Hellooooo
I’ve attempted a bit of a cut back on this but not really sure what i’m aiming for. Attached a before and after and looking for any tips or advice on styles i could achieve and steps to take to get there.

Thanks in advance

Looks good, now put it outside and enjoy

Thanks already outside, just came in for pictures

Regarding style it seems like you have no other option than clump style. That is what the tree wants.

On the second picture there are a heavy branch that dont seems to be i proportion. It can be removed completely or just hold back for a few years so rest of it grows into proportion.

If i were to remove it then thats best done in the autumn right?

How would i go about ‘holding it back’ a few years. Its a really nice size so be a shame to lose it

SmeariestBat wrote:

If i were to remove it then thats best done in the autumn right?

How would i go about ‘holding it back’ a few years. Its a really nice size so be a shame to lose it

Late winter or early spring is the best time around here. Authum may work as well depending on your climate.

Holding it back is just about prunning new growth heavier and more often than the other branches.

Tropfrog wrote:

Regarding style it seems like you have no other option than clump style. That is what the tree wants.

Hey TropFrog. Did you meant to say broom style or am I missing something? Because yes, you could air layer all the crown into a Clump and build a new tree on the stomp.

I really like this elm potential, good luck with it!

Complete beginner so air layering is not something i’m looking into! Have taken some of the cuttings to see if i can tie them into a clump style at some point if they take.

Any suggestions on which branches to cut or let grow would be greatly received. I googled broom style and i’d love to get that effect here if possible.

I’d like to remove this branch, as it starts a lot lower than all the other branches and competes for space with one i’d like to keep above it. It seems out of place, but would leave a large scar.

Hmm, I would even consider to remove the other one that is competing with it, it seems good to have some layers.

You must be carefull with too many branches coming out on the same spot, it can lead you to reversed tapper.

And I'm not aware of what your goal is, you want to make it bigger or just keep it, because when a tree is on a Bonsai pot, there's no much changing on it's design, even because development is a lot slower then, what's why we move to Bonsai pot when it's close to finished.

But for now (if you want to just mantain it) I would just let it grow, clip it back, let it grow clip it back to get more ramifications.

I still find a bit difficult to decide what to keep and what not to when it comes to structure, sometimes takes me months to decide...