Will Bonsai Trees Grow Back After Heavy Pruning?

You will often see people prune their bonsai trees super hard, they almost just hack it right back to nothing.

I’m sure you’ve seen the videos on YouTube and I’m sure you’ve seen the comments below saying that the tree is now dead and that it won’t grow back and all this sort of stuff …but is it true?

Well, no, the tree can grow back, even if you prune it really hard.

Of course it’s not as black and white as that, so I will go through some things that can affect the results, but usually if someone is pruning a tree that hard, they know the tree can handle it and they know it will bounce back.  

How The Tree Re-grows Depends On What Species It Is

A lot of times the pruning we can do is dictated by species. Basically some trees can handle heavy pruning, others cannot.

In general you will find that deciduous, broad leaf evergreens and tropical trees can handle heavy pruning, whereas conifers usually cannot.

Before you do any work on any tree you should double check that the species can actually handle what you are about to do, especially when it comes to hard pruning. You don’t want to hack your tree back to find out afterwards that it will not back bud on old wood …as this means you have just killed your tree. 

The Tree Should Grow Back

If your tree is a species that can handle aggressive pruning, then it should bounce back.

However, it’s not always that simple. Just because the species can handle it, doesn’t mean your particular tree can.

There are a lot of things that can affect how the tree reacts, which I will go through below, but basically so long as you prune at the right time, and your tree is healthy, then there is no reason why it will not re-grow.    

It Matters How Healthy The Tree Was Before You Pruned

As with most things in bonsai, the trees health is the most important thing to consider before doing any type of work.

If you are going to prune your tree back hard you need to look at its current health as well as consider how it has been recently and even what it might be like afterwards.   

What Work Has Been Done Recently

While your tree may look healthy, you need to think about any other recent work you might have done that could be affecting things.

Maybe you have recently repotted it, or done something to weaken it. If this was the case, then you need to be sure that your tree has fully recovered from this before you decide to prune it right now.

A heavy pruning will weaken a tree, and if your tree is already weak, that could end in disaster. You don’t want to kill your tree as you tried to do too much work in a too short period of time.

The Time Of Year Matters

The time of year that you decide to hard prune is also important, as it will really influence how well your tree can respond.

Hard pruning will severely weaken your tree and it needs to have a period of growth afterwards to recover and replenish itself.

This means that pruning too close to the end of the growing season may not be sensible. The tree may be healthy enough to take it …but is there going to be enough time for it actually recover before the first frosts come. You don’t want your tree trying to re-grow, while also trying to shut down for the winter, this is just going to confuse it and ultimately weaken it and it may not survive the winter.

Knowing if you tree will have enough energy to recover can be hard to estimate. Usually I err on the side of caution.  It is often better to wait than risk it.

Your tree may be overgrown for longer than you want, but at least it’s healthy and doesn’t die. You can always wait until the start of the next growing season to prune, and then you will know there is plenty of time for it to fully recover from the work.

What Work Are You Planning To Do Matters

Of course we are talking about hard pruning here, but what exactly does that mean? You can heavily prune a tree in a number of different ways and some are more aggressive than others.

You may only be planning to remove one branch, so for that particular area of the tree, it is certainly intense, but the rest of the tree is going to be fine. This is going to affect the tree a lot differently than pruning every single branch back hard, which will stress the whole tree out.

Little differences like this can make a difference to how the tree will respond, which is why you need to think about what you are planning to do and decide if the tree is going to be able to handle it and what it could possible struggle with afterwards.  

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

Your Aftercare Matters

Aftercare is always important after any bonsai work.

You will have weakened the tree after pruning it hard and you will have upset its balance. This is fine, but it does mean you need to just pay a little more attention to its needs afterwards.

This includes watering or the amount of sun light. You will have removed a lot of the foliage, and the tree will not be growing in the following few days, so you may find you need to water slightly less until the new buds start shooting and you may also need to protect the new shoots from the strong sun for a few days too.

Small things like this make the differences, so pay attention to your tree and make sure you care for it properly and it should bounce back without any problems.    

(You can read more about – Pruning Aftercare Advice For Your Bonsai)

Conclusion

As you can now see, your tree should grow back, even if you prune it very hard. Although this does really depend on the species of you tree, the time of year and how healthy it was. So long all of these things are right then the tree shouldn’t have any issues.

It can be pretty scary when you are waiting for things to re-grow, but if you have planned everything correctly then you shouldn’t worry too much, the tree will recover within a few weeks and be back to full health in no time.

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