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Hey guys i need some help to do with how to get great ramification on my trees and how to grow and trim trees to get well shaped intense bonsai like leaf structure. I think i have a vague idea on what internodal distances are, they are the distances between each leaf on a stalk right? If thats right my Trident Maple is not looking good. I have let if grow mad on purpose and have just been pinching back growth tips. It is however also not very healthy. I will sort that out when i have more time on my hands.

I have trimmed my Jade (Crassula) today, it was growing quite wild, i am hoping that trimming it will encourage more dense foliage growth and more of a conopy like leaf structure.

Attached are pics of the trees. Please share your knowledge on how to cut and when to cut trees down so that a nice beautiful leaf structure comes around. Haha it is quite difficult to spot a difference on those crassula

Hello, although I'm not a guy I would answer some of your questions
To have short internodes should be exposed trees plenty of light during the growing season. If the tree lack of light it will enlarge the surface of the leaves for the amount of light needed and extend the stem and petiole.
I do not know the history of this trident maple or the work you've done it but defoliation can also have small leaves. The tree must be healthy and well fed before defoliation and have not been repotted recently.
I do not have crassula, I can not answer about it.

You may repot the trident maple in a bigger vessel so that more roots will form which will add to the health of tree. Then prune the root and repot to original pot again. There are lot of branches seen. Any way health and vigor of bonsai above ground is indication of vigor under ground! Best wishes.

Thanks guys!

Hi Joncoh,

Let me start with the easy.. I do not have any jade anymore. I do know however that they are not really woody species, and as such, I would personally find them less suitable for bonsai. Whenever you cut a branch, you can expect 2 branches to form at the leaves just below the cut.

For the maple.. When the plant is in growth, removing the growing tip might result in 2 side branches just before the cut, again at the first set of leaves. To force a lot more side branching, you should remove a little more from the branches, and do this all over the tree. That way, the roots are sending up lots of fluids, which cannot go anywhere: The plant will start to create side-nodes everywhere (Read up on apical dominance in order to get some idea how this is organized in the tree, from a fysiology point of view).

Your trident has loads of branches. Consider whether you would like to keep all of these or not. Removing some of them might encourgae growth on others.

Internodal distance is indeed the distance between subsequent [pairs of] leaves. In general, the branch will create short internodal distances for the first and often second set of eaves of the season, as well as for foliage created in summer. By letting the branches grow out, and once most of the branches have grown 3 or more sets of leaves clipping all bejyong the first 2 sets you can stimulate a finer ramnification. However, you do this only once you are happy about the fundament of your tree.

If you are still building the trunk, roots or main branches, be a bit carefull: You need abundant growth to create trunk and roots. And often you will want to have a few main branches to form, on which side-branches grow.

So...

- Is the trunk thick enough?
- Do you have the taper you want
- Are the roots good

Then select which branches to keep in the final design, and remove the rest. Also, if the branches are too big (Never have side-branches more than 1/3 the size of the main trunk they branch off of) remove it, and regrow.
If the branches you want to have are too long, with few side-branches, try whether a serious pruning (removing 1/3 of the length of all branches to keep) will create back-budding. If not, consider removing most of the branch, and re-growing them through the 'grow 3 sets of leave & trim' method.

Hope it helps mate!

Thanks Lb this helped alot, so at the moment i want the trunk to thicken and i want to develop branches, so should i be trimming and cutting off branches i dont want or should i just leave it to grow wild? What you mean is if i still want to grow the tree i should not worry about canopies and stuff yet hey?

With acer you have thje luck that they branch very easily. I have a thread on trunk thickening somewhere on the forum, where i go a little deeper into the subject, describing the methods and their pos and negs. Maybe i should discuss with youri and write a page about it for the site.

Effectively: a trunk gets thick because of above.ground biomass. The more growth, thefaster the trunk thickens. However, you want nice elegant branches. That does not mix too well. So for fastest rsults pele often let the plant gowild, then rmove all brancshes when the trucnk is done and grow their canopy last.

Please do not cut the branches now. Plant has to grow and you need to pinch or limit the excess growth of branches only. We cant decide the style with a few branches and cutting some branches may weaken the plant. I have seen many beginners cutting the undesirable branches initially and wasting bonsai which wont grow much. In my opinion one has to grow the plant to desired level and only then start bonsai making technique (except removal of tap root to promot fibrous roots).

Ok thanks guys, you have helped alot, so im just going to leave the tree and let it grow mad, i will just pinch the growth tips so that it doesnt grow too long

Excellent advice given here, Jon. I've recently received the same advice for my Ficus...just let it grow wild until late Spring...that's another 7-8 months away! :blink:...Patience...
:pinch: grumble#@*%!grumble#*%@*! :lol: