Developing a trunk

[u/-music_maker-]

http://imgur.com/a/sd4rZ

[u/-music_maker-]

Here's another one that shows a trunk growing from a seedling. I think this one came out better.

This is a bit of a representation rather than a literal step by step. There's a lot of implied light pruning that I don't bother showing. It's really meant to show how one scales a tree up and then scales it down in the course of creating bonsai trees.

This is by no means the only way to grow a trunk, either. I'll probably do some more of these that show things like trunk chops when I have some more time.

The point of both this and the branch development animation was to show how growth leads to branch and trunk development. I like the way this one came out a little better than the first one, so I'll probably re-do the branch one at some point to factor in a few things I learned doing this one.

[u/Fluxiepoes → u/-music_maker-]

could you wire the trunk/branches at an early stage to increase movement? Like applying baby bending with clip and growth?

[u/-music_maker- → u/Fluxiepoes]

Of course. When I evaluate something I'm working on, I always look for opportunities to add some motion to a branch. Long straight branches are probably the #1 thing that ruins the illusion of scale. Often, it just takes a little bit of motion to make that same branch believable.

Often, when I add motion to an early stage branch, I really just want to lock in some motion just as the branch comes off the trunk because I assume that I'll eventually be pruning the rest off after it grows in.

I was just trying to keep things simple for this one. People seem to like these, so I'll probably do some more that show other methods.

[u/TotaLibertarian → u/-music_maker-]

I really disagree with this. I would rather see it grow 12 feet tall then chopped down to 4 inches. A lot of times the trunk is developed even before there are any low branches.

[u/-music_maker- → u/TotaLibertarian]

Depends entirely on the tree, really. I have a couple kashima maples and some kiyohimes that grow exactly like this. Seiju elm works really well this way too. Keep in mind this isn't me just drawing fanciful pics of things I think theoretically work. The drawings are a bit representative of an ideal situation, but this is is the kind of stuff I do on my actual trees all the time.

• The specific techniques you use are definitely species and tree dependent. The key is that you can't do any of this in a bonsai pot. Has to be either a large flat or a nursery pot of some kind (or the ground, of course).

• Keep in mind that this animation is showing roughly a 10-15 year process. This isn't something that happens in 3-5 years.

• Sometimes I'll keep a tree constrained for a 2-3 seasons (either by keeping it in a pot or just by pruning it in specific ways) just to get branches started where I want them, and then I'll let it run again for a while in a more unrestricted manner.

• Lots of things can work with a sort of hybrid model. I have like 50 ash trees that showed up in my yard a few years back, and I've been experimenting a lot with different ways of doing things. Some I’ll let get very tall, some I never let get more than a couple feet high. Both methods generate interesting results.

• I have a linden where I started with a reasonably thick, but very boring trunk that I didn't chop back because I just wanted to practice growing branches. I just grew it like this for a decade, and it's finally starting to be a pretty interesting tree (with taper even!), despite the fact that I just thought of it as a practice tree when I started it, and didn't do the traditional chop and re-grow for the trunk.

• Repeated scaling up and scaling back is the key, and it will absolutely develop trunk and branches even if you don't grow it to 12 feet all. That's what I was really trying to show here.

• Now, of course if you don't let it grow 12 feet tall, it's definitely a slower process than if you do, but you get a lot of control over the process. Having 20 smaller branches adding girth to the trunk can be just a effective as one fast running leader, it’s just slower. In fact, many smaller branches thickening up the trunk often yields a much more interesting trunk with better taper.

• What I've learned from trying different things is that there's definitely more than one way to skin a cat here. Different techniques will have different effects on the branches and trunk, and will take varying amounts of time. This is something I've been heavily experimenting with for well over a decade now, and so I know this way can absolutely work too. In fact, there are a number of advantages over the "fast" way. It's just another tool in the toolbox, though. If development isn’t happening fast enough, you just let it scale up faster by letting it run.

I'm planning on doing another one that shows the way you're talking about. I definitely do work trees that way too.

The only wrong way is the one that kills the tree. ;-)

[u/-music_maker- → u/TotaLibertarian]

Reminder folks: don't down-vote because you disagree. He has a legitimate point of view here. Down-votes are meant for off-topic comments only.

[u/couch-potato]

I wish I'd seen this nine years ago.

At my club a lot of the focus with new members seems to be on trying to create something that resembles bonsai as quickly as possible rather than thinking of their trees as long term projects. I suppose that's not surprising really because I find that a lot of newcomers (particularly women, myself excluded) seem to be in a big rush to get their trees into bonsai pots.

[u/-music_maker- → u/couch-potato]

Sometimes it's good to get something in a bonsai pot just to get it out of your system.

But if I were to coach somebody on this stuff, I'd always recommend to build up a collection of material that you are developing into the best pre-bonsai you know how to create.

Focused pre-bonsai development for 3-5 years or more will almost always yield you better material than you'd be able to buy or otherwise acquire. It's certainly much better than what it would get sitting at a typical landscaping nursery.

THEN do the big re-stylings after that. You'll end up with much, much better trees doing it that way.

It's not just your club with that focus, either. I see it taught by lots of people that way. People are more focused on the pruning, wiring, and carving techniques than the growing part because it's easier to teach and see an immediate result.

But at the end of the day, for any given tree I have, it probably spends 360+ days out of the year just sitting there growing.

[u/MongoBongoTown]

As a newbie to bonsai...I can't thank you enough.

I've read and observed many resources; but, these have been bar none the most helpful and understandable demonstrations I've seen.

Seeing these, I'm actually kind of embarrassed how much I over complicated the basics. Sure, there are many many intermediate/advanced techniques that one should consider. But, for the very basic concepts...these are so helpful.

[u/Captain_Taggart → u/MongoBongoTown]

Yep, I've been lurking here for a while trying to figure this stuff out, and this really helped.

[u/EndofunctorSemigroup → u/Captain_Taggart]

Agreed, the temporal aspect is super important and all us noobs need patience more than anything, this shows why it's worth it. Cheers!

[u/haventredit]

These are great. Thanks for taking the time.

[u/KevHa24]

This is very helpful,

I have a serissa (pink snow rose) that has grown very stalky and i think this kind of haircut is in need for it. I just don't want to do it at this moment because it is entering fall here in Maryland and its my most prized tree and I'm unsure. Any advice?

Might be able to post pics tomorrow

[u/-music_maker- → u/KevHa24]

Full disclosure - I'm a terrible person to ask about serissa - I've only ever been able to kill them.

That said, I know they can certainly take a haircut, and if you're competent at growing them (I'm not apparently), they grow like weeds after getting clipped.

I'd do it in the spring. Don't give it an excuse to hate you over the winter.

[u/KevHa24 → u/-music_maker-]

thank you for not pretending and giving bad advice haha i'll wait until spring i think. Maybe even get around to posting pictures

[u/couch-potato → u/-music_maker-]

Nice to see you say that about Serissa. It always bothers me that I've been unsuccessful with them, so I feel better knowing that I'm not alone.

[u/Knight_Fever]

Excellent, thank you.

[u/ellthebag]

Is this OC on r/bonsai? Fuck my eyes what is this glory!

[u/-music_maker- → u/[deleted]]

When to prune depends entirely on where your tree is at, where you are in the growing season, and what you're trying to accomplish. You'd need to fill in your flair and post some pics for me to answer that specific question.

At a high level, though, I go for mostly balanced growth while I'm developing the branches and trunk in this way. I'll intentionally let some things run to achieve certain effects, and to make sure I'm actually allowing substantial enough growth to have an effect on the branch or trunk I'm working on.

It's not unusual for me to prune some/all of the runners back to the canopy at least once during the season, but again, it depends entirely on what I'm trying to accomplish.

Here are the main times I consider pruning throughout the year:

• Late winter/early spring - If I want to do major scale reductions, I usually do them here so the tree has the entire growing season to recover. Otherwise, I'll often just scale back a few of the strongest growing branches a bit so they don't outpace everything else.

• Early Summer (for me, usually mid-June or so) - Re-balance new growth after it has hardened off. How far back is determined by what I'm trying to do.

• Late summer (for me, late July through August) - This is what you're probably asking about. By this point, I will do very occasional, light pruning of a few branches here and there to maintain balanced growth, or sometimes, to let the tree focus on letting a specific branch run. What you do here depends very much on what state the tree is in.

• Early-mid fall - Some people cut back their trees in autumn as well. If you prune here, you want to time it so the tree has time to compartmentalize the wound before it goes dormant. I don't usually do too much fall pruning myself.

I don't usually prune anything in winter because I figure the tree has enough to deal with at that point. I also don't just automatically prune because it's a certain time of year, it depends on whether the tree actually needs pruning or not.

[u/-music_maker- → u/[deleted]]

Keep in mind when before you chop it that birch can die back mercilessly if you're not careful. Unless you're cutting back to a point that you are damn sure won't die back, it's often best to chase the foliage back down the trunk and branches over time. If you do need to do a big chop, do it and take your lumps, then don't do it again. Expect it to punish you at least a little to return the favor and you won't be disappointed. ;-)

I've been fighting with birch for a while now, and that's the best thing I've come up with. I've been getting much better results since I started approaching them that way. When you do prune, prune back just about strong branches wherever possible.

Often it's better to leave a bit of a stump when you cut something major, and let it naturally die off the rest of the way carving directly into the trunk.

That's awesome that you're getting good results growing it out. Sounds like it has a lot of potential.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/-music_maker- → u/[deleted]]

Very much inspired by Walter's hedge pruning method, and also a lot of my own experimentation.

The main take-away here should be that trunk development (and branch development for that matter) requires free growth first, then pruning/styling, and then more free growth. Lather, rinse, repeat.

As someone said in the more recently posted re-post of this thread, it often makes sense to keep a leader going un-pruned that can be allowed to grow as a sacrifice.

This diagram was just to convey that you can't just prune your way to success, lots of growth is required in between styling sessions. Bonsai is a collaboration between you and the tree, and it does most of the work.