How do you choose a style?

[GavinG]

Talk of poking an ant's nest with a stick!

For my two cents: if you want thick gnarly trunks, plant them in the ground, grow long, cut back hard. Plant it at a different angle each year. It won't get thick in a little pot. Then the tree will tell you what style it is. Style is not so much what you do to a tree as it is the result of you and the tree driving each other mad over a number of years. Otherwise what Mojo said - look at lots of trees, find out how they were grown/made if you can (=join a club) read books and look around. Learning to draw can be useful. And being completely unreasonable.

Good luck,

[Bella]

Im all over the drawing thing. Been doing it for awhile. Yeah, I cant pot them in the ground right now cause Im in a rental and I'm about to move. I have been potting them on to bigger pots so far so its the best I can do for them till im in a more settled place. Its going to take a number of years to get big and thick and gnarly so i want to make sure Im in a place that im not going to leave for awhile before I stick them in the ground. Till then, big pots?
I havent actually done anything to any of my trees yet cause I wanted to give them time to grow before I start cutting branches off and stuff. The only thing I might do is a little bit of wiring on trees that I want to have a straight trunk. But ill see how they go.

[Jamie]

hi mate,

a little confused? you want to wire to get a straight trunk? normally wiring is used to get movement into trunks and branching, the only reason I would wire striaght is if it was a formal upright!

as for the rental side of things and planting in the ground it is a catch twenty two there, I know what you mean I have the same problem, bigger pots is definately the way to go if you are to be moving all the time, if you can get some styro boxes these work well for grow on pots.
being that you are about to move to a new place, if you have a long term contract 1-2 years get the trees in the ground (if you have the space) as soon as possible. a year in the ground, although not ideal is still better than a year in a 6 inch pot, you will get some size to the tree, if its a fast growing tree then you will definately see size difference in a year. good feeding in a grow on box and lots of water and sun (water as needed) will give you good results, although styro are a little unsightly if you are a little hands on you can knock up growing boxes with some cheap timber from the recycle centre and a little paint or a good sand and some stain will look a lot more better

jamie

[Graeme]

A little trick used by Nurserymen growing Standards, which can be used by renters, is to pot the tree up into a pot large enough to do the job. Usually 10" (250mm), is plenty, bury the pot in the ground, leaving around 25 - 50 mm proud of the soil level. Water the tree through the pot, not the ground and the root system will pretty well stay within the pot, but as soil temps will stay a lot more constant tree growth will be quicker than a potted one. Tree can be lifted every few months and any roots growing out of the pot trimmed off before being dropped back into the hole, plus the tree can be easily taken along to the new house should you have to move while growing your tree on.