Prunus mume structural advice - where to go from here?

[Yamamomiji]

Hello,

I have recently been gifted with the attached Prunus mume, a tree, I have been long looking for with a reasonable sized trunk.
Now as this is my first mume and I have already read a fair bit of advice here on the forums (@leatherback, @Brian Van Fleet, @SeanS ) about the specifics and peculiarities of this type, I am a bit unsure where to go from here.

I have mostly cared and worked with Japanese maples where I do have some experience and confidence on how to reach back-budding and ramification but not sure about this.
While I really like the form and dimension it comes, I feel it is a bit unbalanced with typical long branches without any real side branches.

I want to get it tighter, less straight branches and more ramified but fear on cutting these, that the branches will die due to a lack of vegetative buds as far as I can see.
On the other hand, this might be the only way to see or get to this point besides grafting in the longer run.

I hoped to get some guidance on my next steps before the flowers fall.
For now I thought on just letting it leave out and see, where to safely cut back to and continue from here.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[sdavis]

Hello,

I have recently been gifted with the attached Prunus mume, a tree, I have been long looking for with a reasonable sized trunk.
Now as this is my first mume and I have already read a fair bit of advice here on the forums (@leatherback, @Brian Van Fleet, @SeanS ) about the specifics and peculiarities of this type, I am a bit unsure where to go from here.

I have mostly cared and worked with Japanese maples where I do have some experience and confidence on how to reach back-budding and ramification but not sure about this.
While I really like the form and dimension it comes, I feel it is a bit unbalanced with typical long branches without any real side branches.

I want to get it tighter, less straight branches and more ramified but fear on cutting these, that the branches will die due to a lack of vegetative buds as far as I can see.
On the other hand, this might be the only way to see or get to this point besides grafting in the longer run.

I hoped to get some guidance on my next steps before the flowers fall.
For now I thought on just letting it leave out and see, where to safely cut back to and continue from here.

Thank you for any advice.

Do nothing except feed and water it until it leafs out and you can see what you rally have.

 

[bluone23]

I follow this and it works

Prunus Mume care Calendar

Oct 31, 2020

Month by month care for Northern and Southern Hemispheres

• Clicio
• japanese apricot prunus mume ume
• Tutorials

 

[Canada Bonsai]

I feel it is a bit unbalanced with typical long branches without any real side branches.

Here is some inspiration. Please do not think of Ume as you would maples and other deciduous trees. Too many people do this, and it never optimizes what that material could be.

Form a vision for you tree, and execute it. But think about that vision for a while. I'd focus on trunk and the direction/thickness of the primary branches for quite a few more years. This tree will get 10' tall before it's time to prune it. You will surely be grafting to develop this Ume bonsai; it's almost always necessary for most designs regardless of pruning/horitcultural practices. When that time comes, you can start thinking about branch length and balance.

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Here is Jinjyu from the Nagahama Bonbai collection. Please let your Ume be an Ume.

 

[Yamamomiji]

Thank you so much for your suggestions so far.

So my first feeling of getting acquainted with it, seems just right for a slow but hopefully steady approach.

I am very curious to see what spring brings and confident in having an educational time with it. Mume never fails to impress me with its habits I have to say ...

Lucky to get some replies from you and I might post some updates when they happen. @Canada Bonsai Thank you too for bringing this to my attention to enjoy the tree on the way. It is often something forgotten or rushed while aiming for a "final" design I feel.