Crabapple help

[jonathon_p]

Hi all, I am pretty early in my bonsai journey and have slowly been trying to style a few trees I like over the last year or so. I haven't posted any of my attempts here before - bit intimidated by the quality compared to what people may think of mine tbh

Nonetheless I have a couple of trees that I don't really know what to do with; have made a couple of mistakes already with so thought it's time to post some for critique and some tips (if you would be so kind )

This crabapple is one I would really like to 'get right', and has a few structural issues that I think would need to be fixed up as well as a focus on the styling. It's flowering now - quite pretty.

The front of the tree

crabfront.jpg

The back of the tree

crabback.jpg

The base of the tree - as you can see the roots are a bit awkward; large and uninteresting which is one of the things that needs addressing

crabbase1.jpg

crabbase2.jpg

crabbase3.jpg

More pictures of the trunk - you can see where some of the branches have quite bad wire marking. I was in the process of moving and left it on way too long.

crabtrunk.jpg

Salvagable branch or wire cuts too deep? (you'll know which one )

crabtrunk2.jpg

To be honest I was thinking after it flowers I will cut it right back - essentially to the trunkline and start again and try and get more dense foliage. Thanks guys

[Watto]

I think your best bet is not cut it just yet. Let it grow unrestrained until the new growth (this years growth) had hardened of and then cut to where ever you want. This will give the tree some much needed energy and probably increase your options.
One of the hardest lessons in bonsai is to do nothing, but patience is the key. The root that is a bit too big can be cut back at the next repot and will show no ill effects.

[pureheart]

My 2 cents are be gentle with root pruning I lost 2 trees being too aggressive on root pruning... the trees survived for one season but the section of the tree where I cut the roots too harshly completely died...


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