AusBonsai

Removed quite a lot of branches, 3 coming out of same place on the trunk.

Any ideas on how to improve the taper.

i got a couple of these, as they grow like weeds in brissy -i have been brutal and experimental , they carve , they grow fast if loaded up with food and water, they cope with prune and repot out of season, in summer they get a Beatle who's larvae eats the new leaves like crazy. you could do anything you like with it and it'll be right

I think material like this will often require some significant carving.
You can maybe even use the 3 branched point as your leader area as this will swell significantly and help with the next step of taper.

To be honest material like this (straight and chunky) will often take quite some time to build some foundations.
Good luck.

You need to let the new leader grow to about 2/3 desired thickness, then cut back to the next "new" leader and grow it out to 2/3 desired thickness, then cut back to the next "new" leader... etc..
keep multiple branching coming from the same spot to a minimum, otherwise you get the antithesis of taper - aptly named "reverse" taper!
That basically is how you create good taper - no reason why you can't pull that off with this tree, it's pretty straight but with time I think it can work. Enjoy the journey!

Just a little addition, it shows from the photos that it is in, it seems, a restrictive pot.
For all this growth and tapering and leading to happen, it will happen in a much shorter period of time if you put it in a MUCH larger container, or the ground.
good luck
Watty

wattynine wrote:Just a little addition, it shows from the photos that it is in, it seems, a restrictive pot.
For all this growth and tapering and leading to happen, it will happen in a much shorter period of time if you put it in a MUCH larger container, or the ground.
good luck
Watty

Watty, my styrofoam box measures 38 x 30. Do you think this is too small for a grow box?

Yes I believe too small, and depth is important as well, it seems you have it planted well down inside the box.
if you lift it and put in a larger container, form a large disc to sit under the root ball and this will assist in developing nebari.
This is all dependent on what end result you are looking for also, and your patience.
Personally I wouldn't even consider a line to carve until you know what you are doing with the tree long term. eg; if you put this in a grow box for 3 -5(?) years a lot of these issues will sort themselves out and you'll have time to consider futures.
hope this helps
Watty

You can also just sit it on the ground and let it root through the styro box. That way when you ready to start you just take an old saw and cut through the roots and you have another set of roots in the box. I don't believe you will have much success trying to grow new leaders with this species. They tend to always look like a skinny branch stuck on top of a fat trunk. The best examples I have seen of these are broom style using the existing trunk and new shoots for the canopy. Heaps of chook poo and water too !

Have you read THIS TUTORIAL on trunk chopping recently Hawkeyes?

Regards,
Steven

I have a Celtis that I dug from my mate's front yard very similar to this. Dug a week before Christmas & already has 2 new shoots 4ft tall.
I was going to leave it alone for a year, then chop it lower & try a broom style.
If it's anything like mine, those wide flaring surface roots are pretty bare so I'm hoping feeder roots will develop from them.

Bougy Fan wrote:You can also just sit it on the ground and let it root through the styro box. That way when you ready to start you just take an old saw and cut through the roots and you have another set of roots in the box. I don't believe you will have much success trying to grow new leaders with this species. They tend to always look like a skinny branch stuck on top of a fat trunk. The best examples I have seen of these are broom style using the existing trunk and new shoots for the canopy. Heaps of chook poo and water too !

Good advice,thank you Tony.

Muddy wrote:I have a Celtis that I dug from my mate's front yard very similar to this. Dug a week before Christmas & already has 2 new shoots 4ft tall.
I was going to leave it alone for a year, then chop it lower & try a broom style.
If it's anything like mine, those wide flaring surface roots are pretty bare so I'm hoping feeder roots will develop from them.

Seems like the way to go. Bonsai is a waiting game, isn't it.
Regards

Steven wrote:Have you read THIS TUTORIAL on trunk chopping recently Hawkeyes?

Regards,
Steven

Yes, v. good advice on trunk chopping.
Regards