It's been about 6 months since I last posted a picture but I wanted to give an update on this tree. The winter has been pretty much brutal on my other trees but this one I brought in around october suffered some foliage loss due to the change in environment. However, the new soil mixture worked really well and since it wasn't as damp as the other soil I've used in past. Using the oil dry mixture really helped in the draining and water retention. Much of the red foliage became quite apparent in november even more and then everything fell off. This was pretty unsettling because I thought the tree was about to die then new growth came up. During that time I was so worried the tree was dead so I didn't even bother wiring since 1) there's no point if it's dead or 2) it's still alive and I don't want to style a weak tree.
In December, the tree showed quite a bit of activity and since it sat at the window sill where it got sunlight up until noon, this tree was incredibly fortunate. I've done some styling from the last picture and find that I like this a lot better. I do plan to move it to a new pot sometime next year but this one is fine; but, I just don't like the off centered-ness of the plant.
Feb/March 2014
April 2014