I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he discussed the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape for
bonsai. I am sure it is a very common method, you may know of it as being
called something else. I am confused about how it works. He says, you let
the plant grow, and then cut new growth back each year. What exactly does
this do? I am confused mainly because I don't know how the tree reacts to
it. Thanks alot. - Colin Horn, Orinda, CA





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LoL!
like your hairs or beard s keep on growing but by the cut you can make
different effects & channel the plant energy where you want to or needed ..
cutting/clipping is something that has to be done according the species and
season's and the tchnique varies according the aim
clipping a maple or a zelkova is diferent than clipping flowering plant or a
pine
Theo

Colin Horn wrote:

I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he discussed the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape for
bonsai. I am sure it is a very common method, you may know of it as being
called something else. I am confused about how it works. He says, you let
the plant grow, and then cut new growth back each year. What exactly does
this do? I am confused mainly because I don't know how the tree reacts to
it. Thanks alot. - Colin Horn, Orinda, CA

__________________________________________________ _______________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy...n.asp?cid=3963

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In a message dated 5/5/2003 10:42:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

Clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape for
bonsai. I am sure it is a very common method, you may know of it as being
called something else. I am confused about how it works.

This just means you train the Bonsai by pruning and not wiring. Some
species don't like wire, some people don't like wire. For species that take
wire well, wire produces a show quality Bonsai sooner.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he
discussed the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an
attractive shape for
bonsai. I am sure it is a very common method, you may know of
it as being
called something else. I am confused about how it works. He
says, you let
the plant grow, and then cut new growth back each year. What
exactly does
this do? I am confused mainly because I don't know how the tree
reacts to
it. Thanks alot. - Colin Horn, Orinda, CA



I'm glad you're reading.

===*===/===*===\======

Consider that as a branch. The / is a branch growing toward the
top of the screen, and the \ is one growing down. The branch
itself is growing in this ==== direction.

If you cut JUST past the / the branch will start growing in /
that direction. If you cut just past the \ it will grow in the
other direction -- but still somewhat in ==== that direction.
You'll have a slight zig-zag.

Usually making those cuts will also promote buds you can't see to
pop up on the branch at * (or somewhere -- you have NO control
over where these buds show up. But you WANT them to show up so
your tree will develop ramification twigginess. If a bud pops
where you don't want it, rub it off, and a new one will pop out
somewhere else.).

One of the thing a grower of bonsai MUST do if he or she hopes to
become at all competent is to understand how plants grow. It's
like your garden: you pinch the top growth of chrysanthemums (for
example) in your garden to make them branch, and more branches
will mean more flowers at the tips of the branches.

MOST tree branches will grow in more or (usually much) less this
way: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ in a zig-zag fashion because leaves (and
branches) are formed alternately on the branch. Other trees,
like maples a viburnum, have opposite leaves and branches
---- . To make these branches other than straight by the
clip-and-grow method you have to remove a top branch then a
bottom branch, then a bottom branch (top and bottom being terms
that could also be right and left ;-).

You prune and pinch the tips of the growing branches of your
bonsai to force more branches to appear -- both at the ends of
the branches and deeper into the tree -- to improve ramification,
and to "suggest" to the tree that you want it to grow in THAT
direction, not in whatever one it had wanted to go in.

This was perhaps a bit confusing, but . . . Just keep on reading.
That's one way you learn. The other (and best, of course) is by
doing.


Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he discussed the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape for
bonsai. I am sure it is a very common method, you may know of it as being
called something else. I am confused about how it works.


Although I occasionally wire a branch or two, I style almost
exclusively by clip'n'gro. The only trick there is to it is
understanding where a given tree will normally put out a branch.
Trees that don't bud back readily will branch at a leaf axil, and to
get the type of growth you want, you have to prune above a leaf
pointing the way you want the branch to go. And you have to be
patient. That's all there is to it.
--
Nina Shishkoff

Frederick, MD

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I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he discussed the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape for
bonsai.

This is also known as the Ling-Nan school. It originated in South China. It is
described in detail in Mr. Wu's books and in Korashoff. There are certain
requirements:
A very long growing season or indoor plants.
Fast growing species.
Infinite patience.
You have to start growing bonsai at the age of 4, like Mr. Wu, & live into the
90s, or inherit trees that were started by your grandfather.
Most of us rank amateurs usually combine wiring with the cut-and-run method.
However, you have to make sure that the same tree does not obviously contain
both the angular growth typical of clip-and-grow and the sinuous curves of
wired trees. Have one or the other.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

I started to use more of the clip and grow methods with the onset of
Rheumatoid Arthritis. This affects my hands the most, making wiring
difficult at times.

Chriss Flagg
Puyallup, WA
The Other Washington




I have been reading Bonsai Masterclass by Peter Chan, and he discussed
the
clip and grow method, a pruning method of achieving an attractive shape
for
bonsai.


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++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++
************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++