Chinese elm styling advice

[JPG]

Hi all

I was looking for some advice/ideas for styling a Chinese elm. I bought this tree at a Bonsai shop (Wanneroo markets one in Perth if anyone knows it) and potted it up as shown. Note, I'm a total amatuer so nothing too complex.

Thanks in advance

Chinese_Elm_Aug2012_small.jpg

[bodhidharma]

Its basic styling is OK. You need to be wiring all the branches to where you want them. That includes all the secondary branching. When i first began i would look at a tree that i liked and shaped the tree i was working on to emulate it. That starts to develop your eye for styling. Join a club nearest you.

[Guy]

now is the time to set the roots on the right track--what is happening under the soil-can you encourage a more even root size and spread-that single large root will probably out grow the others -you should be able to get some decent advice on nebari technique-possibly nick the trunk where you think a root should be ,bit of hormone powder then bury a little deeper--or do ' toothpick method' search in ausbonsai site.

[JPG]

Well it's been almost two years, and unfortunately I haven't had any time to actually do anything much with this tree. Anyway, I was looking at the photos and I got to think that a wind swept style might work. I'll wait till mid-June before I do any work on it.

I did this little mock up using the old photo (I'll try to update the photo at some point but I don't think it has changed much). What I thought was to take of the branches on the right side and tilt it over a bit to the left. I'd also need to raise the remaining branches a little to be more in line with the angle of the top branch. The two roots to me would appear to "anchor" the tree as it leans over.

I'd love to know your thoughts/ideas.

Chinese_Elm_Aug2012_small_windswept_idea1.jpg

[kvan64]

Hi JPG,
Wind swept is possible to create as chinese elm is very flexible and easy to heal. However, it will be hard for you to maintain the style because of the growing nature of the species.
For this tree, you could just trim the top to make it more proportional and then remove all the leaves and cut the twigs short at the end of Jully. Wire and repot it at the same time and feed it with dynamic lifter pellets. This will improve the ramification and overall look of your tree.
About styling ...I would suggest informal up-right. If you really want to do something different, you could put some curve near the base by using thick wires.
Rgds
DK

[treeman]

It's too tall for the trunk thickness. Cut back the top to the third main branch on the right . Wire that up to forn a new leader. then shorten every thing else and form branches slowy by cut & grow.

[Guy]

read up on the rules of bonsai- i.e. what makes a good bonsai--if you are interested in making "good" bonsai then the rules are your friend

[Boics]

Is the tree trunk as big as you would like it to be?
If so then I'd be looking to follow some of the advise given and look for a smaller tree and chop back (probably all) of the branches.

If the answer to my first question is that it is not as big/thick as you'd like then I'd just let the tree continue to grow.

[Guy]

read up on the rules of bonsai- i.e. what makes a good bonsai--if you are interested in making "good" bonsai then the rules are your friend

here is a general outline

https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/rules.htm

[JPG]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll go through those rules.

It's in desperate need of a repot , which I'll do in a couple of weeks time and I'll probably end up taking the branches back a fair bit (remove about half?) as it's a bit of a mess at the moment (rather scraggly). I'll take the top off too, as suggested. Perhaps after I've cut it back I'll have a better idea of what direction to take the tree. I'll be using the same pot as it's the only one I have - I realise it's a bit big for this tree but we get some pretty hot/dry summers in Perth and I'm not always able to water it as often as it needs. Besides, I'd like the trunk to thicken up a little so a larger pot will allow this and limited room means I can't put it in the ground.

[JPG]

Just thought I'd provide an update on this one's progress. I repotted over winter and raised it up a bit too. I also gave it a good trim which has tidied it up considerably.

ChineseElm_Sept14_01_small.jpg

Here's a shot of the base of the trunk. There was another small root next to the large one which I trimmed off as I didn't like the look. By the way, what's the best way to clean the base of the trunk where it was previously below the soil?

ChineseElm_Sept14_02_small.jpg