How to Trim a Zelkova Maple Bonsai

Slide on a pair of garden gloves to protect your skin during a warm spring or summer day. Add fresh water to a 2-inch deep metal tray until the tray is half full. Trim bonsais during spring and summer months only.

Carefully remove the bonsai from its pot with a 6-inch handheld garden shovel. Place the roots down into the water to remove loose soil and expose the bonsai roots. Lift the bonsai by its trunk. Comb a bonsai root rake through the roots to loosen any tight balls of roots. Purchase a bonsai root rake at your local home supply store.

Snip off one-third to one-half of each root with bonsai scissors. Trimming the roots is necessary to prevent the tree from growing too large for the pot. Purchase bonsai scissors at a local home supply store.

Wrap individual pieces of 2-mm wire through the prefabricated water holes on your pot. Place the tree back into the pot. Slide the roots under the wire to keep them flat. Fill the pot with fresh bonsai soil. Purchase bonsai soil at your local home supply store.

Trim one bonsai leaf at a time with bonsai scissors. Place the open blades of the scissors over the branch. Adjust the blades so they are flush with the bottom edge of the leaf. Cut the leaf away from its branch. Always cut in horizontal fashion on the edge of the branch. Repeat for however many leaves you wish to cut away.