Training and pinching

• The bending and training should be done as soon as it is possible to tie a wire. But some of the
• plants with a soft bark will be damaged if wired very early.
• For training and bending, copper wire is best as it is pliable (flexible). In established bonsai, the training and pruning go together.
• A bonsai is kept dwarf by various methods of pruning, viz., shoot pinching, leaf-pinching, and
• root pruning.
• Root and shoot are judiciously pruned to obtain the planned shape and size and to control the rate of development.