always pinching and bringing a tree back into "shape"

[potatofarmer]

i read somewhere this will eventually weaken and kill the tree. is that true?

what is the correct method? let it grow wild one year, pinch and prune the next?

my hemlock is having a year and some of the new shoots would be four inches long with tons of buds all along them. so i have been pinching everything back fairly aggressively and revisiting it and pinching stuff i missed the first go around.

 

[Wulfskaar]

How I understand it is that it depends on what stage the tree is in and also on the species.

If you need thickening of trunk and branches, or to recover from major work or disease, then you let it run and cut back later.

If you want to work on ramification, then you would prune to promote that.

If you just want to maintain a tree as-is, then you might prune to shape a lot more, with some grow-out recovery or strengthening periods through the years. I've never had a bonsai that was anywhere near this stage, so I have no experience here.

 

[shohin_branches]

Constantly pinching and not letting the branches extend before cutting back will weaken a lot of trees. Junipers have all their strength in their growth tips and if you pinch all the growth tips many will die before they have a chance to regenerate buds. California redwood are so vigorous that if you don't constantly pinch them you'll lose your design quickly.

Most trees fall in the realm of allow it to push spring growth and then as soon as it hardens off prune back to your buds. For alternate growth prune back to two buds. For opposite growth prune back to the first node (which has two buds)

 

[leatherback]

what is the correct method? let it grow wild one year, pinch and prune the next?

There is middle growth between constantly removing growth and letting it just grow for a year..
In general, yes. A tree needs to grow to build roots, wood etcetc. Constantly stopping it from growing weakens it.

It is however really dependent on species and stage it is in what that translates into so 'it depends'. That being said.. Most of my deciduous are allowed to extend a bit in spring. Being careful here that more refined thin branches species do not get to extend so much that the tree starts fattening;

Good to know: Highly refined deciduous are only on their peak, prepared for the grad stage, for a few years, after which the tree is allowed to regain strength and have a few seasons of extension, after which renewed ultra refinement starts..