chop

I got this Japanese Maple last year and didn’t see the interior until this winter. It needs a lot of work and I could use any suggestions regarding where to airlayer (left side large branch/trunk has 2 limbs with movement I’d like to keep) or what all needs to be done. Red is air layer (or chop...

If this was your BC would you chop it to create more taper? Just collected it and potted, it’s a little over 2ft tall. Haven’t worked with smaller BC before but wanted to keep it smaller.

I am planning to air layer my olive in spring and looking for some advice whether what I'm planning on doing is viable. I want to put the layering pod up as high as possible under the branches to end up with a nice short trunk on the layered tree. This will leave me with a tall trunk to later...

This beech got clobbered by a big ash tree that came down on it years ago. I’ve been messing around with it for the last two years. I want to make 1 or 2 more big cuts before I pull and pot it with in 2025 or 2026 (depending if I make the full chop now or do it over two seasons). Here is a...

Hi, I have a 2m tall silver maple and it has a fairly thick base, I want to chop it low but I'm not sure when I should do it. Winter?

Hello, all! On Thanksgiving day at my parents’ place we went for a walk through their woods and I saw this curved elm amidst the forest of straight trunks. I love the sweeping curve so I am considering it for collection. Now onto the questions lol. Should I root prune some and wait a couple...

I wanted to post this to document my progress from Houseplant to tree in a pot. Some minimal back story, I got the tree about a year ago, mistakenly chopped it back a bunch and spent the rest of the winter and this summer waiting for it to recover. It spent the summer outside and did okay, I...

I recently got this maple, but I am not happy with the trunk line/y-split (I feel the branch on the left is to massive). I seek advice on how i should the design further. I see a couple of options as I see it, but feel free to suggest options I might have missed. Option 1: chop main trunk, repot...

Did my first chops. Thoughts? Should I go further? Found these at the nursery while browsing. Should of taken before photos. One was a 3ft tall tree (love the peeling bark) and the other was a fairly decent size bush. I forgot the names, I’ll go outside and find the tags once I work up the...

Looking for some opinions on this little guy I picked up this winter. It's got this big ugly knot on top and the branches are less than ideal. Its got a great and base tho! Thought I would get some opinions before I proceed. Chop most the top off or work with what is there?

Hi nuts, I just bought this ficus (photos below) and I am looking to repot it, prune the roots (if needed), and possibly chop at the magenta line I am wondering though, is this chop too big? And will it rebud? I'll post all updates to this thread!

This hornbeam had to be removed from a garden and that allowed me to collect it and try to make something out of it. It has been collected end of December, not ideal but leaving it longer was no option. I removed a large part of the roots, the taproot and lower sidetroots, and there are only...

Hello everyone, I have been developing bonsai for a few years now but only with nursery stock, no yamadori, collecting... Now my aunt's house has gotten quite overgrown the last few years and while looking over the property I noticed a few good candidates for collection. The issue is that this...

Hey All, I have a relatively decent nursery specimen here and am contemplating a relatively hefty cut. The trunk gets fairly straight and untapered towards the top section then the leader curves downwards in a large arc that just isn't looking realistic to me. I'm thinking of chopping at the...

These suckers seem to be above the graft line, thus a green light for trunk chopping? If not, I'm gonna start strategizing some air layering up top. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Location: CT, USA

Hey everyone, novice bonsai guy just looking for advice. I found this at a local mom and pop shop for 35 dollars and thought why not? Decent size trunk on it. I just bought it thinking of trunk chopping it and trying to root some cuttings but I just started thinking I could air layer the top to...

Wondering if anyone has reduced a large beech with a major chop? I saw one at a nursery and it doesn’t really have any branches on the lower part of the trunk where you’d want them. Root base and flare are good though. The first branch is about 16-18” up, so that would be the lowest to chop you...

Well, I have this young JBP I have successfully reppoted early spring, AND decandled two weeks ago (it's summer in Brazil now). It is growing strongly fertilized with BioGold, new shoots everywhere, but.... Its destiny is to be chopped low down the main trunk and letting a strong first branch...

A European Beech I got from Bobby. Fairly established in its pot, I am waiting till next year to repot so I can chop this year. Its a good size, nice little base and movement in its trunk which I will increase upon with chop and grow. Leaves look nice... Then I cut its head off...

Just a little tree I've been screwing around with for a while - nothing amazing, but its been fun so far. Here are a couple of teasers while I find the 2014 photos . . .

I want to begin working on a bald cypress by purchasing nursery stock and chopping it low. I live in VA, hardiness zone 7a What is the best time of year for me to do this? Thanks

I've got myself another big ficus! Benjamina I believe. I've only just recently chopped my first one and now it's time to start messing with this one :) Its 8 feet tall from bottom of pot to top of branches. Was potted just last year by previous owner, but he is using potting soil. I'm...

At the Shohin Convention last month I bought a few crabapples to play with - one of them appears to be dead, not dormant! Oops. Anyway, the two that are supposed to have white flowers are leafing out now. They're kind of ridiculous looking - a squat trunk with long straight upward shooting...

I just potted up a little olive I bought from a landscape nursery, probably in late 2014, and I thought I'd share its evolution thus far - it's certainly been instructive for me. It was several feet tall, and I cut off all the long stuff so it could stand up in the car. One of the reasons I...

Does this maple need some pruning work or should I just let it keep growing? I'd like it to be thicker but I also would like to see more lower branches.