AusBonsai

hey guys and girls just wondering what you thought of my elm,i think it has potential as an informal upright what do you think...i like it haha

I'm not the best to critique your tree griffo (although I do like it), but where did you get that background hanging device from. I need one?

Damo

looks likt a t shirt lol

nice tree

You have a very good start but there are a few minor trouble spots that are mild now but will be glaring next year.
1) Tailor the branch scars to teardrop shape rather than 'porthole'. Teardrop heals faster and gives a more natural look.
2) Top right of the tree there are 3 branches originating from the same spot Get rid of 2 or you will have increase the obvious bulge at the spot, another season and it will enlarge to be very ugly.
3) Just below the top porthole it looks as tho you have bar branching. It is fairly insignificant now but it won't be next season.
4) Just above the stub on the left is a back growing branch that is conflicting with the left branch just above it; crossing lines make for confusion - even more so in a year when the branches have doubled in thickness.
5) Stub... if you don't reduce this now, preferably with a bit of a concave cut to it so the callous will form flat, you will have to deal with a much large calloused stub next year and you will have lost a year's healing.
6) Make sure the top of the tree has one apex and I would recommend wiring the apical branch a bit more to the left to bring the balance back towards the centre of the trunk.

All of the above are small changes, insignificant now but will cause problems with a year's growth if you don't sort them soon. Elms tend to thicken their branches quickly so I find it best to do the major cuts and adjustments at this stage rather then wait and lose that year when the tree could have all but finished healing and you find you have to work on the wounds again.

Some could say the trunk is too straight from the nebari to the turn and from the turn to the apex but I think the tree can handle it and one or two year's development will alter the shape to make a statuesque tree with the design you have created. If you tend to these troublesome areas now you will have a tree to be proud of in a very short time.

If this was tree outside in the wilderness somewhere. What forces would have created that trunk? And how would they have affected the branches?

At the moment the branches on both sides of the tree are identical, but the story of the trunk suggests something else. The branches need to respond to this external force for the composition to be balanced.

Paul

Your comments are right at this stage but look at the tree in a year as branches thicken and smaller branches are removed to clarify the design. I think the basic shaping is good and as the tree matures the changing branch silhouettes and development of foliage pads will alter the growth to get the necessary uneven triangle and balance the tree and then the foliage weight on the left will balance the lean to the right.

Hi Griffo , this tree does have appeal and is pleasing to the eye as a trainer .The guys have given all the goods on refining it for the future . I would like to see it tilted to the left about 10 degree's so the apex is above the base . Place a wedge or 2 under the box and some side pic's would be worth posting as well .Cheers Alpineart

For this tree I would be aiming for something along this line of thought
;

I feel uncomfortable with the long right branch in the OP's picture, and the triangular foliage structure.


Paul

I would like to credit the tree's owner, but I cannot remember where it came from so apologies to the owner.