Just purchased a corky bark elm. It's about 16 years old & was used by a nursery to obtain cuttings from, so it has been "bonsaied" to a certain extent. It's approx 700mm high & 500mm wide with a trunk diameter of 85mm just above soil level.
I've potted it in to a large Mica training pot using 100% diatomite. This is the first time I've used diatomite so I'm hoping it all goes well. It has been soaked in a Seasol/ Superthrive solution & placed to rest (not permanently I hope). I'll probably leave it for 12 months or so to let it recover & then start to style it.
As for styling options, I'm leaning towards broom-style. I've always wanted a large broom & I think this might be a good candidate. It obviously needs a lot of work on the nebari & may even need a complete chop to establish new branch structure. There's also 2 large wounds on the trunk ( one recent, one old) which may lend themselves to a sabamiki or shari.
Please excuse the quality of the photo's but the tree was waiting at the Post Office when I arrived home from work & it was a bit of a rush to get it in to some potting mix. It was dark by the time I had got it all sorted & the pics aren't great.
Any opinions or critique greatly appreciated. No style or even front has been chosen yet so it's open slather on this one. But be gentle as this is my first real post.
