Hey guys havent been on this site in literally nearly 3 years! CRAZY! Needless to say im still bonsaing. I need some advice on creating neagari on a chinese elm. What methods do you guys reccomend? I remember reading a while back that one could build a wooden box and take peices off the box every now and then to expose the roots. Also one should fill 2/3 of the box with small gravel chips for the roots to elongate and get a straggly effect. Also to add, the box should be tall and quite narrow, about the width of the average full cascade pot. Anyways, if any of you have any of your own progress pics etc that would be cool aswell as some good advice! Cheers!

What is neagari? Never heard of it, and can't work it out from your post.

nebari is what you mean ...good nebari comes with age .when repoting position surface roots to a desireable appearance.as the tree grows they will thicken and the soil can be removed.you can also do a ground layer if the surface roots are not great.as for pots.you want the shallowest pot that the tree will fit in this will force the roots to grow out and flat instead of down

Welcome back Joncoh. Good to see you are still around.

Neagari is the exposed-root bonsai style: Imagine a tree growing along a river, and the river over time erodes the soil around the roots. You get a tree sitting on every growing root-stalks. Especially with Azaleas this style is used.

I have heard of the high container type growing. As I have never done this, I cannot be of much help. I imagine you would have to support the tree during the first years as roots are not normally strong; In order to speed up the development, I would probably have a frame in which the tree itself is supported, in combination with the wooden box you described.

I found this image. I hope this helps shed some light on what you're going for. I really like these styles too. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Neagari is the exposed-root bonsai style

sorry my bad that's a term im not used to seeing...

great ilistration sikadelic...

I have seen this done with sturdy cardboard tubing also

Thanks guys! Sikadelic thanks for posting this! I think I may have posted it a few years back and could not find it, I think this will be quite a slow process as the roots will need to mature little by little

Definitely one of those techniques that takes years and years to achieve but nontheless, worth it. I plan on creating a tree like that as well at some point.