Is it too soon to clip back?

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Some of my trees have their first growth complete and I'm wondering if I should clip back now to encourage back budding and transfer of energy or is that later in the year?
 

Deep Sea Diver

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Hmm…. Are your trees in refinement or development?

Absent details and species, here’s a general response…

If in development no… let them grow.

If in refinement yes, but you should know what you are doing for each tree.

Cheers
DSD sends
 

Joe_B

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Images please. I give most of my deciduous trees a nice trim around June 1st (early summer).
 

penumbra

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Some of my trees have their first growth complete and I'm wondering if I should clip back now to encourage back budding and transfer of energy or is that later in the year?
It would help if you were a bit more specific about your trees and your short and long term goals. Depending on my stage of development and according to the specificity of the individual trees, most of my hard summer cutbacks are performed between June 1st and July 4th. Of course there are variables.
 
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I'm still a novice with a lot of different types of trees in development. I didn't know what I'd like so 2 years ago a bought a bunch of different plants, cleaned (plus initial style) and potted them.

My burning bushes have just exploded with growth this year and my Japanese maples are sprouting in directions I don't like and in massive clumps.

The yew, junipers, and spruces are all just doing their things (no candles yet) as well as the holly so it is just the deciduous trees that are really in question.
 
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It would help if you were a bit more specific about your trees and your short and long term goals. Depending on my stage of development and according to the specificity of the individual trees, most of my hard summer cutbacks are performed between June 1st and July 4th. Of course there are variables.
This makes sense. Wondering if you pluck new branches that are growing from weird angles/locations or do you wait till June?
 

Joe_B

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Nice burning bush, with these specifically - youre better off waiting until fall to trim. Ones in containers usually only flush once in the spring and won’t put out a new flush during the summer
 

Japonicus

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The yew, junipers, and spruces are all just doing their things (no candles yet) as well as the holly
No new growth in zone 7?
I never thought of these trees and plants as sporting candles as pines do, but new growth should be evident
with the junipers well over a month of new buds pushing. My junipers start in March, and my yew
is well under way with new growth for probably 2 weeks now.
 
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No new growth in zone 7?
I never thought of these trees and plants as sporting candles as pines do, but new growth should be evident
with the junipers well over a month of new buds pushing. My junipers start in March, and my yew
is well under way with new growth for probably 2 weeks now.
No, I have lots of new growth just no (large) candles to be plucked yet. I don't usually mess with these till much later in the season. I have a couple Mungo Pines (that I'm NOT a fan of) that have hints of candles though. I'll do the needful on those when the time is right.

BTW, the Yew I bought in the fall a couple of years ago ended up being mislabeled as it actually was a Golden Yew. Since those aren't typically used in bonsai I'm just using it to see if I can keep it alive and learn on.

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