Bonsaify | When to Pinch Japanese Maples and When to Let 'em Run!

To pinch or not to pinch, that is the question - for Japanese Maples - and Eric is here to provide the answer! He uses two trees in different stages of development as examples.

00:00:45 Eric grew the first tree from a seedling, and has been working on it for twenty years. It has nice leaf in the Spring and nice bark. He explains how it had some bud dieback last summer, and why he's giving it more attention now.

00:01:22 Beautiful close-up.

00:01:38 If you don't pinch, you can't maintain very fine twigging. Difference between pinching and other leaf reduction technique.

00:02:29 Example of a shoot coming out; Eric removes the 2nd and 3rd nodes.

00:02:58 Example of a branch tip that can be pinched and how it differs from the previous example.

00:03:54 Twig dieback causes Eric frustration, plus more close-up work.

00:04:44 Eric removes every other lead from the pairs along the outside of the tree to let in more light to the interior.

00:06:13 View with leaves removed.

00:06:48 The second tree is an example of when not to pinch.

00:07:37 Eric explains distributed growth strategy.

00:08:06 Final word regarding how cutback work differs depending on the stage of development your tree is in.

Tell us about your experience working with Japanese Maples, and when you pinch, cut, or let 'em run! Thank you for watching; please like and share this video.