This was a tube stock seedling 3 years ago , slipped into a 30mm  flat tray and submerge in water for its first growing season .It took off  like a “gut shoot” greyhound dog , so during  the growing season i managed to set an air layer midway up the trunk . Not realizing the bark was so thick i found to my surprise the wood was only 5-6mm in diameter and the trunk at the point of the layer was 15 mm thick .I set the layer but didn’t brace the trunk and during a wind storm it was snapped off . .I sat the failed layer in water and at the first sign of roots i  potted it  up into a pot . It all but died back to the trunk however this season it has shot off and will make a nice trainer . The tree itself is well on its way to a flat top Swampy , just above the lower branch is where the layer was set , all the branching and foliage is in its second  season of development . The cypress knee’s were a fact of nature and then some assistance from me . In a confined space the roots grow and kink back because of the vigor in water growing {i would assume }.I noticed this on the first re-pot so i basically help them stand upright and created a few more by simply applying twist ties to the roots and allowing them to fatten up .Some of the man made ones have died off  because the kink in the roots was too severe . The trunk is around 25mm thick and the base flair is about  70mm below soil level  . The growing medium is 75% soft scoria  , 20% pine bark and 5%sharps  .This mixture or very similar is used in 95% of all of my plants ,  trainers , Yamadori and Bonsai . I have no desire to used  commercial Bonsai substrates as i would require 2-3 cubic meters and the cost factor would be out of the question .The mix can be used and reused time and time again , only adding extra pine bark as needed .When recycling the mix i simple wash out the fines   and re-apply . All in all its not a bad effort .Cheers Alpineart