bad branch location on a bonsai-Ficus

What do you do when you have a massive trunk but the branches are not in the

right place?  If you are talking about a Ficus then make it bald. That's right cut off

all the branches. Do not leave anything.

This sounds like harsh treatment, but desperate times call for desperate measures. One

day I was out collecting Ficus from where I work which happens to have a lot of pine

trees. In those pine trees, little birds deposit ficus seeds and they grow. They can get

pretty big if the landscape people do not get to them. So, one day I found a really big

tree that was as thick as my forearm, I'm not a small guy. The problem was that all the

branches were growing from one side. The side that was facing the tree had no branches. The ramification looked very bad. But the trunk was thick and one

of the hardest things to do because it takes a lot of patience is to thicken a trunk.

I tried growing it out for a while. But had no success because all the smaller branches started growing from all the bad branches. It only had bad branches, to begin with. I didn't want to throw this tree away I had collected it made it into a cutting and it was growing. It would be a

waste to throw this tree away, so I chopped off all the branches.

I had noticed when I cut the branches from another Ficus that they would sprout out

new smaller branches all over. I also noticed that if I left a longer nub of a bad branch

there would be new growth there. That would be bad as those branches would also grow

in a bad spot. So, how could I make branches grow in good spots? The only way was by

removing every branch and not leaving long nubs.

At first, I saw no new growth, and yes I was scared that I might have killed the tree.

That's always in the back of your mind. But one day I saw little buds coming out from the

tippy top of the tree which is great because I don't want branches growing just anywhere

on the tree. They all started to grow where I wanted them to.

Not only were they growing where I wanted them to, but they were growing in large

quantities. So many that I had to cut some of them off because I knew that the tree really didn't need that many branches.

I left just enough branches so that they were in a good position, and they would have

room to grow. I wired the lower branches just to give him some shape these are going

to be my longer branches. I'm not going to prune these for a long time. In fact, I'm not going

to prune any branches until some of them get to be as thick as a pencil. The reason

I will not prune them now is that that will slow down the growth.

.As you can see growth is fantastic. I want those branches to grow, grow, grow.

Why I hard prune my ficus and azalea, it hurts me more than it does you

We are in full summer now. I have noticed that some of my plants are pushing a flush of new growth. Among the plants pushing the hardest are Guamuchil (Pithecellobium dulce), Coastal Live Oaks, and Chinese banyan.

Regarding branches and leaves when we make bonsai most of us desire that we develop good ramification and in turn, we get leaf reduction. The challenge here is that try as hard as we may, we can only guess as to where the tree will push new buds.

I have noticed that on my Chinese banyan a new branch will grow from the lateral bud closest to the place I pruned. In a lot of trees in front of where a leaf grows, there is a place where a bud can grow. When that bud grows it is called a lateral bud. Sometimes on a Chinese banyan, only the lateral bud closest to the cut will grow. When this happens everything is for not. Why? because what the tree is doing is creating a continuation of the branch. It is replacing the section it lost. What we need is for the branch to split into two smaller branches. This splitting is what creates ramification. What happens is that the mass of the one branch is split into two. The new branches are smaller. The more you continue to do this the finer the ramification. If you replace one branch for one branch then no ramification has happened. You are actually a little behind because you have lost a lateral bud.

lateral bud growing near cut

Only one branch grew. No ramification here.

What are we to do? For ficus and azaleas at least the answer is simple. Hard prune. A hard prune is when you cut-off large portions of many branches.

Hard pruned Azalea

Have you ever pruned a tree and got it to the size and silhouette that you wanted? Then the secondary branches grew close to the edge of the cut. Your tree outgrew the silhouette without contributing ramification. You are going to have to get rid of those branches because they make the tree silhouette bigger than what you wanted.  This is where a hard prune comes in handy.

Have you ever looked at your tree and wished that it would back bud from further down the branch closer to the trunk? For ficus and Azalea, a hard prune might be the ticket.

back budding after a hard prune

Some drawbacks to this are that you do not know exactly where the tree will bud. I can live with that. The other is that you might lose a branch, or one of the branches might not bud. That's a harder pill.

This is a good way to fix those leggy ficusses and azaleas. This is a good example of what we want. Where a cut was made there are now three branches. Choose the two branches that are most parallel to the ground.

Let those branches get leggy than prune them close to the trunk. That's how you'll get the desired ramification on azaleas and ficus. Cheers.

Azaleas, the T-1000 of bonsai plants

Azaleas are great looking shrubs. Most azaleas have smaller elliptical leaves. They are easy to grow, and they have beautiful flowers. When refined the whole tree will be covered in flowers. One of the great things about azaleas is that they can be kept indoors. Azaleas grow naturally in Asia and North America. The blooms come in almost all colors, and they can look amazingly Delicate. Azaleas themselves are very hardy plants. They like partial sun, acidic soil, and moist conditions. Some azaleas can tolerate cold, but most come from subtropical and tropical places.

I love working with azaleas. They can take a beating and even seem to thrive on abuse. Azaleas can grow new branches from anyplace that has bark. That means you can get new branches on the trunks, and other branches. Many trees can not do that, and that presents a challenge if an important branch dies. Azaleas however, do not respond well to severe root pruning.

When I bought this azalea It was a huge topiary. It measured two feet from the lip of the pot. The trunk was nice and thick. First I thinned it out. I left the branches long, but I left two secondary branches where there were multiple growing from the same place. In August when I saw new growth I hard pruned it. I cut all the branches to five inches from the trunk. The azalea started to grow new branches. By the time of this writing (mid March) I have pruned the azalea two more times to shape and start ramification.    

I placed my hand for perspective

Close up of the trunk

Great bonsais can be made from big box stock. Make sure it has one trunk. This one I left alone for a year. I cut three branches growing from the trunk and gave it some form. You can see the wounds in the picture. They will heal fairly quickly.

Big box store azalea

One thing to keep in mind is that the branches are brittle. You can do some manipulation, but you must be careful. This azaleas is my daughter’s. I was helping bend a branch down. Can you guess which side of the tree I snapped the branch off of? The worst part is that it was the second time I broke a big branch on her azalea.  

Watch out for brittle branches

In Japan the prized azaleas are called satsuki. Satsuki is the word for the month of May. These azaleas bloom in that month. However, there are so many hybrids and varieties that you could fill your collection of bonsai with azalea and you would not repeat yourself. Cheers.

Update October 4

I can not tell you how many times I have pruned this azalea since I posted about it. I'll start by showing you the trunk.

I bought this tree because i really liked the trunk. It was a topiary bush I found at a big box store. I got it after the flowers had fallen off at the end of the season. This is what the plant looks like now.

The primary branches have grown. Next season I will cut it back about one third the size and let the secondary branches grow.