AusBonsai

LOL hey dont laugh ok i did this on paint hope u can see what to do

whos laughing? i only have paint too, wow thats great thanks IS2SXC. thanks for taking the time in showing me what direction i should be taking my tree in, i studied ur design and i dont think youve seen the lower branch growing out to the front, should i be removing this? ive circled it in the pic. ive read in books you shouldnt have a branch growing out straight in ur front face for a bonsai, is this right?

where you have suggested in bending the branch and making a new leader do you think i can bend this by wire?

thanks
mike

lol the books say alot but just use them as guidelines i use to try to follow it in everyway now i just try to utilise any branch available so i keep most branches because in nature branches grow in all directions u can just bend it to the direction ur main branch is going like a fork

and yes u use wire to do this

p.s dont water your bonsai before u do this as the branches will be more flexible if u dont water.

hope this helps

cheers minh

thanks minh its greatly appreciated and helpful
and thanks for the water tip i would have thought it would be the other way round

thanks
mike

Hey ghostmike, that not watering tip is ESPECIALLY applicable to your favorite's the satsuki too. It is MUCH easier to bend them without snaps if you let them really dry out first. Just think of the fresh juicy new carrot that snaps crisply in half and the withered up dry old one thats been in the fridge for a month and you can bend it about like it was rubber

glad i could help

thought id update the progress of the bougainvillea, all comments are welcome even bad ones think i did an alright job but ill leave that up to yous to decide

nice work the only thing is you have what as known as a bar branch when you have two branches at the same point id remove the one on the inside of the bend (right side)

Hi Ghostmike Dayne is right about the bar branching - one of them has to come off. Otherwise it looks too symetrical and not "natural" Have you considered a cascade with this ? If you were able to bend the leader down without breaking it I think it would make a nice one. I have a fair few cuttings I have collected when at work. For a lot of the staight pieces if it is possible I usually plant it at an angle and do a cascade with it. When you have a straight trunk with no movement there isn't much you can do with them.

Tony

hi tony and dayne thanks for your advice, so do you think the cascade would work well? so what you are saying is to take the branch off on the right side and leave the left and then pull the leader down in the flow i have already started to establish with the wiring of the trunk?

Yep I think the branch on the inside bent should be removed and the area should also be carved to remove the reversed taper. Being a boug, new branch near the new apex will develop soon. just select a branch later on to train. Below is just a example.

Yep that's what I propose. It would be better to see a view at 90 degrees (coming from the right as it is pictured) In fact I would be inclined to also remove the branch on the left, have a smallish apex going up where the "top" branch is as in kvans picture and then grow a new leader down. I have a white bougy I collected as a cutting - I will see if i can take a photo tomorrow. It is still in an ordinary pot, but you will get the idea. I rewired it on the weekend - that's something you have to be careful with. They grow very quickly and usually need to be rewired several times for thicker branches. If you don't keep an eye on it the wire can cut in as little as 4 - 6 weeks after wiring.

good work mate

i wouldnt try and bend this over for cascade, maybe develop it to a semi eventually but not full. now is it just me or is this tree smaller than i first thought? that wire looks to be 1.5mm-2mm and it seems to be holding that leader with the guy wire quite well?

jamie

Hi Ghostmike
This is the bougy I was talking about. The picture isn't the best - I don't have a sheet of villaboard big enough for a background. Hope you get the idea though. Originally this started as a cutting that was bolt upright with no movement. You have to work with the material you have.


Tony

thanks everyone for ur input, quite like the ideas that have been put forward but i think ill go with kvan64's idea. i think it looks good the design that hes pictured. i will keep posting as i go

hey and thanks bougy for taking the time to post ur pic too, its good to get a look at other ways people are shaping the same trees

and thanks to jamie too. also did i use the wrong size wire? is that what you are referring to? the tree is 24 cm high in total now and the branch i have wired and bent down is about 1cm in thickness, just read up on the guy wire technique you referred to as well and i think i over done it in the wire size but seems to be working for me tho