The practice of bonsai development incorporates a number of techniques either unique to bonsai or, if used in other forms of cultivation, applied in unusual ways that are particularly suitable to the bonsai domain. These techniques include:
- Leaf trimming, the selective removal of leaves (for most varieties of deciduous tree) or needles (for coniferous trees and some others) from a bonsai’s trunk and branches.
- Pruning the trunk, branches, and roots of the candidate tree.
- Wiring branches and trunks allows the bonsai designer to create the desired general form and make detailed branch and leaf placements.
- Clamping using mechanical devices for shaping trunks and branches.
- Grafting new growing material (typically a bud, branch, or root) into a prepared area on the trunk or under the bark of the tree.
- Defoliation, which can provide short-term dwarfing of foliage for certain deciduous species.
- Deadwood bonsai techniques called jin and shari simulate age and maturity in a bonsai.