Page 75 - Ebook bonsai for beginner

are listed below, but deciding on the future design of your tree is a
creative process, not necessarily bound by ‘rules’.

A few basic guidelines:

• If two branches occur at the same height of the tree, keep
one of them and remove the other.

• Remove vertical growing branches, which are too thick to
bend.

• Remove branches with unnatural twists and turns.

• Remove branches that conceal the front of the trunk.

• Remove disproportionately thick branches from the top of
the tree, as branches at the bottom should be thicker than at

the top.

Pruning thick branches will result in creating ugly scars on the tree, but
by using a special concave cutter you will reduce this effect significantly

because of the indentation it makes when cutting off the branch (see
photos below).

Pruning bigger branches should be done using a Concave cutter.

Finally, it is advisable to seal large cuttings with wound paste, available at
most (online) Bonsai shops. The paste protects the wounds against
infections and helps the tree to heal faster.

And then? Aftercare

After a tree has been style-pruned place it in the shade and out of the
wind. Fertilize as you would do normally and let the tree recover from the
styling for at least a few months.