Birch Design Choices

[Spacetime]

I have been staring at this birch for a while now and don't know where to start progressing it. It grew well last season and has just sitting until I can figure out what to do with it. This is what looks like the front that the previous owner envisioned but it presents a few problems like the reverse taper near the base and further up the tree. The two lower branches start from the same plane and the right one has very little movement. The ramification also starts very far from the trunk. There is a second trunk that makes the tree look like a Y when viewed from another angle.

Here are some other views of the tree.

I am thinking to elimitate the right trunk of the tree and keep the left one while trying to somehow shorten the branches. What would you recommend for this tree?

 

[Shibui]

IMG -0436 definitely has the best shaped trunk but the lower branch sticks straight out at the front. I would explore the possibility of either bending the entire branch a bit to the left or rotating the tree a little left from that view or a bit of both.

 

[sorce]

I'd cut the middle top part off cuz it will give you the best chance of lower budding.

If you can use it to strap another up to to pull it more upright first, to negate the remaining Y, that would be good.

Nice.

Sorce

 

[Aeast]

I prefer the side view personally, either direction. I like this tree

 

[hinmo24t]

best birch bonsai i have seen

 

[Grovic]

I have been staring at this birch for a while now and don't know where to start progressing it. It grew well last season and has just sitting until I can figure out what to do with it. This is what looks like the front that the previous owner envisioned but it presents a few problems like the reverse taper near the base and further up the tree. The two lower branches start from the same plane and the right one has very little movement. The ramification also starts very far from the trunk. There is a second trunk that makes the tree look like a Y when viewed from another angle.
View attachment 348118
Here are some other views of the tree.
View attachment 348116View attachment 348114View attachment 348117View attachment 348115
I am thinking to elimitate the right trunk of the tree and keep the left one while trying to somehow shorten the branches. What would you recommend for this tree?

I really like the tree, in image 0435 it seems like inverse taper is developing at the height of the lowest branches, maybe due to several branches coming at the same height, I'd consider removing the left right one, and I agree with @Shibui, I like 0436 as the front.
EDIT: I meant the right branch of 0435.

 

[Grovic]

I really like the tree, in image 0435 it seems like inverse taper is developing at the height of the lowest branches, maybe due to several branches coming at the same height, I'd consider removing the left right one, and I agree with @Shibui, I like 0436 as the front.
EDIT: I meant the right branch of 0435.

lol I just saw that you had already noticed the inverse taper situation, my bad .

 

[Forsoothe!]

We need to keep in mind the principles of bonsai that we use to shape a tree, eventually, to our tastes. Part of that is that we make adjustments again and again, building towards a goal instead of trimming a tree to look better immediately after we're done with a session. Trees don't grow enough zig-zag for our tastes, so we wire little branches in some species, new buds grow out and we wire again, ad infinitum. I think birch are notorious for die-back and abusive wiring is often rewarded with a dead branch in exactly the wrong place. Maybe some people know the secret, but I don't, so I think you need to stick to only wiring twigs skinny enough to move without a lot of force. I would also not trim back too far at a time in driving the canopy inward. I would do a lot of tip pruning and selecting and not trim back to less than a few buds where you may have gone back to one single bud on a JM. I would seal all the tips after pruning, too, and leave some witness stub, maybe 1/8 to 1/4" so you get less die-back past the new bud left at the newly shortened tip.

I would sneak up on reducing the straight sections and inverse taper sections, making sure that what I remove is not a large percentage of the tree. What's a large percentage? I don't know, maybe 20% of the buds/leaves.

 

[Djtommy]

I actually like pic 0538 the most, but I’d cut off both lowest branches and use the top, a little larger tree would be easier anywayz for birch. maybe pull the 2 upper trunks closer to each other then. A weeping design might be good for this

best birch bonsai i have seen

You may need to google https://www.google.be/search?q=denn...pOM0ASpgpnYCw&bih=1526&biw=1261&client=safari

 

[hinmo24t]

I actually like pic 0538 the most, but I’d cut off both lowest branches and use the top, a little larger tree would be easier anywayz for birch. maybe pull the 2 upper trunks closer to each other then. A weeping design might be good for this

You may need to google https://www.google.be/search?q=denn...pOM0ASpgpnYCw&bih=1526&biw=1261&client=safari

thats kickass. i have so many around me and even had a yamadori. got a bit discouraged thinking or hearing the species isnt long living or good for bonsai. birch are another fav of mine

 

[Paradox]

I have been staring at this birch for a while now and don't know where to start progressing it. It grew well last season and has just sitting until I can figure out what to do with it. This is what looks like the front that the previous owner envisioned but it presents a few problems like the reverse taper near the base and further up the tree. The two lower branches start from the same plane and the right one has very little movement. The ramification also starts very far from the trunk. There is a second trunk that makes the tree look like a Y when viewed from another angle.

Here are some other views of the tree.
View attachment 348117
I am thinking to elimitate the right trunk of the tree and keep the left one while trying to somehow shorten the branches. What would you recommend for this tree?

IMO this is the best side of the tree, perhaps turned a tad more clockwise because it shows the most interesting movement and it shows off the nebari

 

[Spacetime]

Thanks for all the great advice. I am now leaning toward using image 436 as my front and pulling the left branch to the left while changing the potting angle slightly come repotting season. I am still unsure about how much wiring I can do because as Forsoothe said, birches can be temperamental. I have five other small birches from a garden center and have been trying things out on them. Branches that I tried to put a lot of motion on do not so far seem likely to survive the winter but we will see. I considered a weeping style but after watching them grow, it feels like an uphill battle.