Tieball
Masterpiece
I have and American Elm bonsai tree in development. It is a good-sized tree but "in development" yet. The tree sits in my unheated garage over my West Michigan winter. It is cold and stays cold until at least the end of March. This past growing season I let numerous branches on the Elm just grow wildly to encourage branch thickness. In the coming year I want to begin more secondary branch development..the start of ramification. Now...the question: When I get into spring next year is is best to prune back before the buds begin to swell? Or...is it better to prune after the buds begin to swell? I would be cutting back to a dormant bud where one can be found. The branches are all healthy right now. My thought is that if I wait for bud swell then I am cutting off a lot of good deal of energy sap sent out to a branch...just to throw it away. What have others experienced?
If cut back hard before the bud swelling does the tree "find" buds on a branch and activate them?
If cut back hard before the bud swelling does the tree "find" buds on a branch and activate them?