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
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This was a project from a year or so ago , 4 Japanese B lack Pines approximately 
3.5 m or 12 feet tall , i approach grafted the apexes together , 32 Inarch grafts set on the lower section and 4 air layers
basically all in the same growing season .The layers were removed 1 week ago and potted up into larger pots . The apex had some damage to 1 trunk , { it Snapped } hence only 3 apexes survived .I have just finished approach grafting young JBP starters
to the void in the lower part of the fused apex trunks , these will fuse together over the next season or two . The Inarch graft have powered on this season , 1 was severed to see if it would survive early cutting 
. It has and the only issue was it began to bleed sap out of the base cut so grafting tape was wrapped around that point to prevent sap flow .These are downward facing Inarch grafts 
,next is a single branch with the apex and 2 side shoots grafted plus underneath a branch grafted sideways across the trunk back onto itself
, A single branch grafted on its own trunk , then grafted onto another trunk ,
yes double grafted 
Then the single branch grafted using 2 side shoots and the apex of the branch .Originally these tree’s cost $10 each and its been the most interesting challenge for $40 to transform shitty sticks into something very different .Next season all of the main trunks will have layers set to remove at least 10 sections producing about 16 thick trunk pines ready for styling .Bean pole straight but i can certainly apply a bend or two into the trunks .Cheers and Happy Bonsai . Alpineart
This is another fir collected and potted .
This is the first styling of this tree 
again to establish a frame-work for the future Bonsai
This too will be pinched to maintain the basic shape and improve the ramification of the branches .