07/07/2026
Let’s Play: “Find the Tree.”
One of the questions I hear all the time is, “How do I know what to cut off?”
So I came up with a little exercise called “Find the Tree.”
Your goal is to simplify the raw material by following a few basic guidelines:
• Remove anything that lacks taper, or shorten it until it transitions to better taper as quickly as possible.
• Remove anything that’s too straight.
• Keep branches that grow from the outside of curves.
• Remove anything growing straight up or straight down.
Swipe through and see if you can find the tree hiding inside each one.
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This is a good example of the kind of raw stock you might find at your local plant nursery.
I chose this one because it already has a nice base and good root flare (nebari). Those are things that are difficult to create later, so starting with them gives you a huge advantage.
The first thing I did was reduce the large split in the middle down to a single trunk, choosing the one with the most movement.
From there, I continued cutting back to create more movement while increasing the taper as I worked my way up the trunk.
Ain’t she pretty?
After that, I can expect a strong flush of new growth.
I let those new shoots extend and harden off before pruning again. Then I go back to my “Find the Tree” rules and remove anything that’s growing straight up, straight down, or from the inside of a curve.
Every round of growth gets me a little closer to the finished tree.
I then use wire to lower the branches I decided to keep, bringing them into a more horizontal position. This helps create a more mature-looking tree and establishes the basic branch structure.
😍
I wait for new shoots to emerge from the primary branches. Once they’ve grown enough, I repeat the process, wiring them down into a more lateral position.
And there you have it—our finished informal upright bonsai…..but wait➡️
… I said guidelines, not rules.
Let’s look at another example that ends up as a completely different tree.
We’re starting with the exact same piece of raw material, but this time we’ll make a different set of decisions.
In this example, I decided to k
