HELP with pruning to flower

[astroboy76]

hi all,

i recently purchased a few volumes of bonsai today. my main goal is to know how and when to prune and defoliate to ensure good ramification and increase flowering. i have a number of crab apples, a plum nigra, cherry plum, Japanese apricot and a prunus elvins.

the articles in the magazines, although helpful are somewhat confusing. can anyone give me some simple methods to achieve my goals?

[amazonida]

Hi astroboy, maybe i'm not the one to advice you, but you shoul grow your bonsai one or two years to know her...or as i say, or you prune and lose the flowering time, or you will extimulate it and also will struture your, plant... you have to water it, fertilizer.... it all depends how your are taking care of.. for exemple, you do not water your plant for a hole day, you are gonna lost flowering or fruit..stress..
Hope it helps...

[astroboy76]

ok , for those who wish to know...

i have researched this to the point of exhaustion and with a lovely guide from Flemmings (fruit tree growers and sellers) i have have determined the following.

Crabapples: The flower mainly on last years wood and on permanent flower spikes. It is best to prune back after flowering to 2 or 3 nodes (2 if the nodes are far apart). Allow to grow unhindered till late autumn then cut back to 2 or 3 nodes. the reason for doing this is that flowers and fruit only appear on wood that has stopped growing for the most part. if you cut back too early or cut back to only one node, the remaining node will turn into a leaf bud to accelerate growth come spring. if you leave 2 or 3 nodes, the first two will produce flowers and fruit and the third will be used for growth. this method should be used as a way to shaping your tree to ensure a lot of ramification and lots of flowers. Once the shape of your tree is near completion you should have many permanent flower spikes. always allow the end buds to be leaf buds to avoid die back and to ensure the lower buds remain flower buds. to control growth prune in summer as this slows the growth then cut back to original bud come autumn.

Apricots and Prunus Elvins and Peaches: these flower on permanent flower spikes too but mostly they flower and bear fruit on year old wood (last years growth). It is rare that they will flower abundantly on older wood where there isnt a permanent flower spike. These trees can be hard to get good production of flower spikes so the easiest way to ensure good flowering is to firstly work your tree until you have the basic structure. after flowering, cut back to 2 or 3 buds and allow growth to grow unhindered until autumn. give a winter prune to maintain structure (remembering that last years flush of growth will be where most of the flowers will appear). Once spring comes, the flowers will burst then repeat the process. Prunus Elvins really benefits from a hard prune.

Plums: these are quite easy to flower. They flower off old wood, new wood, last years wood, flower spikes. really, all one must do is shape the tree and enjoy. however, to ensure good ramification and to maximise shorter nodes and lots of flowers prune and shape by allowing to grow all season then cut back to 2 or three nodes. remeber, if you cut back to one that node will more than likely turn into a growth bud and not flower.

hope this has helped

[Jester]

Wow, a lot of useful info there. Thanks Dan, thet will certainly help me out a lot.

John

[Dom124]

hey astroboy.,
thanx for posting info... will file this for later.

[ceb]

Hi astroboy, right about this time of year a good forumla i had given to myself was four weeks of seasol then four weeks of charle carp deliver method once a week during this time to increase the bud strength and ready for the next season. Also at November period<== just before the heat of summer ==> to deflote the plant however a word of caution hear a plant in a bonsai pot would cause the tree to under go great stress so care to be adhere to. Only once i tryed this and a leeson was given to me with a huge amount of die back happen.
Hope this give another angle for you
Black Dog