Young Trident

[JaredN]

Hey everyone

This is my first Bonsai which I bought around a couple months ago, in this time the shoots have grown quite fast.
As I'm very new to growing Bonsais, I find the more I read across sites and books the "correct way" has started to get a little blurry...

Do I allow it to grow wild for a year or so? Or should I be trimming it back now to thicken it all up?

Thanks, awesome to find a site which focuses within Australian climate!

[kcpoole]

You Let a tree go wild to develop more Trunk / branch girth, and recover vigour.
you prune back new growth to reduce leaf size and increase ramification.
These 2 tasks are mutually exclusive.

Now to your tree, what do you want to achieve? Grow on and get bigger? or refine into well shaped Bonsai? I assume as it in a Bonsai pot then the latter is the case.

Wire the tree ( but watch it to make sure it does not cut in a month or so), then trim back to the first 2 leaves on each branch. Then when the new shoots appear ( there will be 2 on each branch) wait until you get 4 leaves then pinch out the tips.
Rinse and repeat while wiring when necessary to shape the tree as you desire.

Ken

[shibui]

The reason the 'correct way' is a bit blurry is because there is no 'correct way' to grow bonsai. They are living things so many different techniques can lead to the same result and the same technique will have differing results in different areas because climate and so on is different. Also as KC has pointed out the 'correct' technique will depend on what result you want.

I would go along with KC's advice - to develop a really nice small bonsai keep trimming regularly. Also fertilise and water often so it will grow.

[JaredN]

Perfect! Thanks Ken & Shibui for your helpful advice.

I'm looking to produce a well shaped bonsai, so I'll work with the wire and trim method.
Cheers again.