Ugly looking Ginkgo

Here is my ugly looking Ginkgo thats been growing out for a bit until I trunk chopped it in the spring. Its been more of an experiment with leaf reduction and select defoliation to see what happens to it and for the most part it responds well to it. But since the heavy cut back this spring its gone pretty crazy with just sending out huge leaves and 2 foot long shoots so its finally gotten back to its regular sized leaves and started to throw secondary shoots but for the final design (which its a way off from being) its all going to get cut off anyways. I thinking more of a clump style or the classic sort of flame style Ginkgo are known for. I have no idea what variety it is so its been fun trying to guess what it is.

How about a photo of the whole tree? How was this tree started? From seed? From a cutting? Nursery material? How long have you had it and how long have you been working to get that thick base? I like it.

I started a bunch from seed this year and based on how easy they have been I plan on doing a lot more next year too in order to have plenty of options for different techniques and styles to try eventually.

I agree...a full shot of the tree.

I have seen many clumps in flame during Google image searches. So a good direction.

No clue of cultivar. Its leaves are far larger than the chi-chi I own. The shows texture...and age. Which is a good thing.

History on it? Collected or nursery purchase?

Cant get a good photo of the whole thing since its pretty much just cousin it, lots of leaves still on it haha. The place i bought it have great nursery stock And pre bonsai so I think it was meant for the landscape but it was the only one that had a gnarly trunk to it so I just had to go for it. As for age, I checked the trunk chop mark And it was at least 10 years old but no idea if it was field grown or pot grown.

I also cant wait for the leaves to drop so I can cut it back so its not so wild looking

I think that those shoots are suckers/water sprouts, coming out because the tree thought it was gonna die.

See here for another example.

Is the central trunk still alive above the highest shoot?

If not I might be tempted to leave it in "hospital mode" next year, so that maybe the suckers can get strong enough that they'd consider back budding if you chopped them in late winter 2019.

Mine is practically naked. ... I am itching to cut back. But study it first. Wish to work in the direction of the two trees that inspire me. Still a flame...but more movement than just a torch looking flame.

Unsure how tall yours is...but recall one getting advice to let it thicken a bit before cutting back. That was on a FB thread. Maybe shoot BVF his opinion. Unsure by photo how thick they are.

@sparklemotion yeah the main trunk is still alive and has a couple of shoots coming out, thats where I decided to cut to this spring. Maybe at some point in its life it was shocked into sending up suckers that have started the base swelling but its been super healthy and they've already been cut back once this year with great reaction.

@Cadillactaste the main trunk is about 16" high but there are shoots that are pushing 25", those are the ones I want to cut back so that the smaller ones have a chance to grow stronger next year especially since it shades the interior shoots a lot. The branches are anywhere from small twigs to some big thumb sized ones.