Hi everyone,

New to the forum here. I'm after some different opinions on what I should do with this prebonsai.

I picked it up from a local nursery. It's a copper beech But since purchase I have made no further steps forward, as I can't decide where to start shaping it. Whether to aim for around 60cm or 90cm, due to the large leaf size. Although at approx 600mm up theres quite a large gap between branches. It's currently standing at approx a metre high.

If this was your tree how would you choose to start shaping it and in the aim to follow what style?

Many thanks, let's get this tree started!

Hi and welcome.

There is a simple guideline for the height of a bonsai. In order to get a realistic looking tree, the height of the tree should generally speaking be somewhere between 6 and 12 times the diameter of the trunk. SO to get a tree of 60cm tall, you would normally have a trunk of at least 5 cm thick.

Based on this, you can understand my dificulty: Your plant is still very young and would need a bit more meat on the bones before it can become a bonsai?

A pre-bonsai is a tree that has been partially trained to become a bonsai.
What you have is a young beech, not a pre-bonsai.

You're gong to have let this one grow for a couple of years. The roots are a problem...

Thank you for your reply, I will leave it to grow on for 2 to 3 years then! How would you suggest I go about it. Let it grow and cut or grow cut grow?

Also AUK, I know the roots aren't best suited for the bonsai. However I was considering leaving them and incorporating them over a few years to grow over a rock, would that be suitable? Thanks Rhys.

If youn want this on a rock, do it now. They need to glue themselves to it without any air. You will only achieve that with time.

I am turning back from very long growth periods between cutting back, and am working towards growing for a season. Doing a mid season cleanup (did that last week in my growing field and this weekend on all my potted trees). And good cutbacks in winter.

This way you have less scarring, but development time doubles or triples.