AusBonsai

Bump. This thing is going nuts. Any comments on above Grant?? Thanks.

Sorry, I missed your post.

Branches can go either way to your taste.

Upwards then out or upwards then out then down gives a more broom like appearance,

Strongly down on this style may not suit. What do you think?

The trunk is short so no real need to rake down branches to make up for a tall trunk with lack of branches.

If it has well and truly leafed out you can wait say 4 to 6 weeks, defoliate then wire.

Grant

( I would probably lean towards upward movement first rather than down)

Grant Bowie wrote:Sorry, I missed your post.

Branches can go either way to your taste.

Upwards then out or upwards then out then down gives a more broom like appearance,

Strongly down on this style may not suit. What do you think?

The trunk is short so no real need to rake down branches to make up for a tall trunk with lack of branches.

If it has well and truly leafed out you can wait say 4 to 6 weeks, defoliate then wire.

Grant

( I would probably lean towards upward movement first rather than down)

Sounds good to me. I wasn't being pushy by bumping this, I know you are busy too and I appreciate your help. It has just gone nuts the last 2 weeks. I might wait and defoliate then wire. Plenty of other things to do to keep me busy. Thanks

Josh

No worries,

I genuinely missed it.

Grant

Finally got to update this one. Sorry Grant, should have been more on the ball.

And wired Back onto the shelf now to recover and regrow. That is unless you think I need to do something else. I had wondered about shortening the branches. Do I do that now? If so how far back??
Thanks
Josh

When you defoliate you should do it all the way out to the tip and remove the last bud as well. Otherwise the branch will just carry on as if nothing happened and you won't get much back budding.

Leave the branches to grow a little while yet so they thicken up and we can defoliate and shorten the branches in 6 to 8 weeks.

I will study the pics and get back to you re styling.

Grant

Grant Bowie wrote:When you defoliate you should do it all the way out to the tip and remove the last bud as well. Otherwise the branch will just carry on as if nothing happened and you won't get much back budding.

Leave the branches to grow a little while yet so they thicken up and we can defoliate and shorten the branches in 6 to 8 weeks.

I will study the pics and get back to you re styling.

Grant

Leaves are all gone. Looking back at the photos I probably took the photos from a bit high up than I should. If you need photos taken more at eye level I can redo them.

Josh

Josh wrote:

Grant Bowie wrote:When you defoliate you should do it all the way out to the tip and remove the last bud as well. Otherwise the branch will just carry on as if nothing happened and you won't get much back budding.

Leave the branches to grow a little while yet so they thicken up and we can defoliate and shorten the branches in 6 to 8 weeks.

I will study the pics and get back to you re styling.

Grant

Leaves are all gone. Looking back at the photos I probably took the photos from a bit high up than I should. If you need photos taken more at eye level I can redo them.

Josh

Thanks for the reminder! Retirement is very busy. Just heading out but will comment tomorrow.

Grant

It looks like you are on the right track although , as you said, it is a bit hard to tell at the angle from which you have photographed.

The leader you ask about should be lower and that will come from the next defoliation. In about 6 weeks we will defoliate and cut back the longer branches and cut the trunk down. This should pop new buds all over the tree and give you a new leader. Deciduous trees can have a spreading apex rather than a single leader.

Grant

Grant Bowie wrote:It looks like you are on the right track although , as you said, it is a bit hard to tell at the angle from which you have photographed.

The leader you ask about should be lower and that will come from the next defoliation. In about 6 weeks we will defoliate and cut back the longer branches and cut the trunk down. This should pop new buds all over the tree and give you a new leader. Deciduous trees can have a spreading apex rather than a single leader.

Grant

Thanks Grant, sounds good. 6 weeks and counting.

Josh.

Ok so things are flat out at the moment but finally got to defoliate this tree.
I need to wire now but wasn't sure if I should cut it back a bit first. What are your thoughts Grant. Also wondering should I be picking a new leader now. Would this be the one for the new leader (same branch from different angles)
Let me know your thoughts on pruning and the leader then I'll wire It and repost. Let me know if there is anything else I should be doing.

Thanks
Josh

Good work so far; its looking good. I will post my recommendations this afternoon once I have finished a few projects.

Grant

The tree looks like it has made good progress and you can cut back and wire now.

You can change your mind at this point if there are new possibilities etc for leaders, branches etc

Anyhow cut back, seal all cuts except the smallest and wire everything. Get the branching all harmonised

With the leader on the main trunk I would cut out the major one and use the thinner vertical one to the left. Make sure you put a few bends in it and shorten it as well.

grant

Hi Grant, just thought I would check if this is cut back enough and a couple of other things I think I need to do before I go to far with it.
I cut it back and wired the new leader and cut the branches back. Do I need to cut back further? Do I need to flatten out branch 2 or leave it growing upward
Should I remove branch 4 to open up the centre, create a negative space, branch 5 can be grown out to the left.
Should 7 become the new leader. I have already cut back the main leader but should cut back to this branch to continue the taper better
On the right trunk, should I cut it back to create branch 8 as the new leader on that side and also shorten it.
The trunk on the right leans forward a quite a bit. I will wire it back a bit more.

What do you think???

Thanks
Josh