The true charm of this tree will ultimately be the nebari exiting the stone and crawling across the soil level. All the groundwork is set for this to present nicely in a few years, but for now, here is a sneak preview, but all developments happen best underground, so it’s buried deep for now:
The roots clinging to the rock were a bit thin. So in July 2015, I packed them with sphagnum moss, wrapped them in plastic, and hoped that covering them would hasten the thickening.
Fall color was nice:
And after leaf fall, it was in need of some pruning back:
The second trunk section bothered me; too straight, and lacking taper, so I made the decision to shorten the trunk again in February 2016:
Still clinging left, but trying to move right. A little work in May to check progress of the roots, and to handle some branch selection.
Some notable thickening and better adherence to the rock. Also, a pretty deep cut on a few of the roots. They should heal in time, I really don’t want scars here!
Cut paste applied over the wire scars:
I’ve deliberately kept lots of small shoots, close to the trunk, so it will look congested for a time, until I’ve finalized all the primary branches and trunk line. I was able to do some removal, but kept a few spares, and a few sacrifice branches.
Directionally, I finally decided I want the tree to lean left, so, using the trunk chop from February to add that direction, and a sacrifice branch to add the 3rd section of trunk:
Something like this…
There, that’s better…
We’ll see how it goes when winter gets here…
