Never liked this Ponderosa Pine

I have never really liked this Ponderosa. I wired it once. It currently has no wire on it as of last year. The tree looks as it does in this picture except that bottom right branch is a bit thinner.

If anyone has any suggestions I am game.

ponderosa-a

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@Jeramiah
I see some serious raffia and bending on the tree in the foreground. So you have the ability to compress the apex down near the trunk. I am concerned with the protection of the bark on the trunk. There appears to be wires supporting the tree wrapped around the middle of the trunk. Aged bark is very desirable in a collected tree and should be protected from damage. Compression of the foliage to give an appearance of an old tree that has been burdened with heavy snow loads and potentially deadwood that indicate animal or weather damage, would give greater individual character to the tree. IMHO The bench partners tell me that you have an impressive collection of pines! Many have warned against serious bending of pine during extremes of temperature**.SO ANYONE WITHOUT EXPERIENCE KNOW NOT TO DO MAJOR BENDING IN THE HEAT** So any dramatic restyling would wait for fall, or late winter/early spring. Until then aggressive fertilizing (do you know a good source ^_^) to encourage back budding and reduced needle size are beneficial to ensure the tree is very healthy. Concern about branch that is thinning. Possible damage from earlier wiring or a disease process? :thinking:

I would love to see more of your trees. Found your facebook for Sumo Bonsai Supply.

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Hey @Jeramiah , tree looks happy and healthy ! i have had great luck ground planting ponderosa, they grow really well and are noticeably bigger after about 5 years and can open up a world of options. Or just leave it, put it in a nice bonsai pot and in 50 years like Dan Robinsons trees, you will have an amazing Bonsai :slightly_smiling_face:

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A part of me has always said bend the top part of the tree over the bottom branch on the right. The other part of me says that I am never going to be able to bend that bottom section of the tree and if I make to much of a bend at the top then it will just look funny.

The top does have that natural curve to the right so it must have had something sitting on it to make it bend opposite of its initial left direction in the first place. So maybe that is all it needs is a little help to go where it was headed anyway.

Bob, I wish I could take all of the credit for my collection but I can’t. I nice workshop with Bjorn resulted in my best Ponderosa. I shared the progression of it last night on this forum. My raffia and wire skills are average but are improving every year. I usually get lost on the artistic/creativity aspect of bonsai. I get it, I just can’t see it usually. Maybe I am being to hard on myself but I hate making decisions. Bad hobby for that problem.

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Did not see the nebari, but if you tilt the tree to the left and increase the bends already existing you can make the tree more compact. Wire the pads into hands with multiple fingers and needles skyward. There is no hurry, but making a decision and a line drawing can help you make the leap into the direction you want to go. I would not personally wait 50 years. :nerd_face: unless you are 7 years old .:grin:

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The trunk below that first branch shows some fine taper. Have you considered removing that branch altogether - maybe jin the stub - so as to focus the idea more on the features of the trunk?

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I agree with the bottom branch, I’d ged rid of it, maybe leave a small stump.
The trunk seems nice and elegant, a bit of foliage close to the trunk could be nice but that’s some long needles though for such design.

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