名媛直播

Hello Everyone.
I jut got my first bonsai tree (chineese elm) as a 3 year anniversary gift from my girlfriend. And I've noticed that some of the shoots grow downwards like the one marked in the picture, so the question is can i cut the whole shoot? Becouse I wouldn't like branches to be growing downwards.
I read somewhere that you should let the shoot grow till 8 leaves and then prune back to 2 leaves, but i dont want this branch at all.
It's a 5 years old chinese elm.

Yes you can cut the whole shoot off.

look up the term 'Mallsai'

Im not sure its typical mall bonsai, the soil I dont think is bad, as its not too compacted the water doesnt run off the soil surface it drains pretty fast.
Do you think i should take the elm from the pot and look how the roots look?
Also when cutting the shoot should i cut it near the branch or should i leave like 5mm of shoot?

The soil may not be terrible, but Mallsai refers to generic, mass produced, generally s-shaped trees.
Cut the shoot as flush with the branch as you can, although it doesn't matter too much

Biafra wrote: Im not sure its typical mall bonsai, the soil I dont think is bad, as its not too compacted the water doesnt run off the soil surface it drains pretty fast.

It still is not a bonsai, but a mallsai. Generic badly formed bonsai wannabes.

Ok thank You @名媛直播Learner.

I realise it's not a 300$ bonsai, but its still only 5 years old so i belive i can make it into real bonsai during my liftime, while learning to work with them.

名媛直播 are made from large plants, let it grow in the ground for half a decade then worry about working on it.

Chinese elms grow like crazy. So dont worry about single branches now. Plant it in a much bigger pot and first grow the main trunk - take care only about its shape and let it get larger. Let the other branches grow freely. After 10 years you start thinking about the side branches. You will cat these and they will regrow - thats when you will shape the new ones.
If you will cut the side branches now this tree will never get larger and in 20 years will look tiny as now.

Winter wrote: Chinese elms grow like crazy. So dont worry about single branches now. Plant it in a much bigger pot and first grow the main trunk - take care only about its shape and let it get larger. Let the other branches grow freely. After 10 years you start thinking about the side branches. You will cat these and they will regrow - thats when you will shape the new ones.
If you will cut the side branches now this tree will never get larger and in 20 years will look tiny as now.

Well i dont want for it to be too big, it has to fit on my windowsill in my room, although i would love the "older" look so i guess it could have a wider trunk and be a 2x te size:) How much bigger pot should it be? right now the pot is 14x8x4cm. And the tree is about 20cm tall.

The pot is definitely too small now. Id say 30x30x30 cm is the smallest id use. Also place a rock under the roots to make the trunk grow larger at the base.