Claret Tops Shohin in the making

[NAHamilton]

I've been developing this one from nursery stock for around 9 months. I love the colour and the speed of growth is good for a newbie who like to use his scissors. I'm going to reduce it to where it forks in the top, just enjoying the colour of the new growth for now.

I began to sit it in about 2cm of water constantly for about the last 6 weeks. This seems to have increased the vigour, although I'm not sure whether it just coincides with a growth spurt. This was recommended to me by a local grower and site member who I purchased a larger specimen from. Has anyone had experience with this? I did some reading and found it is used for a number of species although a lot of what, is on this site talks more about the gravel trays of water rather than just water.

All criticism and comments welcome as I still have no idea what I'm up to

[Eusto]

Isn't it an australian native and drought tolerant? I could be wrong, but i'm not sure sitting it in water is the right thing to do.
I'd wire the lower branches more horizontol and take some height off the tree. A good "rule" for finished height of a bonsai tree is the height being about 6 times the width of the trunk. Obviously there aren't really any rules, and you can do as you please.

[Brian]

mate, knock it out of that small pot and replant it in a larger container with a nice open mix.

It needs to get some growth and style for a year or so, then it can go back into the smaller pot.

[time8theuniverse]

Nice pot choice.

It looks like you have an idea where you want to go with it. But I can see a trunk chop at the 3rd branch and some time in the ground to take it to the next level.

[Bougy Fan]

Water or tray with gravel and water - they love it. Don't be scared to cut it back hard as time8 suggested. It really should only be in a bonsai pot when it is getting close to final size and shape.

[NAHamilton]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

All I can really say about the tree being in the small pot already, is I wanted to have a tree in a small pot (which can also be seen in the other posts I made that day... ) I totally understand the comments though and it's coming out of there so in a couple of years I can have a quality tree in a small pot

Nice pot choice.

It looks like you have an idea where you want to go with it. But I can see a trunk chop at the 3rd branch and some time in the ground to take it to the next level.

I was thinking of a bit higher up but that third branch is a good observation and will give a much better taper. I wanted to use these threads to track progression so will update once it has been reduced.