This is the best video on leaf size reduction and ramification.

Thank you for your video, After 35 years of dental surgeries, I am now getting into Bonsai gardening. This is very educaitonal

I just recently got into bonsai and the closest bonsai nursery to me is 40 minutes away, these videos are very helpful for me to learn. Thank you!

Always enjoy watching someone teach when they really understand why.

First time I ever really understood the basic principles of ramification was only once I watched this video. A great video, definitely helped with my current bonsai collection, and the other videos are just as informative.

I learned a ton from this. Thanks so much for putting it together!

great video, especially for beginners like me. thanks for the video

Thank you for putting in this work and sharing your knowledge. Before taking my dive into bonsai I did a few months of research. Once I started and visited one of the local nurseries the guy asked how familiar I was. I told him I had a vary limited knowledge and mentioned your channel. He too is a fan. Please keep them coming. I don't think I've seen one and can't seem to find one about common ailments for ficus/juniper/maples I think one for each of the major verities would be very useful.

You have one of the best video I’ve watch bonsai making. You’re teaching techniques straight forward and unique for bonsai. For a bonsai beginner like me, these videos are awesome. I follow some of your technique and applied in my bonsai. Thanks alot.

I really enjoy watching all your videos, and they are very educational. Thanks!

i am continuing to learn from your videos. thank you so much for putting these on many years ago. the knowledge you provide is timeless. i have learned more from you than any other person on you tube. you are a brilliant teacher.

Great thanks! I can already see the new buds starting to come out. I will give it a try. Thanks again!

Hey Paul me again. I followed your instructions on leaf. reduction and, have a Turkey fig tree with crepe myrtle size leaves. Not many branches yet, but I've only had it in the ground for one growing season. The trunk has nearly doubled in size. I'm growing more for its winter appeal with white bark and fine branches. We certainly have had an excellent growing season in southwest Georgia this year. Not too much rain but plenty of sun.

Finally some good bonsai videos on KZfaq. Thank you. :)

Thank you for the tip. I've always been wondering why the leaves on the new branches are way too be big, now I know what to do to with it.

that was a really good explanaition on compacting the leafs.. have been feeling insecure on this part and googling it for some days now.. thanks for putting this up :)

Great comment and I'm glad to hear I have fans. Common problems and insect issues would be a great topic for a video thanks

Thanks very much, exactly the information I was looking for. I was bought a first bonsai (Ficus) and I've noticed that the bonsai is thriving, but some of the external leaves are getting a tad big for my tastes. Will use your method to try reduce the size.

Damian, I'm really gald to hear that I was able to explain ramification to you. Its a great way to refine your bonsai and get them looking great

Thanks very much, I'm glad you enjoyed the video Paul

I'm glad you found the video helpful. Good luck with getting your leaves smaller

Thank you for the hose analogy ❤️

Hi Steve, yes there are so many important things that occur through teh process and its really hard to not skip them. Doing a vieo from start to finish would be a good one. I'll see if I can pick up a nice piece of material to work on

Very useful and interesting video - thanks.

Exactly what i want to know!! THX a lot!!!

Hmmm , interesting, thank you, this explain alot why my secondary shoots came out faster after plucking the big fan leafs, but never reached a huge size like before.

Hi Steve, yes this works very well on ficus and tropical trees. The nice thing about tropicals is that if youprotect them during the winter they hold their leaves. So once you have them reduced that stay that way

Perhaps a demonstration of the topics in the video. Beginners (like myself) are unsure of what you might mean by some of these techniques. Still, very informative. Thank you for the video.

Very good video!

That's what I've been looking for!

thank you for this video. This is going to help me alot for i did get my first bonsai today. My room hits where the sun gets the first rays of sun and more sun than alot of the house at the time of year. plus mines an indoor one. least it will help me learn to take care of the leaves when it comes to time to triming it.

I find that in the hotest months when teh tree slows dow is a really great to do this.

Just what i wanted to know. Thanks.

10 years later 2021 so bored and into art reached bonsai nd learning as much as possible after finished learning all about all my dream animals

Very nice video. I trained a ficus benjamina indoors for years and leaf pruning was a way to make the leaves come back as teardrops. Found that my maples couldn't take more than 2 leaf prunings a year in southern CA. Keep posting the excellent instructionals!

Thank you for all your great videos. would you be interested in making a video on how to use liquid fertilizer. I have seen your videos talking about it, but i couldnt even find a video on you tube that actually shows it. I water my bonsais by submerging and was wondering about fertilizing them. Thanx

Do Trident Maple Bonsai Trees do wel in central FL weather? Also will it need shade or full sun?

OrlandoBonsaiTV I got a similar Japanese Maple to what you have in the video, would it be ideal to place the pot in full sun from 8am to 6pm? Also got a Juniper Prostrata and another type thats scale like and Chinese Elm, would it also be ideal to place it in full sun?

@OrlandoBonsaiTV I really appreciate the advice so much thank you that has helped a lot. I will take what you have said and be slow with it. Thank you very much and look forward to seeing more from you.

Thank you for the video!!! 🌲

soooo much info! thanks!!!

Thanks for the info!!

Thank you. Great video.

hi great video first of all. my ginseng ficus bonsai has large leaves on most branches but i cant seem to find the nodes (secondary leave) on the start of the stem.visibly i found only one

can I ask for your opinion/advice? I live near Chicago, and got a jaboticaba tree through a class last year. I defoliated earlier this year, and leaves came back on one side of the tree, but aren't growing much on other parts, although I do see buds. they just havent done anything for the past few weeks and I'm not sure what the deal is. the buds are not dying or drying out and falling off, but they're not growing either. the leaves that came in on one side Are starting to dry a little and turn yellow brown. do you think the tree is in danger or just being shy? :) thanks in advance! and thanks for the videos!!

Thx for the information!

Hi bro, I live in Southern California and I have a Oriental Maple Bonsai the leaves are wilting and branches are dying. Any idea why this is happening?

Thank you for this!

very usefull please keep them coming

Very well explained. Thank you

thanks, i really like your videos, lots of info, to the point, always interesting. if i might make a request, i'd love to see the process of taking a 3 to 5 year old ficus from nursery and transition it to bonsai, the whole process. i saw you had one video about training pots but i' like to see more details about transitioning the whole tree. thanks, steve

I have a hornbeam I did a trunk chop and transplanted from the woods about 7 weeks ago and is doing beautifully, do I need to be doing any training pruning etc right now or let it grow till next spring? Has tons of back budding a new growth. Love your videos and thank you for doing them.

Thank u I found that I understand what I'm doing more so I have a bouggy n I'm scared to purne it and now I understand more of what I'm trying to do but I'm not sure about the acualle branchs if I cut it all the way down to old growth is that bad or should I just cut 1/2 which would leave green growth still there but honestly the trees shape would look better cut back to 3/4 to old growth

Very helpful, thank you

Thank you for youre advice.

thanks for this informative video

Great videos :) Thank you :)

any suggestions on fertilizer mixes ; i have compost 3 years old for my garden coffee grounds chicken manure ; and 3 years of clippings ; with earth worms added ; or do i just buy a store bought miracle grow ;also wondering if a southern magnolia tree would be good to bonsai ?

very helpful - thanks v much

I have a Fukien Bonsai and i want to get the leaves smaller. ive just gotten it and at the moment i can put it in either full day sunlight but have kept it 3 and a half hour sunlight. Can the leaves shrink or will i have to resort to pruning some leaves or areas on the branch? Ive already pruned many of the big ones but was worried not to take all of them away and weaken the tree. so thank you for the video it has helped and hope to hear from you.

Thank you! Really helpful.

Any advice on an avocado bonsai mine is about 7 inches long right now I just moved into a bonsai pot that was really shallow so I had to cut some roots I really hope I didn't just kill my tree.

thank you for sharing this info. what about in ficus, will this technique work?

thanks for the information

Great info

great :D will be looking forward to that :) thx

really interesting, thanks. i used to think that pruning the roots made the leaves smaller, i guess i was way off! so the trick about defoliating to force it to regrow smaller leaves next time, is that true of most trees? specifically a Banyan tree? i'm in the tropics so i can grow them here no problem. thx steve

OrlandoBonsaiTV How would you go about propagating a black willow tree for bonsai? And when it was established, how would you care for it? I already know about fertilizing, and thanks to this video, pinching. Also wiring and all that.

Very helpful video.

@Iggynawcio I've had chinese elms that sometimes don't drop their leaves all winter. However if you have work to do on that tree you can pull the leaves off now since it should be dormant. It's called 'forced dormancy' you can repot, wire, prune and then the new set of leaves will pop in the Spring

very helpful thank you very much.

@OrlandoBonsaiTV thanks, i did take the leaves off. one more question is it ok to make a grafted japanese maple to a bonsai?

thank you, this was really helpfull :-)

@OrlandoBonsaiTV thanks for the speedy reply pal, big help, to be fair I'm looking at vids now and think they could wait another year before i start. One more question, I have just bought some Japanese maple seeds and cant find any info on what to do with them, you look more in the know than most of the literature out there, any ideas?

Great video. Can I just ask how much you can do in one go to reduce leaf size on a maple? Also is there a particular time of year one should do this?

Nice tips ..

I just uprooted a little blue ash tree to shohin it. It's been in bonsai mix for about a month, and fertilized and doing great. I'd like to defoliate it in a month or so to reduce leaf size, since it is deciduous. Only problem is the leaves seem to be in leaflets of 3 or 5. Do I remove each leaf at the base or the whole leaflet at the base?

good info!

Watched multiple videos and yours actually answered the question. Is this technique applicable to every leafed bonsai? As opposed to evergreens and things

Can you take an oak tree about 6 inch diameter and cut it near ground level, put rooting powder on it and plant it in a large bucket? Will it start rooting? Should the large limbs be cut back to 3-4 inch and maybe the main trunk 2 feet tall? Or should I just dig the tree up and try to save all the roots I can. Month is June in OK.

Could you do a video with care tips for Alder tree bonsai? I would like to know how to control leaf size, what soil it needs and other general care tips!

@mw2ak47pro I have never heard of a rose bush being used as a bonsai, however there are dwarf versions of them. Generally we look for plants with woody trunks. Leaves can be reduced but flowers and fruits will always be full size.

Since the tree is just a sapling at this point the best thing to do is promote its growth so fertilize it when it puts out it spring leaves. Also to make the tree interesting you can wire the trunk and give is some slight bends so when it gets older it will have beautiful movement

Hi, how do I protect my trident maple bonsai from frost or prepare it for northeast winter since it haddock to be outdoors. Thanks

Very Cool

Hi i have had no luck with bonsai tree's till i watched your vids it was due to lack of water :( just 1 question my bonsai has a small trunk then bends over to the right then stops, then from the trunk there is 3 branch's all the growth is on 2 of the branch's to the left hand side and very little growth (leafs) to the right hand side the 3rd branch how do i get growth there ? thanks again

Great video just wondering if you keep doing the leaf reduction will the tree keep producing small leaves?

@Burneynator I'm glad you liked my video about reducing leaves. Hopefully more videos to come very soon!

@snowmoon83 Go for it! I would only do it once this year so you can watch how long it takes for new leaves to fill in

Awesome videos! Thanks for sharing your expertise. I will watch all your other bonsai videos tonight. I am hoping to make a Mango bonsai. I have a week old sapling. Is it too soon to cut its top? It has 5 leaves. Any advise in this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Great video paul, really helped me to bonsai. Bonsai awaaaayyyyyyy!!

Hi Paul, Could you do a close up showing exactly what 'terminal bud' you are hand pruning?

@93hipgnosis You're right, Azaleas are in a class all by themselves. I'll try to do a video in the future on that topic

can you trim branches, leaves and defoliate indefinitely? Or will there come a time when you have removed so much material over the years that the tree can never recover? Say you trim all the unwanted growth on pads after every growing season, can you do this forever or will it eventually run out of places to make new buds?

Hello, Last year i have put a oak nut in a pot. In the mean while it started growing. I keep inside on a cool place. Who long must it grow before i can start working on it. And what's the wright thing to do first?

I've got an unusual problem with my Bonsai, a Ginseng Ficus. It was given to me in June just gone, the branches already there continue to grow at a moderate pace, but the tree has grown 3 new shoots directly from the main body and in comparison to the leaves already present the leaves from these shoots are more spaced apart, not as thick, not as dark are at least 3 times the size of the original leaves. Is this normal or do these shoots need to be removed? Sorry to ask on this thread, but I literally can't find any information about this occurrence.

Thank you. Just what I needed to know. I do have a question. I just made my first two bonsai with cuttings they are growing nicely.I just replanted then in a more shallow pot. And I trimmed the roots. I put moss all around covering the whole pot. Will this process with adding direct light kill off my moss? It looks pretty good and I'm proud for my first time. But I definitely want my leaves to start growing smaller. But I know moss doesn't like direct light. So is that something you need to consistently do every time there is new growth? Or will the tree eventually get used to that and only produce smaller leaves after a certain point?I'd love to have the landscape full of moss. Also, because I just planted two sticks on the ground to grow my trees, this is their first spring. Should I wait to do this process until they are a little older? Or would it be fine to go ahead and start that now? Great video and thank you

Great vid. Two questions if you dont mind: 1) can Azaleas be defoliated? 2) In Acers, can you partly defoliate more than once per year? Thanks a lot

hi there, i am on my first trees, (black pines) and the needles are very long. do the same rules apply? I keep them indoors and the pot I keep them in is much too deep? Would that make any difference? The trees are about 6 inches and have never had the roots trimmed?

could you do a video about ficus care fertilizing.. and how to work the nebara on ficus trees?