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I've recently become interested in bonsai and have read quite a few websites and have bought a couple of books on them. I live in New Zealand and it's just heading into winter here.

I've just bought my first bonsai subject - a Rhododendron fastigiatum, which is a dwarf rhodo with very small leaves (the largest on this plant are 11m by 4mm) and I get the impression from the things I've read oneline that it grows quite slowly. Here's a species page about it: It was on clearance for $14 so I figured it was a bargain for a nice woody-looking specimen - the bark on the main trunk is peeling and the trunk is 2cm at its thickest point.

Since it is likely to be slow-growing, I don't want to stuff up the initial pruning and shaping, or I might have a plant that takes several years to re-shape adequately. I've ordered some 2mm aluminium wire from aliexpress but it probably won't be arriving for 2-3 weeks yet.

See attached photos that should give you a good idea for the shape of it. I've trimmed off all of the dead flower heads and some of the obviously unwanted twigs that were growing out of the main trunk. The height from the top rim of the pot is 20cm and the maximum width is 40cm.

I would prefer to do this in a semi-formal upright style, but I suspect the shape of the trunk lends itself much better to slanted and I should just bite the bullet and go with that. Or another option might be to re-pot it so that the trunk is more towards vertical - possibly doing this in increments over several years.

I guess the first step is to pick what is the going to be the 'front' side - my guess is either image 1 or image 6, with the branches coming forwards and directly back being trimmed off (image 8 shows the main trunk going directly away from the camera to the back wall). The pot that I have is actually a ceramic oven stoneware dish with two holes drilled into it - cost me $4 from the second hand shop, since I couldn't find any small-sized sensibly priced pots in my area. The pot is 21cm long, 13cm wide and 5cm deep, all measurements from the outside.

More photos.

You might plant in the ground, and let it grow.

You could just save the branch circled below. sounds drastic, but when it grows out, you'll have some nice taper.

Are you suggesting to prune off everything else except that one branch?

Before you start trimming off branches, first start cleaning the plant.

Remove all branches except for, at each point where more than 3 orginate. When removing them, keep in mind that branches normally grow away from the trunk and the inside of the canopy; I typically keep the ones that do that. But take it as a guide, not a rule. Also, if branches are along a main branch, keep a 'left right' pattern of side branches. Keen in mind that sometimes a shorter branch is better than a long branch. If in doubt whether you should keep a branch or not (Because you have 3 thick branches in one spot) leave it till styling time. If you have to trim several thick branches in one spot, it is better to do this over a few seasons; This gives the individual wounds time to establish (If I see that more than half of the main branch gets damaged in one spot, I separate the work over multiple years)

Then, remove the topsoil untill you reach the nebari. In nursery-grown plants, this may be as deep as 1/3 of the pot. Looking at your plant, it might be deep (As I see branches emerging from the soil I think). Be carefull to not disturb roots too much, so go slow and carefull.

With that done, you have an overview of what you have to work with and a much better view on the branch stucture & nebari. Then you can start loooking at styles.

I personally would not go for the suggested sidebranch, but would look for a more informal upright I see in picture 8, but first clean up the tree and then maybe opst some pictures.

Thanks leatherback.

leatherback wrote: Remove all branches except for, at each point where more than 3 orginate.

Sorry, I can't quite follow this. It looks like some words or many a sentence is missing here?

leatherback wrote: Then, remove the topsoil untill you reach the nebari. In nursery-grown plants, this may be as deep as 1/3 of the pot. Looking at your plant, it might be deep (As I see branches emerging from the soil I think). Be carefull to not disturb roots too much, so go slow and carefull.

Correct, in addition to the main trunk, there are 4 branches coming out from under the topsoil, as well as 2 other branches that connect to the main trunk right where it enters the soil. Rhododendrons however are very shallow-rooting plants (which is a good trait for bonsai) so I suspect I won't need to go any deeper than about 1 inch to expose the bases of all of these branches.

leatherback wrote: I [...] would look for a more informal upright I see in picture 8, but first clean up the tree and then maybe post some pictures.

What you have highlighted in picture 8 in the main trunk. Here is the central trunk highlighted in the other pictures - overhead, and #1. Will this be usable for informal upright? It is growing at about 42° away from vertical. Hence why I think this could work for slanted style.

You need to find the nebari first. It might be potted at an angle.

So, remove all branches except for 2, at each point where three of more branches originate.

You have a point with 3 or more branches -> Decide which 2 you want to keep, remove the rest

Thanks! That makes sense.

Also I looked carefully again at your drawing on #8, and I think you were actually pointing out a different branch path all together. I've edited #1 again this time in orange to show a series of branches, and also highlighted the one in green which I think matches up to your drawing.



The photos aren't the best and all the extra branches are getting in the way making it hard to see the wood (for the trees!), but I'll go and prune it now and hopefully post some new photos in an hour or two.

Right, finished with the thinning for now. I'm surprised at how much just doing this made it look more like a bonsai. I ended up taking off a few of the very low-trank branches. I didn't do a huge amount of thinning of the main trunk and the side branches from it, since they could be important for styling.

Numbering in this photos is approximately relative to the first set of photos (if anyone cares to compare). I also have a photo of "9-nebari" but since there's a limit of 8 photos per post I haven't uploaded that one.





In 1, 4, 7 and 9 thinning photos, I've marked one of the very low trunk branches with double red lines as I pruned it after those photos were taken. All subsequent photos have this branch pruned.

The photos "relaxed" and "pushing" show the plant in it's resting form, as well as with me pushing on the trunk with my fingers to orient it to a more up-right position. This push requires a fair amount of force from me, but I suppose if it were re-potted toward that angle, the plant would naturally rest in a more up-right form.

Lanthanide wrote: Are you suggesting to prune off everything else except that one branch?

yes leave only that little branch.

the little suckers at the bottom won't be of any use.