AusBonsai

yeah i probably will still split them,
i think i will leave the right trunk almost as is, but once i get the left trunk healthy after split i will probably cut it down by about 70 percent( is this too much? should i do in stages?)


last night i had a dig around some of the cuttings i took. basically all the smaller ones that i expected to take off have died. these where all dipped in hormone, planted in a propagating mix, and left out of the sun with a coke bottle green house type situation. none survived.

BUT...

there where 3 big branches i had removed that sat on my lawn for about 4 nights before i decided stuff it and just jammed them into the dirt in my vegie patch in full sun and with no hormones.. these are growing like champs!
also the large tap root cutting which i just chucked in a chinese container with grit and soil seems to be taking off as well,

basically the total opposite of what i thought would happen has happened

The growth on the larger branches could be due to residual energy...? Hope that is not the case and they continue to power on for you. I guess you'll find out soon enough... Good luck with em!!

hi ryceman, with residual energy would they be putting out roots or leaves? or both? they haven't put out any new leaves, but i kind of dug them from one side on each trunk and there's heaps of fine new roots coming out.
In hindsight i wish i hadn't gone near the roots but after i realized all the smaller cuttings were dead i was about to rip them out and chuck them on the green waste pile, and curiosity got the best of me.

I would expect foliage to result from residual energy so I'd say the fact new roots are emerging is a big positive....

bit of an update...

after a tense wait, new buds are finally showing themselves, and almost exactly where i was hoping for them.
if you look closely you can see them in the red circles. you cant see them from this angle but the blue circles show the other spots where they are appearing.
there is about 6 or 7 buds at each marked location so im going to give them another couple of weeks and rub out all but the strongest.
there is still no signs of new growth anywhere above the top circle until you get right up into the top canopy, so fingers crossed something pops so i can decide how far down to cut the canopy off (canopy is healthy but cut off in this photo)
i will likely cut back the thick branch on the right back nearer to the main trunk as there is loads of growth around that area, but still deciding whether it could be used in the design.
Still too scared to split the trunks at this point.

apologies if im updating too often..

quick update.
decided to bite the bullet and split the trunks on this one today.. i meant to do it last year but this tree is very picky about fertiliser and ussually sulks when fed so its been very slow growing.

i decided to focus on the one good trunk so this one got the bulk of the good feeder roots.. the ugly trunk has now gone into the ground and if it survives i will attempt to airlayer the best bits from it.

the keeper trunk got a minor root reduction, just enough to get it into the styro box, and has gone into an even mix of crushed brick, river sand and potting mix.
i decided not to spend too much time worrying about potting angle and such as i havent chosen a front and am planning to flat bottom and repot into a shallower pot next year, and dont plan on styling until the branches have started to thicken a bit more..

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Oh wow! Two nice trees from one.

Playing the long game...they certainly like to make us be patient! Well done getting this far!

not much to update here. but thought i would show this monster branch coming off the half that went into the ground.
first noticed it about 7 weeks ago when it was waist high and since then has jumped to about 14 or 15 ft. Leaves are at least 10 times of the rest of the plant. biggest thorns are about 5cm long...
Just thought it was odd considering its a thornless dwarf variety. tempted to try wire my name into it.

That's called a water shoot, and that's how they climb. I watched a video on bougies once, and the artist mentioned that the water shoots can be used for giving structure to your bonsai, since they thicken so quickly. Sometimes they need a prop to hold them in the position you want them in....(That's if you've thought about positioning it whilst it's soft.)

oh cool, i didnt know that.
i plan to eventually airlayer most of the bigger branches off this one and eventually discard the ugly base. The water branch starts lower than all my planned layers so havent even thought about positioning it. the top half is still pretty bendy though so maybe i could wire a cool trunk line into it and layer that off later too.
Do you think if i layered it though it would keep the huge leafs and thorns or would it revert back to the dwarf foliage in a small container?

I don't know for sure if it'll revert, but worth a try. I always cut thorns off anyway, since I'm an accident waiting to happen, and don't need any excuses to bleed all over my plants.