AusBonsai

Hi all, I'm early on in my bonsai journey and have a claret tops I've been trying to style. I got it cheap as nursery stock and have had it potted up for a while. I love the bush and tried to style it with likeness to the tall paperbarks I used to camp near when I was younger around Bathurst, Sofala and Hill End in the blue mountains. Any critique would be much appreciated!

Already looking very tree-like, so well done

Hi Jonathen ,if you intend to keep as a tall slender Tree. Try and keep the same feeling as you transition into the foliage. Thin out some of the secondary branches ,especially in the apex. Maybe wire a little movement into the ones you keep. Also if you can maybe get a bit thicker wire on the left hand branch, looks a little to straight compared with the rest. Personally i like these type of Trees with a wispy light look. Keep up the good work.
Cheers John.

jonathon_p wrote: ↑August 20th, 2020, 11:33 am I love the bush and tried to style it with likeness to the tall paperbarks I used to camp near when I was younger around Bathurst, Sofala and Hill End in the blue mountains.

Being new to bonsai, you are doing a fantastic job Jonathon. That is a great attempt, very well done.

Its always good to keep our bonsai with plenty of foliage for excellent health. If you are happy with the 'skeleton' of it, then you can start to apply Johns critique. My method of growing this species in particular, is to keep a lot of foliage over the 'slow growing' months, and then cut back and reduce about November/December to promote ramification and give it that more delicate and lovely sparse look that John is referring to.

But thats a great piece of material. Have fun, they can be very rewarding and are easy to work with because of their small foliage and dense growth.

Hi All,

Hope you are having a great day.

I have been growing and cutting back this claret tops and thought it might be time to post some more progress. I wired it yesterday to try and get a bit more movement in some of the branches, and in the last few weeks cut it back, so it is budding along the trunkline and older wood.
Front: It hasn't really thickened up, but I have been keeping it in a water tray and it seems to enjoy that. It has a layer of slime on it, which doesn't seem to affect it, but I'm happy to hear otherwise if you think it's a problem. With the water tray it doesn't seem to dry out on the top layer, even though it seems the slime does not help in letting the water seep through the topsoil.
Back: I keep it close to a reflective tinted glass door around the side of the house, which I think has skewed the growth and made it more sparse from this side. I do rotate the tree every couple of weeks (or so).
Base: I don't think the water is too good here, as the bark tends to hold onto a residue (you can see it clearly on the root) - which might be from the fert too (powerfeed). But I do like how pale it is, and the scar at the base of the fork I think makes it look more natural. The roots need a lot of work, but I am essentially just trying to get the branching right for the moment.
Front upper: I still think the fine branching is too long.
Base upper

Thanks for all your feedback on this tree so far.

Jonathon.

Hi mate I am new to bonsai and have 3 claret tops ready to be styled, just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration
also - what is that green slime? Interested to see how that worked out?

Looking good I think the slime killed the parrot though.