Casuarina Options ?

[boom64]

Hi All,
I was hoping to get a few ideas from the Aus Bonsai community in regards to the future development of this Casuarina. It was one of the first trees i collected when i started Bonsai.Bare rooted in April several years ago.It has been somewhat neglected over the years.I trunk chopped the leader but by the looks of it i left it a little to late as i have not created much taper.The bottom right hand branch directoin .Also the thickness of branches is somewhat strange. I let a branch grow from the back (top right) to fillout a dead spot. .The base is 120mm above the root.The height is 355mm to the top of the trunk and 300mm to the top of the deadwood.
Please feel free to offer any opions as i feel i should start to deal with it now. Thanks John.

[Olivecrazy]

Cool tree my type of material never done one of these but have seen alot that have lately on this site im sure they can point you in the right direction

[MattA]

Hey John,

What a cracking good trunk to play with. I can see 2 possible ways to take it.
Cut all the branches off & regrow them in a classical style, Or
Work with the current mixture of branch sizes & shapes for a more natural tree in its second stage of life.

Matt

[Dario]

Hi John, I really like this one!
Personally, I prefer the first pic myself even though the second pic shows off the deadwood better.
If it were up to me I would remove the lowest branch that is on the right in the first pic, whichever front you choose to go with, and probably turn it just a few degrees anticlockwise.
Also maybe cut back the leader by half to the small front branch and use that instead with a turn towards the right and rebuild the top from there.
That is my and how I see it, but I would be interested in hearing from the more experienced members.
This probably will sound strange, but it reminds me of an oak tree I am developing
Cheers, Dario.

[boom64]

Hi Olivecrazy ,Yes it is similar to your olives. Probably a bit small by your standards.

Hi Matt,Thanks for the feedback.Removing all branches and starting again is a great option considering how fast they grow.

Hi Dario ,Thanks for your thoughts. Always good to hear different ideas. Hope the Oak is behaving for you.

Thinking of cutting back the leader and most of the other branches. Except the 2nd right which i might cut back to 30mm and build a large sweeping branch to fill out that side. Keep my fingers crossed that i get a few good ones elsewhere ,and this time wire them accordingly .A big thanks guys, John.

[Tony Bebb]

Hi John

Great tree mate. Got a good future I reckon.

I agree with cutting the existing thick branches off to get more to play with. You can still get a little better taper if you want, but to do this I wouldn't prune the leader, rather let it grow for a while.

I would look at the second photo to use the deadwood to help the taper, and rotate the tree a little back and too the right so it sits at a slight angle from the ground, leaning to the right. You could let the existing leader grow for better taper, then cut back short to a shoot on the left to create some movement, but not too exagerated. The tree would then be grown back over to the right to complete the direction.

Best Regards

Tony