Hi all,

First post and glad to have found this website. I have not been growing for very long and was looking for some general feedback on [ SHAPING ] . the trees in the attached images. My general understanding , well at least guidance from a good bonsai grower I know is. First I need to work out for all of your trees how big I I want them to be. e.g Short thick trunks or taller more elegant trees. When pruning, always start from the top of the tree and work down. That way gravity helps clean up the mess. The general approach is to prune back to the first pair of leaves. That said as you can see in the images there are some wild lengthy branches and lots of them. I have a bit of a picture in my mind out how the trees would look after shaping and wiring [ to come later ]. But if I could get some general feedback and thoughts on SHAPING , as a starting point and any thoughts you might have in the first steps in making changes to how they are now would be awesome !!!!! Thanks all

So first thing you need to do it work out for all of your trees how big you want them. Short thick trunks or taller more elegant trees. When you start pruning, always start from the top of the tree and work down. That way gravity helps clean up the mess. The general approach is to prune back to the first pair of leaves in tridents and Japanese Maples. BUT...is you want something to thicken, don't prune it. Lower branches should be thicker than higher branches as they are older and have been growing for longer. On to wiring. Be careful wiring young or thin branches. You will kill them. Only look to wire branches that are about half as thick as a pencil. Always keep the bend of the wire on the outside of the bend. So if the branch bends right, on that bend have the turn of the wire on the outside of the bend so it supports the branch. [Images to come, having an issue uploading them]

I had an issue uploading photos so I flagged it to admin!! Don't think that was a good idea as I don't think people are touching it lol

Let it grow.

If this is your tree then I wonder why it is still in full leaf. There is a lot that could be done to this plant, depending on where you are. It is impossible to tell from the pictures what to remove, you need some local guidance. Find a club and join. Buy a book and read it