How to do leaf pruning and styling for bonsai? Sharing practical little tips
Leaf pruning can make bonsai trees that normally leaf out once a year sprout and produce leaves multiple times. Leaf pruning can make bonsai send out green leaves again, restoring a vibrant and lively appearance, making them more beautiful and more ornamental. About 1 month before leaf pruning, fertilizer and water management should be strengthened, to prompt new buds to sprout quickly and grow into tender leaves after leaf pruning.
Leaf pruning can make bonsai trees that normally leaf out once a year sprout and produce leaves multiple times. Leaf pruning can make bonsai send out green leaves again, restoring a vibrant and lively appearance, making them more beautiful and more ornamental.
About 1 month before leaf pruning, fertilizer and water management should be strengthened, to prompt new buds to sprout quickly and grow into tender leaves after leaf pruning.
The timing of leaf pruning varies from early to late depending on the tree species and the viewing period. However, except that leaves cannot be pruned during natural spring budding, leaf pruning can be done at other times, and generally spring and autumn are best. The number of leaf prunings can also be determined according to the tree species and the viewing effect. For example, if red maple is leaf-pruned in summer, by late autumn it will send out red tender young leaves, making it even more brilliantly striking; if Chinese wolfberry is leaf-pruned twice in early summer and early autumn, the fruit will set better; bamboo bonsai leaves stay evergreen all year round, but overly dense leaves can also give a bloated feeling, and after thinning the branches and leaves, it shows even more its vigorous and powerful, green and elegant posture.
A refreshingly different bonsai exhibition - Hong Kong, China North District (2014) Flowers, Birds, Insects and Fish Exhibition bonsai exhibition photo record
New way to play, new realm. Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society president Huang Jiucheng integrated narcissus carving works into the bonsai display segment, bringing a different kind of charm. Huang Jiucheng's work "A Glance Back with a Smile" (Chinese sweet plum, narcissus).
Hong Kong, China North District Council chairman Su Xizhi (left) said in an interview with this magazine's reporter that the North District Flowers, Birds, Insects and Fish Exhibition has been successfully held for thirty-eight editions, especially during the twenty-eight years sponsored by the North District Council, it has become the most influential industry event in Hong Kong, China during the Christmas period. He believes that the seedling-cultivated bonsai material creation of small bonsai advocated by the Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society will be an important direction for the future development of bonsai in Hong Kong, China. On the right is Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society president Huang Jiucheng.
The booth design of the Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society is elegant, with bonsai and narcissus vying in beauty and enhancing each other, attracting many visitors to stop and admire
In the bonsai exhibition area of this exhibition, only the Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society held a series of activities besides the bonsai display. In four days they held eight lectures on bonsai and narcissus carving. Fu Rentang (1st from right) and Wu Meipei (2nd from right) gave a demonstration lecture on root-attached bonsai. From the dazzling array on the podium, one can see how meticulous their preparation was.
The lectures were all aimed at ordinary citizens. In order to let the public understand and learn, the speakers would make each key step into a physical object and pass it around among the audience. The picture shows the audience carefully studying the demonstration teaching aids.
The champion of this exhibition's bonsai group - the "Chief Executive's Wife Cup" winning work, a mountain pine, by Fu Rentang
Wu Meipei's work "Joy"
The members of the Hong Kong, China Lingnan Bonsai Art Society are all students of president Huang Jiucheng at the Hong Kong, China Federation of Trade Unions Workers' Amateur Further Education Centre. Many of them fell in love with formative art because they took Huang Jiucheng's narcissus carving course, and thus became fascinated with bonsai art. The first lecture of the opening was given by Huang Shaofen, Lei Yongying, Wu Lihao and Zhuang Zhihua (from left to right), demonstrating crab-claw narcissus carving and water-culture styling.
Xu Weiliang (right) and Li Shufen (left) performing the carving and styling of mandarin duck narcissus.
Mandarin duck narcissus work
Ou Jingwen, Chen Xiao'er and Liu Libing (from left to right on the performance stage) giving a lecture on the basic common knowledge of selecting narcissus.
Huang Jiucheng's work "Wild" (Chinese elm, narcissus)
Huang Jiucheng's work "Sitting Majestically" (small-leaved fig, narcissus)
One of Huang Jiucheng's narcissus carving works
The second of Huang Jiucheng's narcissus carving works
The third of Huang Jiucheng's narcissus carving works
Wang Zhaoming and his wife Wang Huang Yingjun demonstrating and explaining the carving and styling of flower-basket narcissus
Highlights of Li Dehui's lecture viewpoints
Actually, bonsai is not only a three-dimensional art, it can be said to be a five-dimensional art. The fourth dimension is time, and the fifth dimension is imaginative space (that is, the artistic conception of creation).
What is the difference in mini bonsai? Besides size, is there any other difference? A mature mini bonsai also needs to meet the requirement of three bends in one inch.
What are the characteristics of mini bonsai? The stump material is easier to find, cheap, and can be grown by yourself; the creation time is relatively shorter; it embellishes life; it cultivates temperament and is horticultural therapy; it occupies little space and is easy to care for, solving a major problem for bonsai enthusiasts limited by their environment, and making it easier for Chinese Lingnan bonsai to enter thousands of households.
Quick shaping techniques for mini bonsai: to create a Lingnan bonsai, it takes at least three to five years to complete. Seeing this, beginners may be discouraged. In view of this, to make young seedlings take shape in a short time, aluminum wire must be used.
Pot matching for mini bonsai: the first choice of pot is a Yixing purple clay pot, because Yixing purple clay pots are finely made and elegant in color, and are most suitable for mini bonsai. 1. Usually double-trunk style, large-tree style and kapok style are all suitable for rectangular pots or egg-shaped pots. 2. Water-reflection style and Suren style are suitable for round pots or square pots. 3. Cliff style and moon-fishing style are suitable for tall cylinder pots or square bucket pots. 4. Wall-hanging cliff style should use wall-hanging pots. 5. Forest style is more suitable with a shallow goose-egg pot. A well-matched pot greatly enhances the ornamental value of the bonsai.
As for stands: rectangular pots and goose-egg pots should be matched with rectangular low stands; square bucket pots should be matched with tall square stands.
Li Dehui's work "Spring Breeze"
Liang Yuqun's Chinese bird plum work
Chen Xiao'er's Fujian tea work
(1) Pinching
During the growth and development period of a tree, removing the tender young part at the tip of a new shoot is called pinching. Pinching can promote the sprouting of axillary buds, produce more branches, and expand the crown, while also inhibiting excessive growth of branches. The timing and frequency of pinching are greatly related to the tree species. For example, for pine trees, it is advisable to pinch off about 2/3 of the bud core before the new buds sprout but before the needles are released, leaving only a small section at the base. In the future, two lateral buds will sprout here, sending out new branches in two directions. For evergreen broad-leaved trees and deciduous trees that readily send out new shoots, pinching can generally be done when the new shoot has sprouted and grown 2-3 leaves, by pinching off the leaf core. When new branches and leaves sprout again, pinch in the same way. Repeated operation in this way can achieve the goal of making the crown full.
(2) Bud thinning
When a tree is budding, often many buds sprout at the same time. In order to ensure concentrated supply of water and nutrients, keep the well-positioned buds and remove unnecessary buds, so as to form a more ideal tree shape. For tree species with strong budding ability such as Chinese elm and snowbush, even more attention should be paid to wiping off buds unfavorable to styling at any time.
(3) Leaf pruning
Leaf pruning can promote trees to sprout new leaves. For some tree species such as Chinese elm and Chinese chastetree, leaf pruning can make originally large leaves become smaller and more delicate. For some colored-leaf tree species, such as maple and pomegranate, leaf pruning can make the leaf color more vivid. However, removing leaves, because it removes the photosynthesis of these leaves, will make the stump lose a great opportunity to accumulate nutrients, and for some weak stumps it may cause the plant to weaken, or even die. Therefore, it is best to carry out leaf pruning on stumps that are growing vigorously. Before leaf pruning, the potted tree should first be given 2-3 applications of nitrogen fertilizer, placed in a sunny place, so that it fully performs photosynthesis, accumulates nutrients, and improves its ability to sprout new leaves. When pruning leaves, keep the petiole to protect the axillary buds; generally new leaves can grow in about 1 month. Leaf pruning should be carried out in 3-4 rounds, each time removing 1/4-1/3 of all leaves, with an interval of about 1 week between two adjacent rounds. After leaf pruning treatment, transpiration is weakened, so watering should be controlled to avoid excessive soil moisture causing root rot. Generally about 20 days after leaf pruning treatment, new leaves can grow.
(4) Heading back
The method of cutting off part of a one-year-old branch is called heading back. Heading back can rapidly increase the branching layers of branches. Generally speaking, it is pruning of the top layer of the tree's branches, which can make the tree's appearance and 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 1/5 of the branch tip, 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 refers to cutting off 1/2-3/5 of the branch tip, forming more medium and long branches, and may promote branch growth. Heavy heading refers to retaining 1/5 of the branch, which can promote the growth of 1-2 vigorous branches below the cut, and is generally used to cultivate the main trunk branch.
(5) Reduction pruning
Cutting off a section of a perennial branch is called reduction pruning. Reduction pruning is the main pruning technique of the Lingnan school's "branch accumulation and trunk truncation" method, creating many styles such as "chicken-claw branches" and "deer-horn branches" that are varied, twisted and vigorous. Reduction pruning can not only dwarf the tree shape, but also enhance the expressiveness of the tree's branches. Continuously carrying out reduction pruning on branches can increase the layers of the bonsai.
(6) Branch thinning
Cutting off from the base the one-year-old or perennial branches that affect the bonsai styling. Branch thinning weakens the whole stump, and at the same time, thinning out unwanted branches can ensure that the remaining branches get sufficient nutrient and water supply, and improve ventilation and light conditions, which is beneficial to the growth of the stump. Branch thinning should also make the stump shape more beautiful.