How to Cut Back Tree Branches to Create a Bonsai | Q&A

[@jonathanzellner906]

You don’t have to thank us for watching. We are all thanking you for teaching us. Especially because you are making videos all year and during the growing season. It helps people like me who are focused on garden trees. You bring a very strong “what works for you” Short story, a friend a mine wants a mimosa sapling, and I’ve been digging around the root ball from time to time to help ensure a transplant is successful. Even if the intention isn’t to be placed into a pot. As always. Thank you my fiend.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Great!

[@trudychorney3226]

Thank you, Mr Chang. I enjoy your videos, I find them not only very instructive, but they soothe my soul as well. I struggle with anxiety and depression, so seeing your beautiful garden.... the colors, the growth, the sound of birdsong and your gentle manner brightens my day. Once again, than you❤

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Bonsai is relaxing. You concentrate when you nurture your trees, and then you are reward with a response fo tender growth. Like everything, you get what you put into it. Enjoy! Relax, and have fun with it.

[@francoisbrunet2329]

Thank you for your videos. I like your channel a lot. Copper kills moss and fungi including mycorrhizae.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Lots of ideas are not wrong... Copper in aquarium kills snails and algea...but that is sitting in water "making" copper salt. It will take a lot of copper sitting on top of soil,. That is the problem with conventional wisdom...people extrapolate plus exaggerate what they know.,

[@jameswells4965]

Love this channel!!

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Thank you!

[@frederickdominguez4829]

Thank you sir. I'm really learning alot.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Never stop learning and make continuous improvment.

[@joegarland4885]

Hi Milton. One of your questioners asked about breaking branches, I am redesigning my large Berberis or barberry tree and had just snapped a couple of branches trying to place them in a position they didn’t want to go so initially I was annoyed with myself for lack of care, but then looked at the tree and realised by doing it that the tree would look better for it, so sometimes mistakes can be you best friend, as you said branches will usually grow back over time. All the best

[@dennisrobinson4588]

Thanks again, I appreciate your knowledge and advice and will follow your advice. Enjoy

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Thanks!

[@umbertopadovan6563]

There are a lot of people who make video on youtube about bonsai, and they always talk about difficoult , crazy and useless stuff and best way to create problems to the tree, always forgetting the tree is the most important thing. Your way to explain stuff it's very clear and you always talk about what is important for the tree and for create a good bonsai. Thanks for sharing you knowledge, and your great expirience, with all of us.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

🙂 Bonsai is a hobby to enjoy! Still...likely their starting point is to be helpful...based on what they believe are the right thing to do.

[@emanuelemarchesi3785]

Mr Chang your videos are awsome! I just descovered your channel today but I am in love. I just started growing an avocado plant from the seed, is it going to be possible to make a bonsai out of it?

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Sure, anything is fine because bonsai just means potted plant in Japanes. Given avacado leaf is large, plan on the bigger bvonsai, in a decorative pot for your patio. Have fun!

[@nerinat8371]

These questions were helpful, Thank you so much

[@bonsaiheirloom]

I'm so glad!

[@amirasto4401]

Thank you for sharing,your knowledge it is appreciated!

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

You are welcome!

[@3did-oy7ec]

Thanks for the reply. I cut some branches that were out of place and just trimmed a lot. I will see what will my oak "say" to that. Keep making videos, they really inspire me.

[@aleksandervolvonis]

Taking photos helps a lot with seeing more, often seeing branches and things that you didn't see before studying the photo.

[@3did-oy7ec]

@@aleksandervolvonis Thank k you.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

great that we have a community ("talking to each other, sharing). Thank you both! Yws! Listen to nature.

[@eliudgarza9219]

Thank you for answering my question in your video!!! 😊

[@bonsaiheirloom]

No problem 😊

[@stefan00123]

I have discovered your channel today and this video was very clear about the information you gave us. I hope you will have a wonderful weekend. With love from the Netherlands

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Thank you!

[@gianlucaprimus7081]

Thank you very much, your advice is simply wonderful and encourages me to continue this path to obtain fantastic bonsai... maybe one day as beautiful as yours. Gianluca

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Exceed! That is how the world progresses! Great attitude! I wish I have your age on my side...because I continue to figure out new awareness 🙂

[@felixmarat8325]

Good content as always Dr. Chang! I would love a dedicated video on cuttings and propagation for the aimple fact: no metter what i try rooting hormone, vermiculite, sand, no rooting hormone...my cuttings never root ( i am sure i am doing something wrong)

[@MANNY100123]

Oh, Yes! I've also been told copper wire is good for getting rid of slugs! Thank you for reminding me! I will need some for my garden I've a lot of stuff to grow...

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

You just have to keep after it. Last year I bought organic powder bait...it worked well,.,,.almost all snails disappeared.

[@frederickdominguez4829]

This is great

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Thanks!

[@Susu-ys9qd]

Dr Chang, your shared experience and expertise has guided through my first steps with Bonsai. Added benefit is applying the concepts when trimming my mature Japanese maple, Crepe Myrtle and assorted shrubbery in my yard. I.e. crossing branches, thinning center branches for better circulation etc. Question I have a two year old Japanese maple “stick” in a 2 gal pot - would the trunk increase in size faster in the pot or in the ground?

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

It is easier to grow it in an oversized nursery pot...so you don't have to dig it up...Bury the pot a few inches below the soil line to encourage the roots grow into the ground.

[@joybrehaut9416]

In your opinion, can you have too many jins? I like the line of this dead limb but I already have 4 jins. Its a fairly large juniper in the yard.

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Not if fits into the design...Try to imagine what happened in nature to have so many jins for that tree...

[@darylfisher6932]

Dear Mr Chang, Thank you for your channel it is very informative. I do have once question if I may. When planting a tree into the ground to thicken the tree do you add standard bonsai mix, or modify the soil around the tree in the ground? Thank you again. Daryl

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Not necessary...of course that depends on the condition of your soil. If you are worry about it, add a modest amount of compost to you clay soil; dig a deep hole and put slow release fertilizer in the bottom... If you are really worry about it...see the revious comment about plant the tree in a nursery pot and put the drainage hold a few inches below the soil level.

[@akagainesy]

Really enjoying your videos, they are very informative. I have a couple questions, sorry if they've been asked already. First, are there any advantages to starting bonsai plants in pots? Also what would the disadvantages be? Second, I have a few rose bushes in my garden and was wondering if i took a cutting could i create a rose bonsai?

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Roses are easy to rrot from cutting. Disadvatage is trunk does not ge thick quickly. May try a dwarf bonsai to make into a shohin ( a small bonsai) Have fun!

[@akagainesy]

@@MiltonChang-ee6rq got a rose that needs a hard prune at the end of this season. So might try get a thick cutting from that if I can 😉...... I'm new to bonsai so sorry if this is a silly question, but do you still get flowers with something like a rose as a bonsai?

[@dawnbat]

Thank you Mr. Chang for the wonderful videos. I live in an apartment in Dubai, UAE where we have summers nearly 8 months of the year and the peak ave temp can hit nearly 50 deg Centigrade. What would be your suggestion on how can I get into this wonderful hobby?

[@bonsaiheirloom]

Try a hardy tree to start? I suspect you have heat and drought resistant trees in your parks…elm, pine, Pomegranate…and I am sure you have dwarf palms. Cycads can make wonderful potted plants too.

[@nickparlavecchio4063]

In this video you showed a photo where you cut off all of the branches and was only a stump. In turn, do you seal the top where you cut and if there is no branch left will it dead? Thank you

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Technically there is little need to seal cuts...I am sue it makes you feel better. I break branches in a rough way to simulate how branches break off in nature.

[@chisassinrollyoass2271]

Do you leave your potted bonsai outside over the winter seasons? I live in the Chicago area and our winters can get extremely cold. And we don't have the space to bring/ store inside and am worried of pots cracking or trees dying off from having shallow roots

[@bonsaiheirloom]

You won’t want the root ball to freeze over…so move them into the garage, or simply cover them with composite to protect in the deep of the winter.

[@bondfantasy3143]

In one tree that first was super healthy, I cut the new buds. 3 days later all the leaves started to get brown and now the tree seems dead 😢 do I take off all the dried out leaves? Will it heal?

[@bonsaiheirloom]

Likely there is nothing to do with you cutting the new buds. Think about what else you’ve done that could have gone wrong. Sorry, not much help here.

[@bondfantasy3143]

@@bonsaiheirloomthank you very much. Other than cutting the new buds I really didn’t change anything. I would send you a picture. Thank you very much for answering! Appreciating every single video!

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Hi Bruce!

[@laddieokelley6095]

I had a bonsai friend, largely self-taught, who worked with trees for 30-40 years and was respected in bonsai circles. He told me that visiting bonsai masters and advisers sometimes left him with "a stick in a pot." That can be discouraging to someone new to bonsai. Just sayin' . . . .

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Can;t generalize

[@chaiwatpotichanid]

🥰🥰😅

[@MiltonChang-ee6rq]

Thumbs up! Thanks!