AusBonsai

I have this Chinese elm that I dont know what to do with.
The only thing I like about it is the height. It has no taper at all.
It does have a slight curve.

There are plenty of examples on the net of fairly straight trees being made into something nicer.

How would you approach this elm and make it into one of the examples???
I don't have the experience to start this project.
Any advice???

Cheers

Hi Gumnuts , mate i can't operate too well laying down . If it was min i would fing a few shoot 3-4 lower down the trunk and chop it into a veehaving 2 left and 2 right shoots .Find some ground or a big container and let it run riot using the 4 shoot 2 as leader and 2 a sacrafice branches to heal the vee cut .Wire the 2 selected leader with some subtle movement like the trunk 1 with the same flow the other apposing the trunk .Wire and shape the new shoots as they appear .

Alternatively leave 4-6 of the lower shoots and cut off at 45 degree's using the top shoot as the new leader and wire the others as branches be it sacrafice later on or keep all of them if they are in good positions .

Both idea's will take timeNow i have something to work with again , when i find the time . Very Poor layers at the time they were taken but feed and watered they grow well .Yours can be developed in a similar fashion , root run is the key i believe .

Hope this helps .

Cheers Alpineart

yours is a Chinese elm. Wherever you cut it it will sprout. Chinese elms produce new buds from the cambium wherever they are cut and you usually get a ring of new buds all around the edges of the cut. This means you can cut wherever you like and grow some of the new shoots as leaders or branches.
Feed and water well and let the new shoots grow long like Alpine says to get some thickness and to heal the wound. Just don't let too many grow from 1 place cause that makes the trunk swell at that point.