My earlier article on taking care of your Japanese maple bonsai centered on fertilizing, proper light needs, water requirements, and humidity needs. In this posting we will discuss re-potting, pruning the japanese maple's roots, branch pruning, and wintertime care of the Japanese maple.

Pruning Your Japanese Maple

The Japanese maple bonsai is shaped, in part, by means of careful and thought out pruning. Although you could also prune your Japanese maple in the spring they have a tendancy to bleed heavily and will lose a lot of sap. Fall is a far better time of year to prune your tree. This bleeding tends to be reduced if the tree's roots are pruned ahead of time. All wounds resulting from pruning the tree's branches ought to be sealed with a wound dressing available at your local garden store or nursery. Whenever possible you should attempt to prune both the roots and any branhes concurrently, ideally in the fall.

Fine, delicate branches are a feature of top-quality Japanese maple bonsai specimens. Whenever you prune your tree to avoid long internodes the effect is going to be delicate branches. An internode is the space on a branch between one pair of leaves and the next pair of leaves. To shorten the internode you'll want to regularly pinch back all of the new growth throughout the growing season. You'll want to pinch back new shoots by pruning them back to just two sets of leaves (internodes). Pinching back the new shoots will result in the following shoots having shorter internodes, which is certainly desirable for greater density of the foliage.

Pruning your Japanese maple's leaves (removal of leaves during the growing season) , also known as defoliating, is carried out to make that tree develop more compact leaves. You should only do this once every year or two. Leaf pruning results in all of the tree's leaves being removed, but being mindful to leave the leaf's stem connected to the branch. By removing the leaves in this way the tree thinks it is autumn and it will then produce a second set of leaves that are smaller than the first set produced in the spring.

Repotting

Most bonsai trees ought to be re-potted about every second year. It is very important not to let the bonsai's roots get overcrowded in it's pot. The best time to re-pot is in the fall, but it can certainly be done in the spring. The primary reason behind re-potting is to provide you with an opportunity to prune the trees roots. The effect of root pruning will be to stimulate healthy new growth. It will be easier to prune the roots if you wash them off with water after you have removed the plant from it's pot. To prevent future root rot you need to be very careful to remove all of the dead and/or damaged roots. The ideal potting mix includes loam, peat, and coarse sand in a 1:1:1 ratio. For all styles except a cascading style, you should use a shallow pot. This will compel the roots to spread out which enables it to create a stable root base.

Pruning Your Japanese Maple's roots

The pruning of your Japanese maple's roots ought to always be combined with branch pruning so that the root system is not over-stressed attempting to supply water and food to the plants branches and leaves.

As trees get older they just need to have their roots pruned about every 2-3 years.

Pruning your trees roots will cause the tree to lose some of its ability to transport food and water all through the rest of the tree. For this reason fall is the best time to prune the roots because the tree is slowing down it's systems of moving water and nutrients through the tree anyway. Those times of the year that these conditions are optimal are late fall and early spring.

The Japanese maple will normally have stopped delivering it's leaves with water by late fall. The roots of the Japanese maple will stay active long after all of the leaves have fallen off, provided that the temperature remains above 55 degrees. If the roots are pruned during this period there will be new root growth before temperatures dip.

Caring for Your Japanese Maple During the Winter

Always attempt to water your tree completely during the last part of fall before the temperature gets too cool. Move your tree to an area where it's going to be sheltered from extreme winter winds. Winter winds can cause damage to your Japanese maple if left exposed. The soil in your bonsai's pot will quickly dry out when subjected to the winter winds. It's not required to water your often during the winter, but don't forget to take a look at it once in a while. Give it a drink of water when it looks to be drying out, normally once a week will do. You should also make sure that your tree's roots don't freeze during the winter. If you are unsure of the hardiness of your tree, keep the tree in a cold frame to prevent the soil from freezing, and protect it against frosts.