Chinese Elm - back budding

[JimmyBanks]

G’day all,

I recently purchased 3 small Chinese elms, they had very straight trunk, with no taper so I chopped the trunks on all 3. Judging from the amount of buds that have grown I cut it way to high however, now that it has back budded and is growing I’m curious, do I remove the excess buds now or leave them to develop into branches and trunk chop again next year?

[pebble]

I no expert, but the more branches and the thicker you let them get the thicker the trunk will be.
If you are going to chop again you really want it to grow untouched for a few years to thicken up and develop the trunk. then when you are happy with the trunk girth do a hard chop, then start to develop the branches.
I'm sure someone else with more experience will chime in soon

[JimmyBanks]

Thanks pebble. That’s what I thought but being a newbie just wanted to confirm. I don’t have much experience growing trees, let alone bonsai.

[shibui]

Trunk chop again? How tall is it now? Looks like there will be nothing left if you chop lower.

It is usual to chop, wait to see where the new shoots are then complete the cut in an appropriate place near one of the new shoots. Need to let the new shoots grow and harden. Cutting close to soft, new shoots like these you risk breaking them off or having the trunk die back a bit further and take the new shoot. If these grow well you may be able to make the final cut at the end of summer but if the chosen shoots still have green bark leave it until spring I think.

You can leave any lower branches for a while. As Pebble says, lower branches all contribute to the trunk below growing thicker so plenty of low branches is good. The dilemma is how long to leave them. Thick sacrifice branches leave large scars that take some time to heal. Thin branches don't contribute much to the trunk...

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Trunk chop again? How tall is it now?

Hi JimmyBanks,
Shibui's question prompts me to ask another. Did you scratch around the soil line at tree's base to find the "true" nebari or some flare before chopping?
Sometimes the trunk can continue to extend (be buried) well below the potted soil line.
You may find out your new low branches are actually located half way up the tree's trunk.

[JimmyBanks]

I didn’t before the trunk chop but I have since making the trunk chop. There was about another 1-2cm under the soil when I chopped, that’s why I’m thinking I should have cut lower. Unfortunately they are all a little too straight but I did notice on one that it has 2 large surface roots. I feel like I need to cut them but wasn’t sure about doing the trunk chop and cutting the surface roots at the same time.

Like I said, very new to this. Think I’m gonna need to join a club and subscribe to Mirai Live or something...

[Max]

a year ago i was eager as all get up and go, but i also saw people buy tube stock, wire them and then place them into bonsai pots