Thanks Lance. Just curious...by letting the leader grow more will it still be flexible enough later to wire and bend upright? :silly:

Pivets harden up quite a bit, but remain fairly flexible. Worst case scenario would be trimming the main branch back to one or two nodes and taking it from there?
I think you can bend them fairly well even after a year. The main issue would be that the attachement to the main stem may have hardenen so much, you cannot change the angle with which the branch is atached.

Correct Leatherback. I think the leader will have to be cut back.The angle is going to be difficult to fix.It may just be easier to clip it and wire the new growth.
A lot of the branches on this tree need to go. It's too full on one side. It will look different once they are gone,maybe the leader will look okay the way it is now....all crooked. Who knows.

Ahhh...so I *was* paying attention afterall. Or maybe my efforts to learn is starting to stick! I asked that question because I was thinking the base of the leader looked a little thick and rigid to be bending upright. I'm interested in what direction you will take this in the future. Thanks for the info guys.

How is the project going? Is it nearly spring where you are? im looking forward to see this. I hope it works... fingers crossed.

I'm in Maine, I still have 6 weeks or so before I do anything to this tree.
I hope it works too. I'm anxious to see it in a smaller pot.

Hi everyone. I was bored tonight and started reading back threads and even though I just posted the pictures already, I thought I'd do it here and keep this thread active because it has pictures of this tree before the separation.
So here it is from another angle. I think I like this side.

um...here's the picture,I hope.

Oh, it's great!

Good potential, like the movement of the trunk and the bark, some more branches and styling and I'm sure it will be a great bonsai in the future!