New Member - requesting help for styling Molave

Hi Everyone, I am Joel and still new to this hobby of bonsai but I'm very much interested to learn, I do like plants since I was still young. Recently, I bought a material from a nursery, Vitex Parviflora or Molave as commonly called in the Philippines. Molave is considered as hard wood and also a common subject of bonsai hobbyist. Anyway, I got two Molave trees but I will post one tree first to avoid confusion. I would like to seek your help on how to style my new tree, I would highly appreciate suggestions and also open to criticisms. Thanks in advance to everyone. I would also like to thank the founder of this website/forum, this really helps me a lot.





here's the other side and focus on the branches.







Thanks and Regards to everyone,
Joel

Hello Joel, thats a neat tree. As with all trees in my opinion, you give the same one to 50 people, more than likely 50 diffrent ways to style. Here is what spoke to me personal, for the main trunk line....



I have no idea really what the natural pattern of this tree is, as have not been to your neck of the world . Is this a native for you? I would study them out if it is. Thanks for sharing, and welcome to tha IBC! -Jacob

I Tried a fast one...but I am afraid I have strong juniper influence....
Maybe you can like it.

Looking at it now and again maybe the apex needs to be shorter.

Joel, if this tree backbuds well, you are open for many things. If not, bunjin style stands out to me. The trunk is already fairly even in diameter up the trunk, with gentle narrowing. It would not take much work now to decide on single or multiple pads of foliage, and begin pruning for growth of those pads. Then, depending on how aggressively this tree can be rootpruned, you could downsize the pot in 1-3 repottings.

appalachianOwl wrote:Hello Joel, thats a neat tree. As with all trees in my opinion, you give the same one to 50 people, more than likely 50 diffrent ways to style. Here is what spoke to me personal, for the main trunk line....  



I have no idea really what the natural pattern of this tree is, as have not been to your neck of the world . Is this a native for you? I would study them out if it is. Thanks for sharing, and welcome to tha IBC! -Jacob

Hi Jacob, thanks for your reply, right now I only have IBC to share the photos of my tree to seek opinions from other hobbyist. Molave is native to our country and no longer endangered as before. Hobbyist in here are already allowed to display and propagate this kind of tree for bonsai shows and other purposes. Unlike before, new methods are already available. I was not able to view the image you are referring at, maybe because of some other reason. Anyway, thanks again.

Joel

Precarious wrote:Joel, if this tree backbuds well, you are open for many things.  If not, bunjin style stands out to me.  The trunk is already fairly even in diameter up the trunk, with gentle narrowing.  It would not take much work now to decide on single or multiple pads of foliage, and begin pruning for growth of those pads.  Then, depending on how aggressively this tree can be rootpruned, you could downsize the pot in 1-3 repottings.

Thanks for the inputs, indeed bunjin style could be great for this, I have seen a lot of bunjin style images after I read your suggestion. This tree backbuds well, this is also why I'm planning to maximize foliage but may not be appropriate for bunjin style. I'm not yet sure if this tree would respond well if rootpruned.

Thanks again,
Joel

Neli wrote:I Tried a fast one...but I am afraid I have strong juniper influence....
Maybe you can like it.

Looking at it now and again maybe the apex needs to be shorter.

Hi Neli, I appreciate your fast response to my query, and this is my original plan for this tree. I've also seen a lot of images wherein foliage is visible even on the middle part of the tree, very much the same with this kind of trunk twist but I am not sure if this would look good on Molave, what I saw mostly applied on juniper.

Thanks,
Joel

hi Joel, kabayan...you can also join our local group at FB...it is Pinoy Tropical Bonsai..you can post all your possible querries there

darwin wrote:hi Joel, kabayan...you can also join our local group at FB...it is Pinoy Tropical Bonsai..you can post all your possible querries there

Hi Darwin, thanks for this input, I have been looking for forums related to bonsai art in our country but I've noticed that most of it are no longer active, meaning no on-going threads or discussions. But this one you've just suggested is new to me, I would visit this local group soonest.

Thanks again,
Joel