tohnski
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:27 pm
Location: America

pinching

Hi I am new to this site and I have a couple questions.
What exactly is pinching and how do I do it?
I have a new Bonsai and have cut off any crossing limbs or bad ones how do I wire though?

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Gnome
Super Green Thumb
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Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A

tohnski wrote:Hi I am new to this site and I have a couple questions.
What exactly is pinching and how do I do it?
I have a new Bonsai and have cut off any crossing limbs or bad ones how do I wire though?
Pinching is the removal of soft tissue as opposed to the pruning of hard wood. It is done for various reasons, to keep new growth compact, to increase back-budding and ramification.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because some site or book says to pinch after two or three leaves emerge that you must do so. Often with younger material no pinching should be done at first. In the early stages of development a period of growth is beneficial in order to build the trunk.

Norm

tohnski
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:27 pm
Location: America

Okay thank you. If I remove a lot from one side over time and the tree grows pnly one way, will it fall over?

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tarian
Senior Member
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: wales

wiring is simple one of the basic techniques for shaping a bonsai
wire should never be thicker than the area you are wiring neither should it be :
-too tight
-too loose
-coils should not be too far apart
-too close together
never wire from the end of the branch inwards always outward
try and wire two branches at a time I.E from one side of the tree up/down the trunk to a branch on the oposite side

invest in some books many of these have diagrams on how to do this all correctly something I cant do :lol:

my personal tip for spacing between the coil is the width of my thumb
in other words I put my thumb on the branch to support it and then coil it around.

a0c8c
Greener Thumb
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:00 pm
Location: Austin, TX

tohnski wrote:Okay thank you. If I remove a lot from one side over time and the tree grows pnly one way, will it fall over?
If it's a young tree then no, as it won't have branches heavy enough. But if it's an older tree with thick branches then you could potentially have it topple if cut quickly. If done over time(which would mean years of developing) you can eventually remove all from one side and have it grow one way, or even lean one way. All depens on what style you want.

Check out Gnome's Boxwood here: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20472
You can see it only has branches on one side. I'm sure it took a long time to develop a tree like this though.



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