producing good branch structure

Hello everyone!!!!!!!

Sorry for the late post. What i am going to talk about today is how to create a good structure. Hopefully you will know about bonsai aesthetics. I am using this technique with my Chinese elms and it is doing marvelously so far. i am going to tell you the secret.

First you have to identify the movement of the tree, choose branches which complement the style and flow and keep them and discard branches or twigs which do not complement the movement. identify incorrect twigs or branches growing in the wrong direction and snip them off.

the second step is most vital, let the little guy grow, it will look messy in the first few years but it will neaten up. trees you see in the wild, young ones at that, have messy branch structures but old trees have very organised branches and twigs. In trees there is an inner and outer canopy, the inner canopy being the back up if the outer canopy fails. this inner canopy is generally a lot more neater. So, when you see the outer canopy and decide to neaten it up you would cut all the outer canopy off to leave the neater, far more structured inner canopy in place.

With my Chinese elm, the leaves at the end of each new shoot are larger than the leaves at the beginning of the new growth. This is normal before anybody asks. But, anyway, when you cut back the new shoot to 3 or 2 leaves, new twigs will emerge from the 2 or 3 leaves, below their nodes. This will result in the leaves getting smaller and an overall better structure.

Everything I have said has come from the mouth of my teacher who is with no doubt a brilliant friend as well as teacher.

Thank you.