- 1). Determine the desired outline shape of your bonsai tree canopy and sketch it out generally to use as a guide for shaping over time. You can make it perfectly symmetrical around the trunk, asymmetrical, windswept and leaning or a horizontal canopy with outward spreading branches and less top volume. Choose any form that pleases your eye and complements the shape of your ginseng ficus trunk, which is distinct in each plant. Keep this outline with your bonsai tools to use as a reference guide every time you shape the plant with pinching or pruning.
- 2). Establish the canopy height on your tree. Remove the foliage branches on the lower third to half of your tree trunk as guided by your chosen tree form. Make this choice while considering the exact shape of your swollen tree trunk and what looks most attractive and natural. Don't trim the canopy so high that it has just a palm tree-like tuft of foliage at the top of the trunk, as this distorts the natural form of the plant and will look out of proportion with the trunk.
- 3). Maintain the longest and thickest branches at the lower portion of the canopy and the shorter thinner branches generally tapering up towards the top. Irrespective of your chosen canopy shape, this technique will provide your ginseng ficus bonsai with a balanced and natural appearance.
- 4). Shape the circumference of the tree. Prune the terminal tips of lateral branches to suit your chosen form. Prune branches with six or more leaves down to two or three leaves to promote bushy dense foliage growth. Remove fewer leaves if this suits the form. This will keep the branches compact and spur new side branching. Place the cut just 1/8 to 1/4 inch beyond the leaf node or a branch spur, on a very slight angle.
- 5). Pinch back the new soft foliage tips of branches to spur side bud formation, control size and create dense leaf growth. Catch the tender foliage between your thumbnail and forefinger and sever gently just 1/8 inch above a leaf node.
- 6). Remove the green shoots and thin brown aerial roots that sprout from the trunk of your tree. Snip these off, flush to the trunk, with scissors or secateurs when you first see them, as they draw energy away from the plant and mar its appearance.
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