My Squamata

[benbonsai]

Thought I would give this guy a proper thread.
Has been a a journey with this one and a learning curve.
Slowly getting there.
Dunno what I was thinking with some of the styling I had done

[benbonsai]

And the more recent work.

[benbonsai]

And today's work.
Still need to do some finer wiring.
Still not sure with the front bottom branches though

Also would like to layer it up a bit further and put it in a taller pot.

[benbonsai]

Did a little more wiring today along with moving a couple of the branches.

[Max]

Did a little more wiring today along with moving a couple of the branches.

Hi Ben....I'm new myself, but i'm wondering how your heading with your tree, could you you draw a picture plz. I like the look of pic 8 because it actually hides the thinness of the trunk whereas your last one shows it but with a massive canopy. I think a more minimalist canopy with a much smaller, shallower oval pot would look great. What do you think?

regards
Max

[benbonsai]

To be honest, I'm not much of a drawer.
I plan to get it into a taller square pot and plant it lower in the pot. Before I do that though I'm going to put it into a grow pot and ground layer it, would be nice if the trunk thickend while growing for a couple years in the pot but if not oh well.

I also plan on doing a Shari down to the first bit of deadwood to give the illusion of some taper.

The thin trunk is something I just have to live with.

literati style is something I have considered with this one by making the top rather smaller but I can always chop more off it if I want later on

[kcpoole]

Why not just wire the trunk and bend to lower the top
Junioer bend easily enough

Ken

Sent from my SM-G800Y using Tapatalk

[benbonsai]

Why not just wire the trunk and bend to lower the top
Junioer bend easily enough

Well that was the other option, I have considered it.

[benbonsai]

This one has been on my mind lately so Iv done a little sketch (on my phone)
Not sure how I feel about it.
I do know that I want to make it a smaller tree to balance it out a bit.
Might even change the potting angle to make it upright again...?

[kcpoole]

your virt is getting better.
Less is more and i would not stand it back up.


Ken

[benbonsai]

Thanks ken
Other opinions really do help.

[benbonsai]

Okay so iv established that I want to make a smaller tree out of this one which will require an air layer and quite a bit of foliage and branches to be cut away.
So my question is when should I do the trimming of the branches?
Do I do the layer at the start of spring and let the tree grow for a season with the foliage on and trim the foliage when the layer is ready to be separated from the original root mass?
Or do the trimming at the same time as applying the layer?

Cheers
Ben

[Max]

Hi Ben, have you considered this

IMG_9149.jpg

[shibui]

Leaving extra foliage on should make the layer root better and faster but if the branches get too long it can b difficult to cut back later. Need to make the decision based on each tree.

[benbonsai]

Okay thanks shibui, that's what I thought.
Might leave the foliage on for now and cut it off once the layer is ready