Update on this tree. I lucked into an absolutely kick ass Dave Bennett pot that I thought my ryusen would look good in. Good is an understatement!
Once again I had a dense, dense mass of roots in the pong basket and it took a lot of work to get it into the pot but right from the get-go I knew it was a good match.
It was looking good so I put it into the Cleveland Bonsai Club show this year.
It's far from a fiinished tree But I'm happy with the progress and I'm glad I didn't remove the upward growing branch.
If you look closely at the trunk you might notice a dark spot that showed up a couple of years ago. The local ag inspector thinks that an ambrosia beetle bored into it and left behind ambrosia fungus. It seems to be healing and I've treated with a systemic fungicide so hoping for the best. Kind of another reason I wanted to get it into the show... just in case I don't get another chance.