opportunity to accumulate nutrients; for some weak stumps this may cause the plant to weaken or even die. So it is best to carry out leaf removal on relatively vigorously growing stumps.
Heading Back
Cutting away part of a one-year-old branch is called heading back, which can rapidly increase the branching layers of a branch. Generally speaking, it is a pruning of the top level of the tree's branches and can make the tree's outer outline fuller. According to how much is cut off, heading back can be divided into light heading, medium heading, and heavy heading. Light heading generally cuts off the terminal 1/5 of the branch, removing the branch's apical dominance, forming more medium and short branches, making the tree shape fuller and thickening the mother branch. Medium heading generally means cutting off the terminal 1/2 to 3/5 of the branch, forming more medium and long branches and possibly promoting branch growth. Heavy heading means retaining 1/5 of the branch, which can promote the growth of 1 to 2 vigorous branches below the cut, and is generally used to cultivate the main trunk branch.
Renewal Pruning
Cutting off a section of a perennial branch is called renewal pruning. It is the main pruning technique of the Lingnan school's “budding and trunk chopping” method, creating many tortuous, varied, vigorous and sturdy forms such as “chicken-claw branches” and “deer-antler branches”. Renewal pruning can not only dwarf the tree shape but also enhance the expressiveness of the tree's branches. Continuously carrying out renewal pruning on branches can increase the layering of the bonsai.