Help with pruning one of my balcony pot-plants Thuja Hiba or Thujopsis dolabrata

Reminder, you are talking to an absolute beginner, never tried anything like it to grow on my balcony.

I have the following Thuja Hiba on my south facing balcony, in a pot. See pic. It is doing extremely well and growing faster than expected. Now it needs a prune. I want to keep it the round shape it is but also make sure it does not look like a bush in a theme parks, organised to the nth degree where it mimics a plastic one.

I assume spring or autumn is the best time, or can one do cuts at any time? And next how to best prune (as in where along the stem)? Open to any tips and insights about my lovely Thuja here.

 

I think you probably need to go down the Bonsai route with this.
Not something I know much about but I'm sure some others do.

 

I think so too. Was just wondering if there are good and bad times to do so and what can the plant stand and what not. General tips of folk that worked with this species or similar ones.

I would hat to ruin this one as it is just perfect for where it is.

 

Well you will need to do something with it, if its around the size you want now.
It will only get bigger otherwise.

I think it would be ok to make a start on it now regarding cutting back any growth and shaping, I wouldn't do anything to the roots at this stage.

 

My thought too as it needs to sat this size.

I trimmed the roots a bit in the spring as I reported it. so that will not happen this year.

is there an ideal season to prune? A place along the branch where to prune and where not?

 

As I said, personally I dont know much about bonsai, but its mostyl about making a small tree look like a miniature version of a full grown one.

I think you decide on how you want it to look and then you do some quite drastic pruning, taking some branches off entirely right back to the main stem to open it up.
But that is just my thoughts.

I dont think we have a bonsai thread on here.

 

i know all that I have a 35 year old bonsai grown from a seedling. so that bit I know. the question here is what time of year and how deep to cut etc. any specific tips on pruning this guy.

 

Well if you have a 35 yr old one already you probably know more than me.

What happened to the absolute beginner in the original post?

 

well the beginner is the one with the plants on the balcony and having never ever dealt with a Thujopsis dolabrata where I do not know what happens if I prune the tops out. Hence, like many of us, a bit of experience here and non what so ever there. So in Zen terms I am a beginner in Thujopsis dolabrata land and pruning it.

And Bonsaui is a very different form of art to gardening.

 

see maybe we have a crossed wire here. I do not want it to look like a Bonsai. I need to prune it back since it is a pot. And doing so I want it to keep the cone form. I do not know how to deal with the top, and how to prune those so it keeps the cone shape. What happens if I cut a top out, will it branch in to 5 new tops?

 

It looks like it hasn't got a single leader anyway, you can trim it into a cone shape but it will always look like a piece of topiary.

 

indeed one has 4 leaders and one 7. that it will look topiary I understand. and that is OK. still be interested in how one best deals with pruning the leaders so they do not create many leaders as sometimes happen when je cut a branch on some plants.

Anybody got any experience with that?

 

Well normally with conifers you just cut them with a pair of shears to the shape you require.

 

OK, and the leaders will not go crazy?

 

I dont think so, but you will need to trim a couple of times a year.