Let me show you my young indoor tree, which I am training to become a bonsai tree.

Indoor Apple Tree

Growing young apple trees indoors, I have found to be quite rewarding. They are super strong growers, and not susceptible to disease or pest problems. Usually I can treat them like normal indoor plants, and only have to water it once a week or so. It probably wouldn't stress if I skipped a week.

This tree has grown a full year from seed, and so it only has a single branch stem. As the stem quickly became longer, I used a wire to train the flexible stem into a shape that will eventually become a permanent shape of the trunk as it hardens up.

Historical Details

ID: 0048
Nickname: Twirly
Type: Apple
Age: 1.5 years
Grown: seed (child of Lucy Glo)
Last repotting: Never
Wired: Late Winter 2020

Creating Shape

Young trees like this one are at the perfect stage to wire into any radical shape an artist might choose. Just like testing to see when fruit is ripe, I have to test to tree to feel when the tree is ready to be trained.

Too green and tender, and the stem and leaves will snap off. Too woody and hard, and it will be less flexible. The tree feels like it is ready to be wired when the branch feels like flexible plastic, able to be bent without cracking or tearing.

I usually like to wait for the tree to have a long whip (another name for a long, flexible, straight stem) before I apply any wire. The tree will bend the least near the root, but more detailed angles will hold well in the middle section. Near the tip, I have to be careful, as the tender green end is more likely to snap with very little pressure.

This tree has grown out since I last wired it in late Winter. Now it is Summer time, and the upper end began growing upward past the wire. The solution was to add a guy wire with a small weight. This brought the top down into a nicer diagonal line, consistent with the lower spiral.

Only, problem is that the stem is now extending well beyond the base. Now is good time to strategize how to tame the wild top end to head back around towards the center.

Future Goal

My goal for now is to encourage this tree to form a thicker trunk base, and some side branches out in lateral directions around the spiral trunk.

When I look at the tree from the top, I see that all the growth is being sent to the tip. Many of the largest leaves are covering up the lower leaves and stem. So I've decided to strip off some of the competing leaves, and trim off the end tip.

I think this will put the tree in alignment with growing in the same fashion as my goals for it.

Results

The end has been trimmed off. Mostly I left the leaves growing on top and heading outward. The leaves I removed were all crowded, overlapping, weak, or growing underneath other parts of the tree. More sunlight can reach all parts of the tree to help stimulate new growth areas.

With the top tip trimmed off, I am not sure what sort of shape I should encourage for the future route for the trunk. The new growth will likely rocket straight up, and break up the diagonal spiral pattern. Maybe I'll get even crazier and form an outward curly Q, that bends under, and then back in to the middle before heading up to continue the spiral up.

Hopefully the bonsai tree gods will forgive me for my heresy!

Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.