Even if you’re one of those curmudgeons who complains about the overly sculpted look of some Japanese bonsai, you’ve got to admit that this powerhouse Shimpaku approaches perfection. That trunk draws your eye like few trunks anywhere, with its single living vein, mysterious hollow at its base and the spidery fingers and hole at the top. But it’s the tight lush foliage that I want to point out here; the result of some serious trimming and pinching. The photo is from our Juniper book. Artist unknown.
Time for another Summer Rerun (this post originally appeared in 2010). This works because summer is the time that we do most of the pinching on our bonsai (and because I’m trying to take a little time off to enjoy our entirely-too-short Vermont summer).
A question about pinching on Michael Hagedorn’s site
The following is from the Seasonal section of Crataegus Bonsai (Michael’s site). It starts with a question by Ron Verna: “I have a shimpaku juniper that I’m concerned about it has lost a lot of foliage and doesn’t look as bushy as I would like. Would piching and repotting help?”
Michael’s reply
“Hello Ron, Although it is difficult to advise without seeing an image, in general, we pinch far too much on junipers. I recommend cutting the longer shoots that push out of a foliage pad with a scissors, a couple times a year, rather than trying to create density with pinching. That tends to greatly weaken junipers. Repotting can rejuvenate a tree that is metabolically slowing down because the pot is full of roots.”
For those of you who don’t know Michael Hagedorn, he is, among things, the author of Post-Dated – The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk, one of the best and most entertaining reads in the entire bonsai universe.
You can pinch with your fingers (but not too much!), and….
…you can also use the tips of your shears for fine trimming.
Thinning: before and after. From our Juniper book.
There’s more about pinching, trimming and pruning in our Juniper book (on special for 19.95).
On a prior pinch-no-pinch post, I advocated pinching on occasion; based upon recent experience I am “no-pinch” all the way. Typically, East-Coasters see at least one span of 10-14 days of daily drenching showers in May-August. Heat plus constant wet are conducive to fungal infections, especially tip-blight, aka; phomopsis. Very tenacious and destructive. I believe that future juniper pruning, thinning, and fertilizing will be done in late winter-mid spring. I will then only prune when I get a renegade runner (sounds like a band name), and use antifungals religiously. I have too much invested in my Junipers too risk otherwise.
Thanks Michael,
Good points. Your experienced input on this complex subject is appreciated.
Thanks Michael!
I have been working with bonsai for ten years but have primarily stuck to deciduous trees. I just purchased my first chinese juniper this spring and upon researching more and more on maintenance and care the recommendation to pinch constantly throughout the growing season seems to be everywhere. This didn’t sit well me from the start. Thanks for reinforcing my own intuition in the nick of time! (before I took everyone else’s advice and began to pinch, pinch, pinch!)