What should I do with this hornbeam raw material

[Jansai..]

I ordered this hornbeam raw material from Laos garden. It arrived a few days late so I was worried it would be dead but luckily it came nice and healthy. It's substrate is just normal potting soil. It has some chop scars
which need a lot of carving.
I'm not sure what I should do with yet. Could I repot it into the same pot but with a good substrate?

 

[Shibui]

The pot looks about the right size to keep it healthy while you work out what you want to do but it won't allow for much growth. It should be getting close to the right time for you to do a repot for deciduous now.

Later when you have decided on branches and trunk it may pay to increase the pot size a bit so development will be a little quicker and those cuts will heal better when the tree grows a bit faster.

 

[BobbyLane]

it looks like its ready to be repotted and styled.
you could use a dremel with a termite ball attached to take the straight edge off the chop so it appears less 'man made'.
whoever sold you it pruned/chopped it properly. the brown leaves can be removed so you can see what youre doing
now is a good time to work it before it leafs out again.

 

[BobbyLane]

here is one i began working in 2018. yours already has more branches than my started with

The Big Belly Hornbeam

Nope, that type of thing doesnt bother me. ive merely demonstrated that this Hornbeam has been worked pretty hard at various stages of the season, in spring, in summer and throughout winter. Die back has been minimal. If you are hinting at what I told the new guy asking about his little zelkova...

www.bonsainut.com

see how quickly i downsized pots, although the current bonsai pot still allows room for the tree to grow

they develop fast, i use those plastic pots yours is in for all mine, its fine. i think you could also get it into something flatter now and spread the roots out.

here is another one i repotted over winter, straight into a pretty shallow pot, because the tree already has enough established branches to begin cutting back for taper and building ramification it will develop as fast as the tree above.

 

[Njyamadori]

(Don’t trust me I’m new to this) As you can see it’s good Material and already has a style in mind . Personally I would worry about keeping it healthy for a year and getting better branching with better taper for 10 years .

 

[Jansai..]

here is one i began working in 2018. yours already has more branches than my started with

The Big Belly Hornbeam

Nope, that type of thing doesnt bother me. ive merely demonstrated that this Hornbeam has been worked pretty hard at various stages of the season, in spring, in summer and throughout winter. Die back has been minimal. If you are hinting at what I told the new guy asking about his little zelkova...

www.bonsainut.com

see how quickly i downsized pots, although the current bonsai pot still allows room for the tree to grow

they develop fast, i use those plastic pots yours is in for all mine, its fine. i think you could also get it into something flatter now and spread the roots out.

here is another one i repotted over winter, straight into a pretty shallow pot, because the tree already has enough established branches to begin cutting back for taper and building ramification it will develop as fast as the tree ab

here is one i began working in 2018. yours already has more branches than my started with

The Big Belly Hornbeam

Nope, that type of thing doesnt bother me. ive merely demonstrated that this Hornbeam has been worked pretty hard at various stages of the season, in spring, in summer and throughout winter. Die back has been minimal. If you are hinting at what I told the new guy asking about his little zelkova...

www.bonsainut.com

see how quickly i downsized pots, although the current bonsai pot still allows room for the tree to grow

they develop fast, i use those plastic pots yours is in for all mine, its fine. i think you could also get it into something flatter now and spread the roots out.

here is another one i repotted over winter, straight into a pretty shallow pot, because the tree already has enough established branches to begin cutting back for taper and building ramification it will develop as fast as the tree above.View attachment 352571

Would any of these 2 pots work? I think the first is not much shallower and way bigger. I think the second is too way too small but very shallow.

 

[BobbyLane]

before deciding on a suitable pot it helps to lift the tree out of the pot and have a good look at the roots. you can just shake the old soil off you wont kill it
you dont even know if there is more base under the soil at this point. the root at the front might have to be snipped off, seems like there is more flare underneath it.
you could even sort the roots, replenish the soil and leave in current pot, but i dont think it needs to be so deep with all the growth you have.

 

[Jansai..]

before deciding on a suitable pot it helps to lift the tree out of the pot and have a good look at the roots. you can just shake the old soil off you wont kill it
you dont even know if there is more base under the soil at this point. the root at the front might have to be snipped off, seems like there is more flare underneath it.
you could even sort the roots, replenish the soil and leave in current pot, but i dont think it needs to be so deep with all the growth you have.

I shaked away the old soil and unfortunately there's not much flair and underneath. I think I'll just repot it right now in the bigger pot but with it filled only half way.

 

[Jansai..]

Another question, the side has these two side branches that have really ugly bends, could I chop them at the ugly bends and continue to grow them?

 

[BobbyLane]

Another question, the side has these two side branches that have really ugly bends, could I chop them at the ugly bends and continue to grow them?

yeh or the shallow pot should suffice.
you can use knob cutters to tidy up the old pruning stubs. where the stubs have died back indicated by reddish or black wood just cut those bits clean off. you can then seal the cuts or just leave, the tree will be growing again soon and will produce callus anyway.

 

[Jansai..]

Repotted into pumice, pine bark and a little bit of lava rock