How to prune a Camellia sasanqua bonsai? Detailed pruning methods
Camellia sasanqua bonsai can be pruned and shaped all year round. By season, pruning can be divided into spring pruning, summer pruning, autumn pruning and winter pruning. With winter and spring pruning and shaping, the pruned branches have a strong ability to sprout, so after pruning there are often more young shoots that emerge. Therefore, winter and spring pruning is suitable for dwarfing the tree form, shaping, and cutting back to restore tree vigor; with summer and autumn pruning, the pruned branches have a weaker ability to sprout, so it is suitable for pruning inner branches, crossing branches, diseased and dead branches, as well as for fixing the tree form and improving ventilation and light penetration within the branch canopy of the plant.
From the perspective of improving the quality of the camellia and the number of flowers, the best time for pruning and shaping is the period after the flowering season and before the spring shoots sprout. Specifically, pruning and shaping Camellia sasanqua in March, Camellia japonica in April, and Camellia reticulata (Yunnan camellia) in May is optimal.
If pruning is carried out after the flower buds have formed or before the flower buds swell, besides making the nutrients more concentrated, it can also play a role in thinning buds. Because the flower buds are reduced, the flowers can bloom very large. To some extent, this pruning can have an effect similar to using gibberellin to force flowering. Therefore, when to carry out pruning and shaping should be decided according to the specific purpose of pruning.
Camellia sasanqua has strong sprouting ability, can tolerate heavy pruning, and can also be pruned as a hedge; generally, pruning is best done around March after flowering.
Pruning methods:
1. Cut off unnecessary branches: cut away dense branches, trunk sprout shoots, inward-growing branches and other unnecessary branches, to make it look clean and fresh.
2. Adjust the tree form: while cutting away outer branches and branches that make the canopy messy, adjust the size of the tree form. If you want to maintain the height of the tree, or to reduce the tree form, the trunk should be cut just above the node (the fork where branches divide).