Help with the design of my shimpaku

[AndyC]

Hello. I am fairly new to bonsai and would love some design suggestion. I had this shimpaku in training for about 2 years. First picture is where I set the front. I gave a nice twist to the trunk but now I am wondering where the branches should move. Which ones I should keep and which ones could definitely go. Plant was repotted in January and current wire was put on on October (need to improve on my wiring skills). I will also cut back some new growth in June. Thanks!

 

[Dav4]

The placement looks ok for now, but it looks like lots of foliage was removed during the first styling, which weakens the tree significantly. What I'd focus on is pushing new growth, adding more foliage to make the tree stronger. Let it grow unrestricted this year, lots of sun and ferts, and let's see what it looks like this fall.

 

[AndyC]

Thanks for the suggestion. I moved a couple times in the past year and the tree was a bit neglected so it lost a few branches and some foliage. Definitely doing better now.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think you are at the low end of foliage mass for shimpaku. Be very careful or you may start losing branches - or even the tree! I would let it recover and get much stronger before I did anything else.

I do like your styling! Just remember that as a general rule, you want to be wiring your branches out and down into horizontal pads of foliage. The only branch you should be wiring in an upwards direction should be an apex, and you should (for this design) only have one. I think I see a couple of branches being wired up, though it is hard to tell from the different angles.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy...

I wouldn't do anything till each a them branches has about 2 or three times as much foliage as the whole tree currently.

Then maybe cut all but one off...

Mad years.

Sorce

 

[daudelus]

I think you’ve done really well getting some great movement in the trunk! I concur with what others have said... let it rest and grow... and take the secondary branching downward... good luck!