Is this a viable idea for my Dawn Redwood?

I have a young dawn redwood tree that has a trunk that is WAY to long for my taste... I dont particularly know if any more branches are going to form below the first branch I see... so i had an idea, but i'm very new to the bonsai trade... Could i air layer at the point I want to make my first branch to appear, or would this be too drastic? Im in love with this species, and i would love to see this tree flourish, I'm just a little confused as to where to go from here! Thanks for any help anyone can give me!

Eric

TheNowMovement wrote:I have a young dawn redwood tree that has a trunk that is WAY to long for my taste... I dont particularly know if any more branches are going to form below the first branch I see... so i had an idea, but i'm very new to the bonsai trade... Could i air layer at the point I want to make my first branch to appear, or would this be too drastic?  Im in love with this species, and i would love to see this tree flourish, I'm just a little confused as to where to go from here!  Thanks for any help anyone can give me!

Eric

Hi and welcome Eric!


Before you think about any pruning or layering, is the trunk of the tree the diameter you want? If not, just let it grow. Doing any kind of work to it will slow down it's thickening immensely.

It isn't the thickness i want! I will let it grow... This brings up another question i have... if my tree doesn't have any branches coming from the lower part of the trunk, how will the trunk get any thicker?

Eric