Jade Forest Pruning

[nurvbonsai]

Greetings,

Can I hear how you would prune this forest? Could be done any time of the year, right?

Thanks

nurvbonsai

 

[nurvbonsai]

The start back in May

 

[Carol 83]

Wow, that's a lot of growth, nice job. I would cut it back hard, you'll have a gazillion cuttings. I imagine you have plans inside for it for the winter?

 

[Eckhoffw]

I agree with @Carol 83 .

You will be able to start a couple of forests out of the cuttings you may take.

I would first decide what your dominant trunk is, or what will serve as the apex of the group.
.
From there, I would prune to shape.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Wow, that's a lot of growth, nice job. I would cut it back hard, you'll have a gazillion cuttings. I imagine you have plans inside for it for the winter?

Yes. I will order some more drainage rocks and put it in an aluminum pan. My window panes are too short so I guess I will put it in the kitchen.

 

[nurvbonsai]

I agree with @Carol 83 .

You will be able to start a couple of forests out of the cuttings you may take.

I would first decide what your dominant trunk is, or what will serve as the apex of the group.
.
From there, I would prune to shape.

Learning how I want to shape it is in the current challenge.

 

[Shibui]

Forest is forest, no matter what species. Pretty much all trees follow similar principles so to make any forest look natural:
Trees always follow light. Branches that are shaded usually get weak and eventually die so, to make your group look natural: Prune so that branches grow out and away from other trees in the forest. Prune so smaller trees grow out and away from nearby larger trees. Interior trunks may only have a few low branches, most will be in the canopy above the outer trunks. This may vary depending how close your trunks are planted. Use your imagination - if that tree grows there, how much sun/shade will it get because of the bigger trees nearby?

Make rear trees smaller and front trees larger and thicker to 'force' viewer perspective. Small trees at the back of your forest will make it appear they are further away and increase the viewer perception that the forest appears bigger than it is.
Similar principle with outside trees. Bigger, taller tree somewhere just off centre acts as a focal point to attract the viewer's attention. Smaller, shorter trees to each side gives the impression the forest is bigger.

Prune trunks for taper where possible. Replace thick upper trunks with side branches if you can get them to grow upward and look natural as a trunk. Good taper gives the impression of older trees. Also enhances perspective and makes the tree seem bigger because our brains expect upper parts of a big tree to look thinner. Looks like you have plenty of possible upright branches to cut back to in the 2 larger trunks. You'll need to look for similar possibilities in the others.

Don't let trees get too tall. We expect older trees to be thicker. Excessive height makes trunks look skinny. Height-width ratio.

Also a tip from experience: Keep outer trees in check by pruning more. They have more root run compared to inner trees. Also more access to light so they can grow faster and thicken quicker than inner trees. It's important to maintain thinner trunks toward the outer edges for perspective but it's amazing how quickly some outer trees will thicken because they have light, root space and, often, more branches.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Forest is forest, no matter what species. Pretty much all trees follow similar principles so to make any forest look natural:
Trees always follow light. Branches that are shaded usually get weak and eventually die so, to make your group look natural: Prune so that branches grow out and away from other trees in the forest. Prune so smaller trees grow out and away from nearby larger trees. Interior trunks may only have a few low branches, most will be in the canopy above the outer trunks. This may vary depending how close your trunks are planted. Use your imagination - if that tree grows there, how much sun/shade will it get because of the bigger trees nearby?

Make rear trees smaller and front trees larger and thicker to 'force' viewer perspective. Small trees at the back of your forest will make it appear they are further away and increase the viewer perception that the forest appears bigger than it is.
Similar principle with outside trees. Bigger, taller tree somewhere just off centre acts as a focal point to attract the viewer's attention. Smaller, shorter trees to each side gives the impression the forest is bigger.

Prune trunks for taper where possible. Replace thick upper trunks with side branches if you can get them to grow upward and look natural as a trunk. Good taper gives the impression of older trees. Also enhances perspective and makes the tree seem bigger because our brains expect upper parts of a big tree to look thinner. Looks like you have plenty of possible upright branches to cut back to in the 2 larger trunks. You'll need to look for similar possibilities in the others.

Don't let trees get too tall. We expect older trees to be thicker. Excessive height makes trunks look skinny. Height-width ratio.

Also a tip from experience: Keep outer trees in check by pruning more. They have more root run compared to inner trees. Also more access to light so they can grow faster and thicken quicker than inner trees. It's important to maintain thinner trunks toward the outer edges for perspective but it's amazing how quickly some outer trees will thicken because they have light, root space and, often, more branches.

Thank you very much!

 

[nurvbonsai]

Wow, that's a lot of growth, nice job. I would cut it back hard, you'll have a gazillion cuttings. I imagine you have plans inside for it for the winter?

How did I do?

 

[Eckhoffw]

How did I do?

Looking good!
It would be easier to give feedback if you could see the trees a little better.

Maybe try placing a backdrop behind the planting.

 

[Carol 83]

How did I do?

Agree with @Eckhoffw, a better picture would help. But good start.

 

[Shibui]

I suspect the main tree still has way too much and it looks like the apex of the right tree still grows toward the bigger tree but lets see what it really looks like when we can actually see properly.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Looking good!
It would be easier to give feedback if you could see the trees a little better.

Maybe try placing a backdrop behind the planting.

Agree with @Eckhoffw, a better picture would help. But good start.

I suspect the main tree still has way too much and it looks like the apex of the right tree still grows toward the bigger tree but lets see what it really looks like when we can actually see properly.

This is the best I could do. I don’t have a backdrop perse because I’m on a balcony in an apartment complex. Would this work?

I don’t know why some of the pics are sideways. They aren’t that way in camera roll.

 

[Eckhoffw]

This is the best I could do. I don’t have a backdrop perse because I’m on a balcony in an apartment complex. Would this work?

I don’t know why some of the pics are sideways. They aren’t that way in camera roll.

Wow. Yeah. Much better. I like what you’ve done. Interesting planting for sure.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Wow. Yeah. Much better. I like what you’ve done. Interesting planting for sure.

Aw thanks. I realized I had six. Do I need to put an odd number?

 

[Shibui]

I realized I had six. Do I need to put an odd number?

Odd numbers help make the arrangement look less square with low numbers but, if you can't count the trunks in a single glance it does not matter if the total is even or odd.
You can strike cuttings really easy so adding 1 0r 3 more smaller trees would be easy.

I can now see a few spots for further pruning. Please be aware that I'm working on a 2D image so I can't see depth and direction is often hard to judge. Look at what's really there before committing to any cuts.
Blue circle appears to be apex of a smaller tree growing into the bigger tree. Cut at red line. New apex now grows out and away from the larger tree. Do similar for all smaller trees.
Yellow circles are low branches that appear to be growing in toward other trees. That's not natural. Remove or shorten all branches growing toward other trunks.
You appear to have left lots of long, new shoots (green bark). At some stage they should all be cut back to 1 or 2 pairs of leaves to neaten the outlines. Trimming will result in new shoots from the remaining leaf axils. Repeated trimming will build ramification. I've only marked a few of those new shoots That I can pick out of the tangled branches. You'll probably trim almost all new shoots.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Odd numbers help make the arrangement look less square with low numbers but, if you can't count the trunks in a single glance it does not matter if the total is even or odd.
You can strike cuttings really easy so adding 1 0r 3 more smaller trees would be easy.

I can now see a few spots for further pruning. Please be aware that I'm working on a 2D image so I can't see depth and direction is often hard to judge. Look at what's really there before committing to any cuts.
Blue circle appears to be apex of a smaller tree growing into the bigger tree. Cut at red line. New apex now grows out and away from the larger tree. Do similar for all smaller trees.
Yellow circles are low branches that appear to be growing in toward other trees. That's not natural. Remove or shorten all branches growing toward other trunks.
You appear to have left lots of long, new shoots (green bark). At some stage they should all be cut back to 1 or 2 pairs of leaves to neaten the outlines. Trimming will result in new shoots from the remaining leaf axils. Repeated trimming will build ramification. I've only marked a few of those new shoots That I can pick out of the tangled branches. You'll probably trim almost all new shoots.
View attachment 616262

Thanks man. This is the work I did this morning

 

[Eckhoffw]

Looking better.

You will be pruning these a lot.

Like all plants, you can allow long shoots to grow if thickening is wanted.

+ it’s nice to leave some shoots to go crazy, for it energizes the tree plus makes for a bigger cutting.

 

[nurvbonsai]

Looking better.

You will be pruning these a lot.

Like all plants, you can allow long shoots to grow if thickening is wanted.

+ it’s nice to leave some shoots to go crazy, for it energizes the tree plus makes for a bigger cutting.

So I see the trade off as prune for ramifications or let wild for thickening the trunk.

 

[Shibui]

So I see the trade off as prune for ramifications or let wild for thickening the trunk.

Yes. You need to decide what stage your trees are up to and what you want to develop then plan pruning accordingly. Sometimes we can use different techniques on different plants in a group or different branches on the same tree to retard or develop different parts.