Earlier today, I decided it was time to do some work on my medium Golden Gate Ficus cutting. I decided that this bonsai needed fertilizer and a good pruning. To start, I will cover how to prune a medium Golden Gate Ficus cutting. The next post will be all about how to fertilize it. Stay tuned for later today when that post is published!
Current Condition
Recently, I have been noticing lots of over-sized leaves popping up all over my Golden Gate Ficus cutting. If you read the post about my medium Golden Gate Ficus collection, the cutting I am referring to is the second cutting. If you have not read that post yet, I suggest you go ahead and read it. The large leaves all appear to be isolated to the very top parts of the tree where the new growth is coming in.
There are two main reasons why I am pruning off these large leaves. Firstly, the leaves on bonsai trees are supposed to be small to imitate the look of a tree in the forest. Over-sized leaves make a bonsai tree look out of place since it is so small. It is important to keep the leaves miniaturized in order to maintain the authentic look of your bonsai tree. Secondly, any leaves that are malformed or do not fit the desired look of your bonsai tree should be removed. This is completely a personal preference and is something that you must decide to do.
How to Prune Medium Golden Gate Ficus
Pruning a Golden Gate Ficus is nothing that you should be wary of. The process of pruning is no harder than cutting a drawing out of a piece of paper. The only caution is that when you prune any kind of ficus tree a poisonous sap emerges. This sap is a milky white color and should not be ingested in any way by humans or animals. Be very careful not to get this sap into your eyes or mouth while pruning and ensure no pets are nearby.
The process of pruning is very straightforward. Pick any leaf you want to remove and cut it off. I like to use my pruning shears to do this. However, with this kind of tree, a simple pair of scissors could be used as well. I placed my cutting on a turntable and slowly went around and cut off all the leaves I did not like. I removed a handful of overly large leaves and a single leaf that was malformed. This whole process only took me a few minutes and I was very happy with the results. Watch the video below to see exactly how to prune this cutting.
Final Results
I am satisfied with how the final product turned out. The bonsai tree looks a lot more natural with the large leaves removed, however, I am a little disappointed that the canopy doesn’t look as dense. One of my favorite things about bonsai trees is their dense canopy. In my opinion, this is the most influential factor in trying to make a perfect bonsai. Trees with few leaves do not look special and most of the time look out of place. Hopefully, the new leaves grow back a lot smaller so I can maintain a dense canopy.
Be sure to check out my YouTube page and subscribe to see all my videos in one place! If you missed the last post about my second Golden Gate Ficus cutting check it out here. Stay tuned for the post about fertilizing this cutting and more. Lastly, head on over to the Gallery to find all these pictures and more!
