Where should I go from here ?

[KDuffLive]

I'm somewhat new to this, about a year or so in, so I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestion/advice as to what I should do to fill in the gaps and get it looking a little bit more neat looking. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

First, you need a design. Start by looking at the tree and ignoring all the foliage. You will see the "bones" of the structure. The most important part of the bones is the base of the trunk and the trunk line. Then in priority order come the main branches. The secondary branches can be ignored for the purposes of your design at this time.

What you want to do is look at your structure and decide where you want to take your tree. If you are drawing a blank, go online and look at other procombens bonsai, and find a photo that looks similar to your tree, but more finished. Or for that matter go online and see if you can find trees in the wild that inspire you that you want your bonsai to look like.

Once you have your design figured out, it becomes a question of pruning, wiring and shaping the tree so that it fits your design. Sounds simple, but it can be if you have decent reference material.

 

[KDuffLive]

Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming, all the roads you can choose. Lol. So just keep prunong back until the gaps fill in? I think I know what i want to do to it. Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming, all the roads you can choose. Lol. So just keep prunong back until the gaps fill in? I think I know what i want to do to it. Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

If you just keep pruning until the gaps fill in, you will have a tree that looks like a topiary... but not a bonsai.

Think of a tree in nature. Young trees grow thick and solid. Old trees start to lose branches, get blown by winds, or buried by snow. Eventually they have pads of foliage here and there - all of which tell the story of the environment in which they live. So you are trying to copy that natural look - but in a small scale with young trees.

Check out this procumbens juniper shohin (small bonsai). Same species as yours, and not much larger. See how the foliage is arranged, and trimmed so that there is void space and you can see the interior of the tree?

You can see that the artist chose the "front" of the tree as the side that best shows off the most interesting line of the trunk. There is a gap in the foliage in the front of the tree so that you can see the trunk and see the interior. Notice also that there are no low branches on the trunk (a sign of a young tree). In fact, the lowest foliage is about half the distance between the apex and the soil.

This video shows really good design for a procumbens juniper shohin - a lot can be learned by studying exactly what the artist did. Think about what you would need to do in order to make your tree look like this.

 

[KDuffLive]

Thank you have been a major help. Much appreciated.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Tieball]

First, you need a design. Start by looking at the tree and ignoring all the foliage. You will see the "bones" of the structure. The most important part of the bones is the base of the trunk and the trunk line. Then in priority order come the main branches. The secondary branches can be ignored for the purposes of your design at this time.

What you want to do is look at your structure and decide where you want to take your tree. If you are drawing a blank, go online and look at other procombens bonsai, and find a photo that looks similar to your tree, but more finished. Or for that matter go online and see if you can find trees in the wild that inspire you that you want your bonsai to look like.

Once you have your design figured out, it becomes a question of pruning, wiring and shaping the tree so that it fits your design. Sounds simple, but it can be if you have decent reference material.

Good advice to follow.