Bonsai Tree
Seedling
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 12
I'm starting a long term project to create a formal upright European beech bonsai. If I correctly understand the process used to create a formal upright in the way in which I'm thinking, I understand that it may take several decades to produce a decent looking tree.
My plan (and please tell me if I'm thinking about this wrong) is to not use drastic trunk chops to create taper, but rather keep the tree pruned regularly so it may keep its straight trunk, avoid movement in the trunk and avoid any unsightly scars.
This raises several prominent questions for me:
How do I go about dealing with this apically dominant species? Should I regularly pinch back buds and/or prune the top and upper branches to induce growth in lower branches? Should all branches be pruned regularly (when needed) so as to let the trunk slowly develop taper on its own? Shpuld branches, especially the lower ones, be allowed to grow and then cut back hard to accelerate growth/taper?
This is the material I will be starting with. It's currently ~24" (60.96 cm) tall and the base of the tree is a meager 7/16" (1.1 cm) wide. I'd like for the final tree to be about 36" (91.44 cm) tall.
My plan (and please tell me if I'm thinking about this wrong) is to not use drastic trunk chops to create taper, but rather keep the tree pruned regularly so it may keep its straight trunk, avoid movement in the trunk and avoid any unsightly scars.
This raises several prominent questions for me:
How do I go about dealing with this apically dominant species? Should I regularly pinch back buds and/or prune the top and upper branches to induce growth in lower branches? Should all branches be pruned regularly (when needed) so as to let the trunk slowly develop taper on its own? Shpuld branches, especially the lower ones, be allowed to grow and then cut back hard to accelerate growth/taper?
This is the material I will be starting with. It's currently ~24" (60.96 cm) tall and the base of the tree is a meager 7/16" (1.1 cm) wide. I'd like for the final tree to be about 36" (91.44 cm) tall.
