Can You Prune Your Bonsai Tree Into A Specific Shape?

Pruning your tree is very important for a number of different reasons, one of which is that it can give your tree the shape that you want.

This is absolutely something that can be achieved, but it will take multiple attempts to get there. You won’t be able to prune a tree just once and it be the perfect shape.

There will also be limitations within the tree, that means you may not be able to get the exact shape you want, but in general, you can prune a tree into the shape that you want. 

Pruning Works, But There Are Limitations

If you want to prune your bonsai tree to shape, this is entirely possible. You will often hear people say that this is their main method for creating bonsai and you will hear it called “Clip and Grow”. You just do exactly as it says …you let the tree grow, then you prune it back.

If you do this over a number of years you can slowly steer you tree into the shape you want. A lot of the time this will get you pretty good results, however it is not perfect as the tree will still have limitations.

You cannot control where the tree grows, as well as how well it will grows. Although you can encourage the tree at times, especially through directional pruning (which is where you prune a branch a back to a bud, that is facing in a direction that you like, with the hope that the tree will put in energy into this bud and grow into that direction).

You also have the main structure of the tree; you will really have to work with this, rather than against it. If the tree is very upright for example, then you are going to really struggle to prune it in a way that makes it more of a cascading tree for example.

You are going to get better results pruning it in a way that enhances this natural structure. 

(You can read more about – What Is The Difference Between Heavy Pruning And Light Pruning Of Bonsai Trees?)     

Wiring Makes Shaping A Bonsai Easier

It is very easy to focus on pruning, and this is fine as it can do a lot of work for us, but we should not forget about wiring.

Wiring can just make our lives a whole lot easier, especially in regards to trying to achieve certain shapes. You can easily bend some existing foliage and quickly create the shape you want.

Sometimes this can be done badly and you see foliage from one side of the tree bent around to the other. It is stuff like this that gives wiring a bad name and is why some people are reluctant to use it.

However, wiring can do things that you are going to find extremely difficult from pruning alone. It is very common to see wire being used to just slightly bend a main branch down, making it more horizontal the ground. This makes an already established branch look more aged and like it is sagging under its own weight.

To try and achieve this through pruning alone means you need to cut the whole branch off, even if it is fully developed and hope it grows back in the same area, and grows slightly more  downward facing direction …which isn’t going to happen, as new shoots like to grow upwards.

All I’m saying is that you can do a lot with pruning, but don’t forget about the power of wiring.  

If You Have A Bonsai, Pruning Its Shape Is Easy

If you have bought a “bonsai” then pruning to shape is really easy. Someone has already done all of the hard work, the main structure of the tree has been set, which means you just need to keep all the shoots in check and maintain what is there.

Your tree will grow out, and you just need to prune it back. You don’t really need to think about much and just need to keep the tips from getting too out of control.

This will just keep everything in check for a long time, but eventually you may need to come in and fix up the shape to restore it, but really this will be after a number a years. 

You can’t change really change the shape too much on a bonsai, everything is set in place. If you do want to change the shape, it will probably be done through drastic pruning and then re-growing a lot of the tree, which is not common. (Although I did this with my Chinese elm that I bought from amazon)

If You Have Raw Material/Nursery Stock, You Can Prune To Any Shape

When you are working with some sort of raw material, such as nursery stock, you are working with a blank canvas and can prune it anyway you want.

Of course the tree is going to limit you in some ways, as I’ve already discussed. You need to work with the tree, if it’s growing upright, you can’t exactly prune it into a cascade.

You will need to find the structure within the tree and find the main trunk line then the primary branches, so you can still have a lot of control, even if it is the tree that is guiding this.

Once you have the primary structure set, then you will have done most of the hard work and now it is just about developing the shape and refining it.

If You Are Growing from Seed Then You Need To Grow The Shape Yourself

If you have decided to grow a tree from seed …it is slow, but you have a lot more control.

You can prune or wire a tree when it is young into any shape you want and then develop from there. You can use pruning techniques to really promote the tree to grow a certain way, but of course the downside to this method is that it is young trees do not have a lot of growth, so there is not exactly a lot to prune. You will spend more time waiting for the tree to grow than anything else, but when you end up with exactly what you want, it can be very worth it.

You can also let the tree guide you as it grows, and work with it, which is what I prefer to do. I can see that the tree is trying to go in a certain direction and prune it to help it develop in that way.

The More Established A Tree Is, The Less You Can Change Its Shape

Really what it all comes down to is how established your tree is. If it is a well refined bonsai, its shape is already set, so your pruning is just going to be keeping it the way it is.

If your tree has never been worked before, then you have a lot more freedom to pick a shape for it and to prune it into that direction. It’s going to be harder to do and take longer, but you can get it to the point where it will look like a refined bonsai, then once it’s there you just have to maintain it through light pruning.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Pruning Your Bonsai)

Conclusion

Hopefully you can understand now that it is possible to prune you bonsai to shape.

Really it all depends on what you are working with, some trees will require more work than others, but you can take any tree and prune it over a number of years and steer it towards the shape you want. Wire will help this process and once the main structure is in place things do become a lot easier.

Just keep chipping away at your trees and you will get them to where you want them to be.

(You can read more about – How To Prune A Bonsai Tree – A Beginners Guide)