Hello Everyone,

I am planning on starting work on an American Black Walnut as a bonsai tree. Something that I noticed about the new branch growth is its 6 shoots. I included a picture below. My plan is to prune 4 of the 6 shoots removing the ones pointing primarily up and down. Does this makes sense? Also, I will probably prune the shoots themselves back to one to two pairs of opposing leaves. I haven't seen many if any instructions on walnut trees so I am just doing a logic check. Suggestions? Thanks!

Shermanator wrote: Does this makes sense?

I'm confused. Are you talking about that big tree on the photo of which I see the trunk? Are you being serious?

The picture is not and was never meant to be of a bonsai, but an example of how black walnut branches new growth. I am asking for advice about a future project.

Shermanator wrote: The picture is not and was never meant to be of a bonsai, but an example of how black walnut branches new growth. I am asking for advice about a future project.

Oh I see

Why choose this tree, that can be trained into a bonsai, but which is pretty hard for a beginner?

Personally I will never use walnut for bonsai.

One of the main reasons is the leaf size. The second is the caorse growth habit. They will only work as very large trees. Think, a 20cm thick trunk and a 1 metre tall tree.

Please note: You are confusing shoots and leaves. The leaves on this tree are the things you call shoots. So the whol 'stem' with all the opposing leaflets falls off in fall. (This is one of the reasons of the coarse growth: The leaves itselft form a sort of 'sidebranch', which will therefor never grow as a real side-branch.
Pruning these to two leaflets does not make sense.