How To Trim A Bonsai Tree

Cut off soft summer growth to maintain a tidy compact shape

Many of the faster growing varieties of bonsai tree will put out quite a lot of new sappy growth over the summer which results in the tree becoming untidy and losing its nice compact shape. You may have to do this a couple of times over the course of the summer. The slow growing species such as pines may not need doing at all, but if they do just nip out the new growth between the thumb and forefinger as cutting the foliage leads to the ends going brown and unsightly.

 You will need:

• bonsai clippers or Yeoman Flower Snips

The flower snips are easy to use for the soft lush summer growth.

Just snip off the new growth to maintain the compact shape; this encourages the plant to put out more side shoots which thickens the tree canopy.

This trim is not intended to alter the shape of the tree; that is done by pruning out whole branches.

For more hints and tips on how to take care of your houseplants just browse through our blog articles or watch the videos on our Youtube channel.