Should i restart this chinese elm?

[sebfer55]

I keep on looking at this guy day after day wondering if i should just restart the branching.... Thoughts?

 

[Silentrunning]

What do you mean by restart the branching?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This looks like a Seiju cultivar - or something closely related. You have to be careful with cork bark elms because they share a tendency to sprout multiple branches from one internode, and if you aren't careful, you get knots of inverse taper where multiple branches all leave the trunk at the same point. I can see this at several points on your tree, and before I would eliminate all the branching, I might just go back over the tree and in a very disciplined way make sure that there is only one branch at each junction. Once you clean it up you may find that there is a much cleaner line and a design comes through - where before it looked a little wild and unfocused.

 

[sebfer55]

What do you mean by restart the branching?

Prune back all main branches next spring

This looks like a Seiju cultivar - or something closely related. You have to be careful with cork bark elms because they share a tendency to sprout multiple branches from one internode, and if you aren't careful, you get knots of inverse taper where multiple branches all leave the trunk at the same point. I can see this at several points on your tree, and before I would eliminate all the branching, I might just go back over the tree and in a very disciplined way make sure that there is only one branch at each junction. Once you clean it up you may find that there is a much cleaner line and a design comes through - where before it looked a little wild and unfocused.
View attachment 626770

I fully agree on your take. Lower part looks like a hard prune to restart right?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I fully agree on your take. Lower part looks like a hard prune to restart right?

I'm not so sure that I would do it because I would lose many years waiting for such a large pruning scar to heal. I would be far more tempted to see if I could make something happen as a formal upright. For example look at this tree:



The beauty of elm trees is that you can shorten branches and defoliate the tree and get back-budding pretty much everywhere. Then a little wiring and you can make a big difference in only a couple of years. You just have to clean up your branching and eliminate bar branches and too many branches all leaving the trunk at the same spot. Also make sure your lowest branches weep down, your middle branches are horizontal, and only your top branches project upwards. It gives your tree the feeling of age and gravitas.

 

[Shibui]

I'm also with @Bonsai Nut Hard chop at this stage would be a last resort so see if there's any mid way that would give good results before reaching for the saw.
The photos you've offered don't give really great overall views of the tree so it's hard for us to see the nuances of direction in all the different branches so please take my offering as possibility only. Please check carefully that the material actually fits this plan before following blindly.

The lower red circle includes 3 main branches. As indicated it would be better with only 2 at any point. Rather than removing one of the smaller, side branches I'd consider taking out the thicker, main part of the trunk at that point.
Benefits: reduces height and therefore makes the trunk more prominent, new trunk line along the more upright of the remaining branches gives change of direction, saves a lot of thought and work sorting out that tall trunk.
As mentioned, check to make sure the new line fits in with lower branches, lower trunk and nebari before committing to the chop. If lower branches not conducive to that new trunk line you do have another upright branch a little higher up the main trunk that might be better placed. In that case I'd probably remove the lower upright mentioned above.

Lower branches appear to have been developed quick. Common enough from both hobby growers and professionals who all want a quick result. The problem is, long branches with no taper and few side branches that don't look like real branches. Hard cut back can be used in such cases. Chop all branches (and apex trunk line) to where you'd like to have side branches begin - say 1-2 trunk thickness out from main trunk? Then use grow and chop to develop the length of the branches and encourage side branching for ramification.

When redesigning this tree please try to remember it's an elm so best not to style with downswept branches IMHO.

 

[sebfer55]

I'm also with @Bonsai Nut Hard chop at this stage would be a last resort so see if there's any mid way that would give good results before reaching for the saw.
The photos you've offered don't give really great overall views of the tree so it's hard for us to see the nuances of direction in all the different branches so please take my offering as possibility only. Please check carefully that the material actually fits this plan before following blindly.

The lower red circle includes 3 main branches. As indicated it would be better with only 2 at any point. Rather than removing one of the smaller, side branches I'd consider taking out the thicker, main part of the trunk at that point.
Benefits: reduces height and therefore makes the trunk more prominent, new trunk line along the more upright of the remaining branches gives change of direction, saves a lot of thought and work sorting out that tall trunk.
As mentioned, check to make sure the new line fits in with lower branches, lower trunk and nebari before committing to the chop. If lower branches not conducive to that new trunk line you do have another upright branch a little higher up the main trunk that might be better placed. In that case I'd probably remove the lower upright mentioned above.

Lower branches appear to have been developed quick. Common enough from both hobby growers and professionals who all want a quick result. The problem is, long branches with no taper and few side branches that don't look like real branches. Hard cut back can be used in such cases. Chop all branches (and apex trunk line) to where you'd like to have side branches begin - say 1-2 trunk thickness out from main trunk? Then use grow and chop to develop the length of the branches and encourage side branching for ramification.

When redesigning this tree please try to remember it's an elm so best not to style with downswept branches IMHO.

Thanks for the detailed input. I think this is going to be the plan, when spring comes and paired with a due repot.

You touch an interesting subject. Lower branches should face upward like a young tree or downward like @Bonsai Nut suggested... Im not sure

Ill try to draw and upload a visual plan later

 

[Shibui]

Lower branches should face upward like a young tree or downward like @Bonsai Nut suggested... Im not sure

You are free to style your trees in whatever shape pleases you.

At first glance I thought the tree @Bonsai Nut posted was trident maple as it is styled in the shape of natural maple or pine growth - upright main trunk with lower branches below horizontal. It is a very nice bonsai. Someone has put a lot of great work into developing and maintaining it in that shape but, IMHO does not speak of elm to me.
Elms generally don't develop that shape unless we manipulate them that way.
Lower branches upward like a young tree is, perhaps overgeneralisation. There are quite a few families of tree that do not follow this pattern, elm is one of them where, even older branches don't grow downward from the trunk.
Spend some time checking images of old elms - both bonsai and natural trees to try to get a feel for how they grow. When I think of old elms I see ascending main branches, often broom style, rounded canopy maybe with really old lower branches arching up, out and then down.

Try to make your bonsai look like trees rather than making trees look like stereotype 'bonsai'