Pinus radiata yamadori styling advice please

[Dendrophile Dave]

Hi all this Pinus radiata was gifted to me recently and i'm told it was dug from the forest a couple of years back and been in the pot since without any real work done. Any and all advice welcome, i'm really unsure of a style to go with also i wouldn't mind doing some carving on it with the dremel if possible, cheers

[Ryceman3]

From what I can see, image(6) has the best base, but unless you want to chop down just above the lower foliage and grow from there I think your better option is image(7) as a front, because you can keep a bit more and develop a pretty OK tallish, slender tree from what is on offer. Depends on your timeline to achieve something.
In relation to carving, I can’t see a hell of a lot to do in that regard, you might need another tree for that, but there might be different options posted by others that appeal to you more and involve getting the dremel out.
Probably the biggest concern I see is the Guinness appears full and has the cap still on. Might wanna rectify that while you ponder the next move.

4C6ADA72-4E47-4AB4-8F51-B8589A6ABAFA.jpeg

[Dendrophile Dave]

Cheers Ryceman3 i very much appreciate it, you're right the tree is not suggestive of carving (i'm just overly eager to experiment and see whats possible!) Regarding styling nothing is jumping out at me with this tree but i do like what you've put forward and that is around the height i was looking to reduce to. BTW it was 10 in the morning when i took that shot but i can assure you the guinness wont survive the day

[TimS]

All about Ryce's idea there, as i grow in bonsai i am less and less into the chunky trunk thing and more into the elongated elegant trees pretty much irrespective of species. THat elongated trunk with minimal foliage is a winner for this tree IMO

[Dendrophile Dave]

Cheers Tim, also when would be the right time of year for some aggressive root and branch pruning, it was quite yellow when i got it recently but a couple of feeds and its greened up nicely, i'm Melbourne by the way and still likely to get a heat wave or two this Summer

[Ryceman3]

Cheers Tim, also when would be the right time of year for some aggressive root and branch pruning, it was quite yellow when i got it recently but a couple of feeds and its greened up nicely, i'm Melbourne by the way and still likely to get a heat wave or two this Summer

No issues pruning back to buds/branches now on Radiata in my experience. Heavy bending (not that anything proposed would be classified as that) is good now into early autumn too. The tree moves to vascular growth over autumn, which means any cracks/stress points opened up through big bends will be healed by the tree prior to winter.
Root pruning is another matter, and based on your pic it will need those roots sorted out. This is done in mid to late winter at my place (also in Melbourne) … but my caveat is that heavy and significant reduction of the foliage growth might mean it is best left until the following season…. not this year. With Radiata, this is probably “an abundance of caution” but big needle reduction followed by big root reduction a few months later can lead to big health problems, like death.
It’s beer o’clock by the way!

[Dendrophile Dave]

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No issues pruning back to buds/branches now on Radiata in my experience. Heavy bending (not that anything proposed would be classified as that) is good now into early autumn too. The tree moves to vascular growth over autumn, which means any cracks/stress points opened up through big bends will be healed by the tree prior to winter.
Root pruning is another matter, and based on your pic it will need those roots sorted out. This is done in mid to late winter at my place (also in Melbourne) … but my caveat is that heavy and significant reduction of the foliage growth might mean it is best left until the following season…. not this year.
[/quote]

It's settled then i'll give it a decent prune and wire now and leave the roots until next year. I will take a little off the the top of the rootball though to inspect the root flare and trim those girdling roots seen in the pic. Cheers