Foam Grow Box: what now?

[Daryl R]

G'day all,
I pulled 2 Chinese Elms & an Olive out of their Bonsai Pots about 3 years ago in order to thicken up the trunks... haven't touched them since!!!
Trunks are progressing well but shud I be Root Pruning or Trimming back branches.

Thanks for the advice

[shibui]

Now that's a very open question
So much depends on what they look like and what you expect.
I always work on the roots regularly. Good nebari can lift a mediocre tree to a better bonsai so I'd say work on the roots at the first opportunity.
As for trimming the branches: Free growth will usually give maximum trunk thickening but that's not always the best way to bonsai. Thick trunks that have to be chopped can take many years to heal the large cuts and may always look like a stump instead of an elegant tree. Regular pruning gives me far better options for when I eventually prune down to bonsai size and several smaller cuts heal much quicker than a single giant one.

For more specific advice you should post some pictures. 1Mb file size limit for ausbonsai attachments so you may need to reduce file sizes to load them.

[Daryl R]

Thanks Shibui,
Yes, I shud probably be working on the nebari, is it too late in the season to do this now?
Thank you for your advice on the branches, thinking they need to grow a little more before trimming.
Will post some pics when I work it out

[shibui]

To properly work the roots you will need to totally bare root. If it has not been done before you may need to do some severe root cuts. The best time for that with the elms is spring before the buds open. Severe root work at this time of year could cause problems so probably best to leave it till the end of winter.
Olives seem to cope better with root pruning when it is warmer. I know they will survive transplant and root pruning at any time of year but I would prefer to do that in November here. You are in the home of olives so may know better than me what is OK.
My collected olives seem to develop better branches when they get pruned regularly. Leaving them to grow long does not seem to make a lot of difference to thickening as far as I can see so I have started pruning and pinching regularly on the olives.