AusBonsai

3 months since the chop and I now have plenty of branches to choose from. Next step will be selecting what to keep and setting the structure.
Regards,
Steven

Hey Steven,

Nice little Mel you have there! I'm loving the Linariifolias at the moment. What makes it a "Compacta"?

Do you still plan to ground layer it? I really like the gnarly roots.

A couple of weeks ago I selected the branches to keep and trimmed the remaining back. Still a bit of carving to do at the chop to improve the taper.
Last night I slip-potted and rather than ground layering, I've treated with rooting hormone and have placed sphagnum moss around the base. These are pretty good at pushing out roots so I'm hoping this will work to get better surface roots.
Regards,
Steven

Here's a quick update 12 months on.
Foliage has filled in the silhouette and next I'll need to thin the branching out again.
Regards,
Steven

Did the rooting hormone and sphagnum moss give you the roots you wanted Steven? Great progression BTW...loving your journey.

Thanks Sue,
I can see there are some roots amongst the moss but I haven't dug around to look yet. I'll do this in a few weeks when it cools down a bit more.
Regards,
Steven

WOW, loves the updates! It is awesome to see the transformation and how far the tree has come.

Wow, it's been great looking back at this tree's journey - you took it so far in just 6 months, then started over again. Any recent updates you can give us?