Meet Chunky

[MattA]

All good up here mate, busy with autumn planting and waiting for seed to mature on the other Baeckea in the garden.

Good to see Chunky has handled the climate change ok & growing like it always does... They dont thicken fast so I think you should be right with the wire for a while, are you planning to grow out the leader for more taper?

[Jasonb]

Taper is the main focus of that leader, it will be considerably shorter in the end. I'm going for the sumo style, really short, nice and wide, very defined foliage pads. The left hand side has got a lot to be done, especially with the straight section. But this will come soon. When are up free to come down and see how things are going? I've got a project for us to start, and the time is just about perfect for it?

Also how is the lepto?

Jasonb

[Neli]

I want to know why are you keeping the roots so high? Is it not better to bury it so maybe finer roots for future nebari is developed or there is a reason I dont know.

[MattA]

Neli, good question & one at this stage I don't have an answer for, only to say that this is still young material just starting it journey.

Jason, I was just looking at the pics again to understand Neli's question. I am guessing from your shown front that the plan is to remove the secondary tree from the right front at repotting?

[Jasonb]

Hi Neil, Matt.
I am planning on raising the soil line a little bit at next repot, to compensate for the uneasy look that it has at the moment.
The photo is now a little bit off where I will be having the front, and yes the secondary tree, circled red, will be coming off and becoming a side project in its own little pot later, once I remove the secondary tree, there is three new shoots around that area that are a possible replacement for this. I will also be removing the left branch circled in white, in favor of a nice strong lower shoot that I will be putting some movement into. The top of the tree will be at the yellow line at the next stage of development.

Any input on these ideas would be great too. Also, this photo, like most photos, doesn't give a good feel for the trees actual dimensions. I will try and take some half decent photos in the morning to try and capture that for you.

JasonB

[Neli]

Jason, I did not see any red and white lines????

[Jasonb]

Sorry neli, the photo must have been lost in the change over, but if you look at the proposed front of the tree, the left hand, very straight trunk will be removed in favour of a new strong shoot, the clump on the right is a separate tree, and the tree will be reduced by just over a third. I'll try and find the pic for you so I can better illustrate this for you.

Jason

[Jasonb]

[Neli]

Everything looks fine Jastin. I just think the yellow line is a bit too high, but maybe you like your bonsai a bit high. The trunk has very nice tapper, and movement already. If you chop it shorter it will give the trunk more massive appearance, unless you would like to wait for it to thicken some more. It will be much faster to develop the tree also. How high is Chanky?
I can not see the nebari, maybe some soil can be added ( not sure) and you can use this time to work on the nebari??