Pinching a Juniper for Ramification: part 2

One year later Part one showed how to encourage tertiary and quantiary branching. This post shows how to establish of the next layer of branching (quintary?). The illustrations are from our Juniper book. Quantiary? In the bonsai world, it’s not unusual to hear or see primary, secondary and tertiary when it comes to branching. I’m not sure you’ll ever hear quantiary or quintary (or beyond). When it gets to that point, what you’ll normally hear is twigs, fine branching, delicate ramification, or some variation on those themes.

Energy Balancing #8: Pinching for Ramification

Needle juniper pinching These drawings describe a ramification (branching) process for a Needle juniper. The techniques may be applied to other junipers and in some cases, to other types of trees. The drawings are from our Juniper book. In the top drawing there are only secondary branches. These are allowed to grow and strengthen (second from the top) and are then (third) pinched back and wired (while they are still quite flexible). The pinching back encourages new buds which become new shoots. Then these new shoots are allowed to grow and strengthen (forth) before they are pinched again and the … Continue reading Energy Balancing #8: Pinching for Ramification

Energy Balancing #6: Defoliation Tips

Cut… Use sharp scissors to defoliate. Cut in the center of the petiole (leaf stem). If you cut too close to the base of the leaf stem, you may damage the buds that form there. …don’t pull Don’t use you fingers to pinch or pull leaves off. This is a recipe for damage (the unreadable text with the illustration above says: Don’t pull, it could damage the buds).