Background

I was admiring my bonsai and thinking what it was going to need in the coming months, so decided to share the process, the plant, its evolution, and needs with you.

My weeping fig

(Some of what follows is briefly excerpted from my book, The Pruning Book, available directly from me, signed, as well as the usual sources. My updated comments are in italics.)

Bonsai (pronounced BONE-sigh) is the growing of plants, usually woody plants, in shallow pots. The art began in China almost two thousand years ago, then was carried to Japan during the Kamakura period (1180-1333), where it was brought to a high state of perfection.

A bonsai planting portrays, in miniature, a natural theme — the rugged beauty of a gnarled pine on a windswept slope, the tranquility of a grove of larches, the joyousness of spring in the cascading branches of an old fruit tree bursting into bloom. To evoke such a mood, the pot must be chosen with an artistic eye; likewise for the manner in which branches are shaped, and the choice of groundcover. And with all this, the plant must also be kept healthy with careful attention to soil, fertilizers, watering, and provision of winter quarters.

Bonsai juniper at National Arboretum

Pruning plays a role in creating the artistry of bonsai, and also is needed to keep the plant healthy and, of course, small. Most bonsai are created from plants that, given their druthers, would grow into towering trees or billowing shrubs.

Bonsai basils, quick and very easy

In the Beginning . . .

You can start your own bonsai by digging up a smallish wild plant. This plant will need its first pruning, of its roots, before it even goes into a pot. Wild plants, even small wild plants, often have surprisingly far-reaching roots, and these roots must be untangled and shortened in order to fit the plant into its pot. Certain trees have taproots in addition to shallow feeder roots. The taproot must be cut off if the plant is to grow in a shallow pot.

My bonsai was “harvested” at Lowes, a four-inch pot with four rooted weeping fig cuttings in it. I separated the plants and kept one for bonsai. Some shortening of roots was required.

My bonsai, in the beginning

For a wild plant, the top might need to be cut back to bring it down to bonsai size, which is usually under four feet. (Bonsai are classified according to form and size, and the smallest bonsai are less than seven inches high.) But you can’t simply lop back a stem or trunk; the plant will look like a lopped-back plant instead of an ancient tree in miniature.

My plant was originally and still is less than seven inches high.

To shorten a trunk, cut it back to a few inches above its desired height. Trim the bark from the portion of trunk above the highest remaining branch, and pare the stub to a taper. Then bend the next highest branch upwards, tying it right up against the tapered stub with some padding to prevent the string or wire used for tying from marring the branch. After a few weeks, when the branch can hold the upright position without assistance, remove the ties and cut back the stub, with a sloping cut, to the base of the now-leading branch.

To create an “old” snag of wood on your young bonsai, snap off a branch or the top of the trunk. Pull down a strip of bark from the snag as far as you want. Let the exposed wood dry out, then paint it with full strength lime-sulfur solution three or four times, every two weeks, to preserve it.

Pruning

Bonsai need regular pruning both above and below ground throughout their life. The frequency of pruning depends on the inherent growth rate of the particular plant, the size of the container, and the growing conditions.

My container is only 4 by 5 inches and an inch deep. In their tropical haunts, weeping figs grow as large as our maples! So I prune my bonsai twice a year, usually sometime in autumn, just before I bring it indoors, and then again in late winter.

Roots eventually fill the soil in the container, so root-pruning is needed to make room for fresh new soil. Root-prune deciduous bonsai in early spring or late autumn, evergreen bonsai in early spring or late summer.

Root pruning, teasing out roots

Cut the root ball back with a sharp knife, tease roots on the outside of the ball outwards, then put the plant back in the pot, packing new soil among the roots.

Shortening long roots

Prune the top portion of a bonsai both while it is dormant and while it is growing to keep the plant small and to maintain or develop its form. Response to pruning is the same as for full-size plants: pinch shoot tips to slow growth; shorten a stem where you want branches; rub off buds where growth is not wanted.

Some bonsai benefit from having all their leaves pruned off just after they fully expand. Timed correctly, such leaf pruning forces a second flush of leaves which are smaller, and, hence, better proportioned to the size of the plant.

Leaf pruning, in process

You can get two seasons of development in one season with this trick, and, as an added benefit, that second flush of leaves often gives more dramatic autumn color than the first flush would have. On some trees, such as maples and elms, you can leaf-prune twice each season, as the first and second flush of leaves fully expand. With trees such as gingko, beech, and oak, timing is critical to get even a second flush of leaves.

After I prune roots and shoots of my weeping fig bonsai, I remove all the leaves, then eagerly await their return. But I do like the look of the plant even leafless. Recently, buds on one of the shoots looks like it’s about to grow, but for months has just sat there unmoving.

Leaf pruning is not for every bonsai. Don’t do it on evergreens or on fruiting bonsai that are bearing fruit. 

At an age of fourteen, my bonsai is looking quite mature. In summer, it shades a verdant “field” of moss, which, unfortunately goes dormant with drier indoor air. The moss appeared and reappears each of its own accord with summer’s humidity. My addition to that mossy “field” is the small child, a Polly Pocket figure from my daughter’s old collection, who sits on the soft ground beneath the spreading branches looking very contented.

Bonsai at 12 years old