Sixth Month Challenge - the Wrong Tree?

Around the time that Reddit opened entry for this year's nursery stock contest, I decided to challenge myself to see whether, during the period of the contest, I could create a bonsai from one of the cuttings I'd propagated but hadn't yet started working on. I confess that I was a bit impulsive in announcing my plan before I'd looked for candidates for this challenge. Once I looked through my trees I realised that the ones most suitable for this project were deciduous, so I couldn't use them for a winter challenge.

In the end I felt my only option was to try to create a literati bonsai from one of my Ficus burtt-davyi cuttings.

My chosen candidate was growing so vigorously that it had sent a root into the neighbouring pot. This was how it was growing at the beginning of April - the two trees moved into a clear container for the photo as it was the only way to keep them upright.

April 2018

After cutting the problem root and removing a few dead branches on the lower trunk, the tree was still unable to stand upright without support.

April 2018

Clearly a bigger pot was required.

As we were headed into winter I repotted the tree very carefully, making sure not to disturb any roots.

Then I did a little wiring, leaving an unwanted apex and several excess branches as insurance in case overaggressive styling killed the ones I wanted.

First styling - April 2018

A month later everything was looking good. The roots were growing into the new soil:

May 2018

The tree was showing no signs of die back, so I removed the unwanted branches.

Second styling - May 2018

However it was already showing signs that it might want to be something different as all the new growth was lower down the trunk.

Now, a month later, those buds are growing well and I'm starting to rethink my plans for this tree's future.

June 2018

Perhaps I'll remove the top and try to root it as a smaller literati. For now I'll just let it grow.

Happily one of the trees I bought for the Reddit contest is showing a lot more promise and I've entered the competition. But I'll discuss that one when the competition is over.

And perhaps I'll make another attempt with one of my propagated trees in spring.