Question about trunk chopping Conifers

[ECMist]

Hello,

I've read to NOT trunk chop conifers without leaving any foliage to sustain it, as the tree most commonly dies sometime afterwards. Would chopping and leaving one branch as a sacrifice branch to sustain the tree then cause the tree to start creating new shoots out the trunk, afterwards allowing me after the shoots have developed to chop off the sacrifice branch? I'm new to Bonsai and am trying to make sure I get the idea of trunk chopping conifers right as I'm planning on trunk chopping a cedar and cypress soon and heard you should leave some foliage on it.

 

[caffeinated]

You've got it about right, though it's generally going to be dependent on the type of tree and it's age, vigor, etc... You might want to post a pic of what you're thinking of chopping and where. The closer you can chop to some remaining foliage the better off your tree will be. Typically, you wouldn't want to chop it and have the remaining foliage be a relatively long distance down the trunk, away from the chop. That could lead to die-back, though again, it always depends on several factors.

 

[Shibui]

Some conifers just cannot grow new buds on older, bare parts. It does not matter what you do, the tree just cannot do it.
Most can bud on younger bare sections, in which case your plan to chop hard but leave some green foliage to make sure it survives while new shoots activate and grow is the way to stimulate those buds to start growing. The part you leave alive might be a sacrifice branch to chop off after getting other good growth or it could be a lower branch which will become part of the new tree.

There are a few conifers that readily bud on bare wood so you can get away with just a straight out chop but much better to play it safe and leave some green whenever you work on conifers.

 

[ECMist]

This is what I was thinking. Sorry I’ve yet to pot up the cypress and wired the cedar before I really knew what I was going to do with it.

 

[Shibui]

The chop you've showed should be OK. The branch you've left has some green foliage so the tree can continue to grow.
Chopping below those lowest branches would not be good for most conifers.

 

[ECMist]

Thanks again Shibui. I’ll go ahead and make those chops.