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I've been interested in bonsai since I was a teen but all my half hearted attempts ended up in dead trees. I decided to try again this year and be more serious. While I'm waiting for spring and a new shipment of nursery plants, I decided to play around with a dwarf pomegranate I've had for almost 4 years.
I've been keeping this plant trimmed down so it won't be too big to come inside for the winter since it won't survive here. Its been in partial dormancy on the back porch since late fall. It did get a bit too cool and dropped most of its leaves but the shold comeback quickly.

Yesterday I removed most the soil and trimmed the roots back and repotted in a proper bonsai pot. I had planned on leaving the lower forked branch but decided today it didn't look good and cut most of it back to get it out of the way. Thhis changed what will be the front and now the plant is in the pot wrong but I'll worry about this later.

I wired and bent the main stem but its possibly too bent now? I can release some tension if needed. I don't really have a plan so too speak, I'm just shaping it as I go along. Now I'm wondering if I should cut the rest of the stems off or wait until it recovers some and gets more leaves?

I'll include a picture of what I'm planning, input would be appreciated. I also have a mini lilac I plan on training but its outside buried in snow. I may also have access to a very old, large quince bush later this spring that might be a candidate if its not too large.
I'd also like to find some kind of pine/cedar/larch in the wild this summer. I'd like most of my plants to be winter hardy, besides my pom. I'd also like to try some kind of blooming tree that would be inside for the winter. I'm thinking about a silk tree or wisteria but I could also get a decent start off my moms sakura by air layering.

I'm not familiar with pomegranate, but I can give a few tips on tree care.

Repotting is generally done in springtime just as trees are coming out of dormancy - usually as the buds are swelling. Your tree still has leaves, so it may not have been dormant. Regardless, root pruning takes quite a bit of energy from the tree. It is best to let the tree recover before doing major pruning and bending. Being that you have already done some of these things, I'd advise you to let the tree take a break. Let it heal first. The tree can always get bent another day.

After a month or two, if your tree is still doing well, we can advise on styling and training.

In the meantime, keep doing research on bonsai care. Proper knowledge will only benefit you and your trees. This forum is a good source. Check for a local club or people in your area that may help and give advice. It surprised me how many I found once I started to look.

Good luck

Thank you, I will let it recover before doing anything else to it. I've done some major pruning to this poor thing before, it seems pretty dang tough so I'm sure it will be fine.
No clubs, I'm in a rural area with nothing like that.

Those little branches, up toward the middle, leave them alone, let them grow. They will make the lower part of the trunk bigger. Of course then, you'll have to keep the rest of the upper part trimmed, so all the growth, has to go to those two, twigs.

Big fat lower trunks are really cool.

The one at the bottom you want to cut off, for the same reason, leave it. Pomegranates, well i really have no idea, what they do with scars.

You need a decent trunk first, i would not prune but let the branches grow out for a few years.


cheers

Yes let it grow for a few years to get a trunk, at the moment it is long and thin.
I find it to be hardy here, but it does not leaf out early, usually not until late April or early May.

Orlando wrote: You need a decent trunk first, i would not prune but let the branches grow out for a few years.

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cheers

Sorry,the picture is not a Punica granatum but a Alnus glutinosa

It has been growing for a few years, I can't plant it in the ground as it would freeze here. Its getting trained or tossed, I was going to toss it but decided I'd practice on it instead.
Its the dwarf variety Punica granatum ‘Nana’, it will take many, many year before it would get a big trunk. They are a bit thinner/shrubby then a regular pom tree.

Gail wrote: it will take many, many year before it would get a big trunk.

That's bonsai. If you're not willing to invest many, many years in training, then don't do bonsai.

Gail wrote: No clubs, I'm in a rural area with nothing like that.

I am, too. That's why I said I was surprised when I looked. Spoke with friends and people at bonfires, get-togethers, pot lucks, watering hole and a few beers. They said, 'Oh! You must know so-and-so.' Nope. 'Well, here's his number.' I found four people in my backwoods town that grow bonsai. We're now great friends, swap trees and tips, and sometimes collect together in our neighbors' pastures and woods.

Nearest club is in the city, an hour away, but they only meet up once a month. I take the time after work those days (unless snow or ice), pick up sushi on the way back for my wife. It's a monthly treat.

If you can't find one closer, or can't afford/make the trip, call the closest one - they may take the time to come see you (I would as long as you let me mosey around your woods). As you can tell from this forum, people who do bonsai, looooove bonsai. It will be worth the conversation about what extents must be taken - it's a long haul. And as Auk said: That's bonsai.