How to kill chinaberry tree

Pruning for bonsai

Pruning for bonsai

Without a doubt, the most important method of shaping a bonsai is regular pruning. Essentially, there are two types of pruning: maintenance pruning to maintain and refine the existing shape of the bonsai, and structural pruning, which involves cutting the tree more radically to create the basic structure and style of the tree.

Before going into a more detailed discussion of both methods, it would be useful to get acquainted with some general patterns of tree growth. This will help us understand how to most effectively prune bonsai.

Trees have a natural tendency to grow with the crowns (and to a lesser extent the tips of the branches) called apical dominance. This natural mechanism ensures the growth of the tree in height, preventing it from being shaded by neighboring trees. As a result of the distribution of growth energy in favor of the top and tips of the branches, the branches inside the crown and at the bottom of the tree gradually die off, while the branches at the top of the tree grow especially quickly. Both of these phenomena are undesirable for bonsai design.

Understanding this pattern of tree growth helps to use pruning as a method to counteract apical dominance. As a result of more radical pruning of the top and ends of the branches of the tree, it redistributes energy in favor of the inner and lower parts of the crown.

Bonsai maintenance pruning

Bonsai maintenance pruning

The purpose of bonsai maintenance pruning, as the name suggests, is to maintain and refine the crown shape of the tree. As stated above, trees grow primarily at the top and ends of their branches, so it is important to regularly prune these areas of active growth in order to encourage growth within the canopy.

Timing of Bonsai Pruning

Maintenance pruning can be done throughout the growing season.

Maintenance Pruning Features

As mentioned above, maintenance pruning is necessary to maintain the overall shape of the tree canopy by simply trimming with bonsai shears or regular pruning shears branches/shoots that have stretched out beyond the intended size and shape of the canopy. Using a good bonsai tool makes this job much easier. Don't be afraid to prune your bonsai! Regular pruning at the top of the tree and along the canopy edge is especially important in order to make it more evenly distribute growth energy and provide dense branching.

Unlike deciduous trees, coniferous shoots are often plucked by hand. If the needles are cut with scissors, then the tips will turn brown at the place of trimming. To prevent this from happening, pinch the young shoot with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and gently pull the tip of the shoot with the other hand. In the weakest point of the articulation of the scales, the needles will break off, but then the tip will not turn brown.

Another method of bonsai pruning is defoliation, which involves removing leaves from deciduous trees in the summer to force the tree to release new leaves. This method ultimately leads to a reduction in the size of the leaf plate and increased branching.

Structural bonsai pruning

It is often necessary to cut large branches to give the tree the intended shape. Deciding which branches to keep and which to remove can be difficult, not only because of the irreversibility of this action, but also because it depends on the visualization of the future appearance of the tree. Before continuing on with bonsai pruning techniques, you may want to take a look at our bonsai step by step blog post for examples of structural bonsai pruning by an experienced bonsaiist.

Timing of structural pruning

In general, the best time to structure bonsai is early spring or late autumn (before or after the growing season). This question can be clarified in the section on types of trees. For example, pruning time for ficus is different from pruning time for juniper.

Structural pruning process

Place the tree on the table at eye level. First of all, remove all unwanted dry branches. After that, inspect your tree very carefully to decide which branches do not fit into your chosen design and should be removed. Here are a few tips on how to do this, however, determining the future design of your tree is a creative process that doesn't necessarily fit into the "rules". The section on bonsai styles can help you, as well as the articles on our blog about the gradual formation of bonsai.

Some basic principles:

• If two branches are at the same height, keep one of them and remove the other.
• Remove vertically growing branches if they are too thick to bend.
• Cut branches with unnatural twists and turns.
• Remove branches obstructing the front of the trunk, especially at the bottom of the trunk.
• Cut off the disproportionately thick branches of the top of the tree, as the top branches of the bonsai should be thinner than the bottom ones

Pruning thick branches leaves ugly scars on the tree, but with the help of special concave cutters, damage to the tissues of the tree can be significantly reduced, since after using them a small depression is left on the trunk.

A healthy tree should tolerate removal of up to 1/3 of the crown without adverse effects. Sometimes it is recommended to remove the corresponding part of the root system after structural pruning. However, most experts agree on the need for only one stressful operation at any given time (or even per year). This means that after structural pruning, replanting is delayed until the tree is fully restored.

Finally, it is advisable to cover large sections with a special paste sold in most (online) bonsai shops. The paste protects wounds from infection and accelerates its healing. Using a good tool makes the trimming and healing process much easier.

Chinese ash. Either He or I. :-): inna_budapest — LiveJournal

This unusual tree is not without reason called Chinese - it has all the properties of the Chinese nation: exotically beautiful, very resilient, with healing properties, adaptable to climatic conditions, and is also able to multiply rapidly, occupying all the surrounding space and every free piece of land. :-)

I admire this tree, as well as the Chinese, but unfortunately I understand that if you do not control the spread of this plant on earth, it will take over the entire space, displacing other types of living organisms. Only Chinese ash will remain on the planet ... and the Chinese. Moreover, global warming is on the rise. :-)

I watch with horror as each year the ailanthus occupies Budapest.

And since this plant grows in the southern regions of Russia and Ukraine, I want to warn my compatriots about the danger of this beautiful Chinese tree, respected by me.

Chinese ash is a species of ailanthus (simarubaceae family).
The name comes from the similarity of its leaves and fruits with ash.

Ailanthus altissima, translated from Latin - Ailanthus altissima. Its other names are as follows: Chinese ash, Chinese elder, chumak, god's tree, paradise tree, god's tree, vinegar tree.
The birthplace of the tree is Northern China.
In Russia, this plant is widely distributed in the south of the European part: in Anapa, Novorossiysk, and also in Krasnodar. It is also found in Astrakhan, Volgograd.
Grows well in the cities of Ukraine. In the Crimea, it is often used for landscaping settlements.

This tree is usually 20-25 meters high, with a slender and beautiful trunk covered with thin light gray bark. Young trees have a wide-pyramidal openwork crown, while old trees have a sprawling tent-like crown. Life expectancy reaches eighty years, and in some cases up to a hundred.

Ailanthus leaves are compound, pinnate, slightly palmate. Large, sometimes reaching a length of up to sixty centimeters, and in coppice specimens even up to a meter.

Ailanthus flowers are small, bisexual, with stamens, yellowish-green in color, collected in large panicles up to twenty centimeters long. Their smell is not very pleasant, they bloom more often in July or early August.

The fruit is a small lionfish, about four centimeters long, reddish-brown. One-year shoots can reach a height of up to two or three meters. This is a very fast growing plant - in five years the tree already exceeds four to five meters.
Ailanthus is undemanding to the soil and can grow on dry rocky and sandy landscapes. This is a tree that also feels good in significantly saline areas, developing well on salt marshes, but the optimal conditions for it are loamy and well-moistened soils.

The plant perfectly tolerates urban conditions, it is thermophilic, but calmly tolerates temperatures down to minus twenty degrees.

In severe frost, the crown may freeze, but then quickly recovers, as new shoots soon grow. As for the root system, it is superficial, but powerful, so the tree is wind resistant.

It produces plentiful root offspring, which well strengthens the soil on slopes and slopes, as well as scree, and in ravines. Chinese ash reproduces by its seeds, which easily form self-seeding, as well as by small pieces of roots.

The dense wood of this tree, white or slightly pinkish in color, is used in the manufacture of various decorative carpentry, souvenirs, and it is also used in the production of high-quality paper.

The bark of this tree contains up to twelve percent of tannins, saponins, various alkaloids, lactone simarubin, coumarin heteroside, and sterols.

Leaves have antiviral and anti-inflammatory antimicrobial properties, so they can be brewed, infused and decoctions made. But the seeds of ailanthus are considered poisonous and should be handled with care.

In folk medicine, the bark of the tree is used as an anthelmintic, as well as for dysentery and menstrual irregularities.

In addition, the plant is effective against leishmaniasis. In the past, a tincture of the fruit was used to produce the drug anginol, which was prescribed for sore throats.
In homeopathy, preparations from flowers, bark and shoots are used for scarlet fever and diphtheria, as well as for urolithiasis.

I have a special relationship with Chinese ash. I was so shocked by its exotic beauty, when tender shoots appeared near the house and on the site, that at first my hand did not rise to remove them.

But I didn’t admire their beauty for long: before I had time to look back, a tall tree grew right up against the wall, the roots of which began to destroy the house, and a grove of young ailanthus rustled on the plot. Uprooting this handsome man was then very difficult and troublesome.
In general, they warmed an uninvited Chinese guest on their own heads. :-)

When I was going to write a post about this amazing tree, I specially walked one bus stop in the private sector of Budapest to the market and just on the go took pictures of ailanthus thickets that caught my eye, counting how many of them I will meet on my way.

Having counted about 300, I got tired and gave up this occupation: almost all the pillars, all the walls of the houses, all the flower beds are clogged with this plant, which is growing right before our eyes.

Passing by Chinese shops found along the way, under the impression of the riot of Chinese ash around, I involuntarily plunged into the Duma about the Chinese.

Learn more

• 
  How was the cuban tree frog introduced to florida
• 
  How do trees sequester carbon
• 
  How to get rid of bats from trees
• 
  How much tree root can i cut
• 
  How long does it take to grow a 7ft christmas tree
• 
  How to draw a creepy tree
• 
  How to make a christmas tree with ornaments
• 
  How is tea tree oil good for skin
• 
  How tall do white birch trees grow
• 
  How to prune mandarin tree nz
• 
  How to use tea tree oil for hemorrhoids