Hey everyone,

Five years ago I started making several different bonsai at the same time... Unfortunately only my wisteria bonsai has survived to this day (it's fairly hard to kill wisteria) and now I am worried I might accidentally kill it.

From some of my learning mistakes in the past it has a severe scar on the main trunk but this is only viewable from one side. I was wondering if there is any way for me to get rid of the scar or If it is acceptable to have it on display with the scar still there. I had thought possibly I could cut the entire top off and let it restart from its root base as wisteria grows fast and I could then rebuild it without the scar?? I'm not sure if this would work though and I'm afraid to ruin my last remaining bonsai.

Also it is a root over rock bonsai, and I was wondering if there is a way for me to get all the fine hair like roots to only be at the base so that I can transition the rock to above ground and only show the thick roots grabbing the rocks. I thought perhaps I could move the rock to above ground this summer and then the small hairs would naturally die off and leave the big roots viewable while the plant would then make more fine roots below the surface?

If anyone has any other suggestions for my tree besides answers to my questions please advise I'm grateful for all the advice I can find.

Thank you so much!

∼Lulu

Nice!

From your pictures I cannot really tell what you mean with a scar...

The roots.. Place it in a pot with less substrate on top. So slowly lift the plant from the soil. Ever month remove another cm of substrate. by the end of the year the roots will be free from the soil.

Thank you for teaching me the technique for achieving the root system how I want it Leatherback!

I took a few more pictures today detailing the scar ....I also realized after I had done it I probably shouldn't have cut back the rest of the branches that you can see I trimmed. I probably should have waited for spring so that the wounds would heal fast and not scar.....But I didn't realize that until I read about it last night...So I might just have ruined my tree???

You can always let it shoot out for another season.
The base is dificult to judge. It may be farly hard to completely heal over smoothly. I would probably just focus on the tree as a whole and let the scar work itself into a feature over time. But working with just the bottom branch is always an option!

LuLu wrote:

So I might just have ruined my tree???

I see quite a few buds so I think it'll grow and you have not ruined it.
That scar is a bit of an issue though. You are doing root-over-rock style, how about letting it grow against a rock to hide the scar, would that be an option? If you find a suitable piece of rock, that you can fit in, I think that would work.

Thank you all for the excellent advice!
I have decided to leave my wisteria alone for this next year and see what happens as I am a little but busy with graduating and finding full-time employment. I don't want to start a process and not have the time to finish it properly, and I thought a year left on it's own really can't hurt it right? so once I'm settled I can try some of these other suggestions.

Thanks for all the help. I will check in here again once I'm settled and update on my wisteria.