AusBonsai

Exactly what craig said. Most decidous and broadleaf trees will be ground grown for the trunk only, once the tree's are lifted they are stripped of all branches as they are usually too thick for the design and the internode length of new branches are too long to be incorporated into the design. For me, this wouldn't be an issue for say, Ficus, because they will back bud anywhere possible.
When it comes to Conifers, a little more care should be taken, though I don't have enough experience with these.

Cheers for all the replies guys. I was thinking kind of in reverse, as in "trunk" "nebari" then branching? I will do some reading tonight and work out exactly what is needed for each specific tree and sort it on Sunday. As for spacing, I had a second look and there is almost 12 inches between each tree, so I am happy with that, the photo is a little bit deceptive of spacing due to the angle. I will lift my maples and elms to sort the nebari though.

Regards jasonb

Hi mate. Nice area for growing . 12 inches is very close. I would be going nearly a meter square for each tree depending on how big they are going to get eg. Chinese elms trident maple would need at least this. Smaller shrubs not so much . The low branches will help fatten the trunk adding taper so keep and encourage these .

Paul

Hi Jason growing trees is like building a house you start from the foundations and work up so nebari is first then you work on one section of the trunk at a time using low growing sacrifice branches to thicken each section. If you try to work on the whole trunk at once you will end up with poor taper. I grow my trees in pots for 2-3 years to get the roots in order and the lower trunk wired for movement, also try to have the sacrifice branches in place before they get planted out
Craigw

This is all a learning curve for me here guys, so again thank you, these posts alone are going to be very beneficial to my trees health. In regards to nebari, I am only interested with that on my deciduous trees and all but one, have no low branches. Is this going to a reverse taper possibility?

Jasonb

Jasonb wrote:This is all a learning curve for me here guys, so again thank you...

You might be raw Jason, but I reckon just about all of us with more experience would have loved to have had a ground growing area and trees in it in year one. You are on the right track

Cheers,
Mojo