At 12:51 PM 4/22/03 -0500, asmith7 wrote:
Hello all, I recently purchased a juniperus procumbens (nana) as a first
bonsai. I bought it from the nursery without any prior bonsai training.
Before starting the initial pruning process, I checked with many
sources as to how much is good to prune. Most sources say that only
about 1/3 of the original foliage should be removed at one time. Others,
however, make reference to trees with very sparse foliage after a
pruning, stating that the foliage will later grow in in the desired
amounts and positions. These trees seemed to have much more than 1/3 of
the foliage removed.
I pruned about 1/3 of the foliage off of my juniper but it is still
extremely congested looking, appearing more like a bush than a
tree. Would it be advisable for me to prune away all that is necessary
right now, or should I wait a month or so before further pruning? Thanks
alot for the help with this newbie question!

John

What you have to understand is that formulas like 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, etc are
simply _guidelines_ for beginners or the uninitiated. People who are more
experienced don't use guidelines, they operate on a basis of understanding
what the degree of pruning does to the plant. Experts who are very
experienced can get away with a whole lot more than most folks because they
know exactly what they are doing and what they response will be. Their
conclusions are based on many factors: how many plants they have killed in
the past, the time of the year, the species of the plant, the general
health of the plant, the climate, etc.

There is no substitute for experience. The reason you see the 1/3 figure so
much is that you can whack off that much foliage on almost any plant, at
almost anytime, and the plant will _usually_ still live. So, if you have
to ask the question you asked, you are probably better off sticking to the
conservative guideline. With each additional branch you remove, you
increase the risk of death or severe damage.

Working with plants requires a whole different viewpoint and timeline than
working with non living objects. If you have at it (as most beginners are
prone to do), and it dies, you learn something, but not much. If you are
conservative, and watch carefully to see how the plant responds to what you
did, you learn a lot more.



Brent in Northern California
Evergreen Gardenworks USDA Zone 8 Sunset Zone 14

http://www.EvergreenGardenworks.com

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