Pruning Case Studies.
This piece is to provide an overview as to my feelings re: pruning/shaping/styling, (Which is it?) but before I go into that, a question.
“How many of you feel intimidated by your Satsuki’s?”
I ask this because since Dai-Ichi opened their Nursery here in the Midlands, the popularity of these trees has slowly spread throughout the region, much as it did in the South West thanks to Alex’s influence. Because bonsai growers in the area know of my association with Satsuki I am often asked questions by this new breed of enthusiasts. One of the most common questions is “How do I prune it?” or more often than that “I’m afraid to touch it!”
It seems Satsuki have got a reputation in the bonsai world for being difficult to keep and train. In some ways this reputation is deserved because it is relatively easy to kill large specimens with lack of care and attention. In my experience, Satsuki appear to be less forgiving than other bonsai subjects.
They are assumed to be temperamental & delicate, maybe brought about by their so called semi-hardy nature. Perhaps it’s because some aspects of Satsuki culture are opposite to the bonsai norm. Here I refer to re-potting & pruning in what is virtually mid-summer. I know when I first started collecting Satsuki I felt the same trepidation but through perseverance and learning from mistakes I believe I am now beginning to understand these plants. Like all tree species used for bonsai, once you get to know their individual needs & requirements they will reward you with strong healthy growth.
In my experience, 99% of Satsuki problems are caused by something wrong at or below soil level. Wrong planting medium, incorrect watering and/or incorrect feeding being the most obvious errors. In my case it was the watering regime that took a bit of time to get right but maybe that’s a future article because I’ve just realised I’m wandering right off track!
Regular readers will know that for some time now I have been experimenting with ways of pruning Satsuki. (I’ll use the word “pruning” for the sake of this article)
I must just state here at the beginning that this article is about pruning styled trees for shape, not styling from scratch.
Like everything in life there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. (Or should I say a perceived right & wrong!) In the case of Satsuki the “correct” way of pruning, in general, is to thin growth to two shoots and then reduce these to two leaves. All branches/twigs are then wired and positioned to form “pads”
Case Study 1 follows this procedure.
Case Study 2 is, in the words of Monty Python “Something completely different”. Read on……..
Case Study 1.
Variety: Kinsai
Style: Informal upright. (Moyogi)
Age: Unknown.
Owner: FoBBs
As mentioned in the last newsletter I am now charged with the upkeep of the National Collection Satsuki at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.
If you look at the picture
left, Pic.1, you will
see it is more of a bush than a styled tree. For those of you who are new to the Society I
should perhaps explain that the tree in question was one of the demo trees
worked on by a Japanese Master at the Satsuki Society/FoBBs joint show held in
Plymouth in 1998. The tree was later potted and presented to FoBBs for inclusion
in the National Collection.
In the time it has been there I understand it has been re-potted once but looking at it, the foliage has not been touched since the initial styling. This lack of attention was probably due to the fact that for the first couple of years in the collection it put on very little growth with sparse flowering. I put this slow start down to the far from ideal conditions at the collection site. Anyway, last year things picked up with a good spurt of growth and a fair show of flowers, albeit three weeks later than mine just a few miles down the road. I had intended to take the tree down to Plymouth to solicit the help of Alex Kennedy in attacking this brute so I could take pictures of the Master at work but as things worked out I just couldn’t manage to get there. In the end I carried out the work myself over a couple of weekends at the Gardens.
(This was a mistake. I spent most of the time giving impromptu lectures and even featured in a wedding video!)
Because this tree has been neglected for 7 years it is going to take a few seasons to get it back to anything like reasonable. Although the main branch positions are still as the original styling the twiggy growth on each that form the pads has been left unchecked. Not obvious from the photographs, these twigs are between 2”- 3” long with a bit of foliage at the ends. The aim is to get these back to a manageable size over time, but how? If I just chop them all back to the required length I would be left with a little forest of brown, dead looking twigs on each branch not something you would expect to see in the National collection ! On the other hand, if I just wire them all down I would end up with pads the size of dustbin lids !
Picture 2.
View on bottom left pad. The twig length from this photo is not obvious but you do get some idea of the size. The answer, although not ideal, is a compromise. Remove up to 50% of the foliage/twigs to allow in light and air, and then wire in the remaining twigs to reduce the pad size as best as possible. This thinning and wiring process will encourage back budding closer to the main branch.
Picture 3.
Bottom left pad after thinning and placing of twigs although it looks very sparse light and air circulation will soon encourage new growth on the bare twigs.
This procedure was carried out on all of the branches in turn. You can see from Pic 3. that this pad looks very sparse and is still rather large. Now that light and air can get into the bare twigs back budding will occur.
Picture 4.
shows the finished tree. Because of the problems I mentioned earlier I have to admit that the end result does look a bit sad but I am confided that with a lot of T.L.C. it will soon be back in shape. Over the next Months/Years new growth will be trained and old removed to bring the profile in to create a more balanced appearance.
Case Study 2.
Variety: Goyoten.
Style: Informal upright. (Moyogi)
Age: Unknown.
Owner: Ray Beddow.
This tree has been in my possession now for about 4 years and is extremely healthy, fast growing and flowers profusely every year.
As you will have just read, the “correct” way to prune/ style took the best part of 2 days on the Kinsai. Fine if you only have one or two specimens to do or plenty of free time – I have neither.
Some years ago it occurred to me that you can be over protective with Satsuki’s. It was with this thought in mind that I decided to adopt the “cruel to be kind” method of pruning based on the following observations:-
Point 1. – In Japan Satsuki are used in park and roadside planting schemes much as Spirea and the like are used in municipal schemes here. I doubt very much that the Japanese equivalent of the Council parks gardener goes around trimming to two shoots, two leaves! No, he’ll give it a good hair cut with shears much like we treat privet.
Point 2. – In Japan Satsuki growers grow the trunk they want first and worry about the branches later. I have seen photo’s of old a trees where every branch has been removed in order to grow a new set.
Point 3. – Not Satsuki related I know but some 10-15 years ago Rose growers found that pruning their plants with a hedge trimmer gave the same, if not a better result than the accepted method!
With these thoughts in mind I decided to set too with a lesser bonsai specimen first, just in case it went horribly wrong.
A trained, karume azalea was the guinea pig. You may recall the article in issue 23 well, that plant survived and flourished so this year I decided ”what the hell” and let rip on my biggest Satsuki.
Picture 5.
The tree before pruning.
The procedure is really quite simple; first remove any dead flower or foliage as per Case 1. Next, support the pad with the palm of one hand whilst shearing off all the growth to form a uniform pad approximately 1” thick. (Next time I might take it down to half this depending on what happens) See Pic. 6. Trim the periphery of the pad to the shape you require and that’s it. Move on to the next pad.
Picture 6.
Supporting the pad really is necessary but watch out for the thick, pink twigs!!!!
Picture 7.
The same pad after shearing. (All fingers intact)
The finished tree.
Conclusions.
Case 2, although crude will, I believe give the same results as Case 1 come next flowering season. Only time will tell and you will be kept informed either way. I fully expect to see an explosion of shoots from all the cut ends and accept that a lot will have to be removed. Whether these shoots have time to mature and flower next year is debatable as I did perform this work rather late in the season.
Obviously the pruning method you adopt is down to personal choice. Case 2 is an experiment in pruning techniques and will take several years yet before I can draw a conclusion and/or recommendation. It could be an expensive, egg-on-face experiment but that’s what testing different techniques is all about surely!
Anyway, to conclude – Case 1 took approximately 10 - 12 hours over 2 days and a hell of a lot of wire.
Case 2 took approximately 10 – 15 minutes and no wire!
The choice is yours. I will keep you updated on each trees progress over the next year – watch this space.
P.S.
After performing all of the above I was given a book to review. (See page 1) The review will be in a later issue but one thing I have to mention now is the book author’s method of pruning. He advocates shearing pads to shape prior to fine tune trimming and twig placement – a combination of the two studies. Almost a vindication of my heretic actions!