Help with the design

[brp7]

I have three Delonix Regia (flame tree) saplings. Two of them are growing at a good rate and have reached 1.25 inches in 4.5 months. I wanted a cascade style for the third one and so wired it two months back (I am a novice). It has some branches sprouted after the bending and those branches are growing thicker than the cascaded branch. I would like your opinion on the future design. Which branches (numbered ) should I remove now? The cascaded branch also has an inverse taper from its base.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated. I have attached a picture of the non-wired fast-growing tree as well.



Same tree as above (another angle)


The second tree was left free and not wired.



Thanks!
brp7

 

[Cajunrider]

Tree 1: Chop top branch and cascade branch then let it grow.
Tree 2 and 3: Just let them grow.

All your trees are too little and need to grow quite a bit more. Right now you are in fast juvenile growth. You bend a branch and the tree will grow a replacement branch in a hurry.

 

[Shibui]

A good example of apical dominance.
The only way I have found to overcome apical dominance is to prune rigorously. Every shoot that grows upward MUST be trimmed off before it steals the energy and resources from the cascade section.
Some trees are very strongly apical dominant. Trying to grow a cascade with those is futile. I suspect that most tropicals are in this category. If they come from rainforest they are programmed to grow up at all costs. In the forest, first to the top wins and these trees do not realise they are not still in the forest.
Give pruning a go but I suspect you will fight a losing battle with this species.

I don't grow Delonyx so there may be other reasons for the cascade trunk thickening more further out but I can see wire marks. Scarring often causes trunks and branches to thicken more than usual and I suspect that section of the trunk was damaged more than the upper section so it has thickened more as a result.

 

[Cajunrider]

A good example of apical dominance.
The only way I have found to overcome apical dominance is to prune rigorously. Every shoot that grows upward MUST be trimmed off before it steals the energy and resources from the cascade section.
Some trees are very strongly apical dominant. Trying to grow a cascade with those is futile. I suspect that most tropicals are in this category. If they come from rainforest they are programmed to grow up at all costs. In the forest, first to the top wins and these trees do not realise they are not still in the forest.
Give pruning a go but I suspect you will fight a losing battle with this species.

I don't grow Delonyx so there may be other reasons for the cascade trunk thickening more further out but I can see wire marks. Scarring often causes trunks and branches to thicken more than usual and I suspect that section of the trunk was damaged more than the upper section so it has thickened more as a result.

You are absolutely right about it being strongly apical. However, there are plenty of cascade Delonix regia bonsai in Asia. Delonix regia wants to be really big and training the juvenile is tough. We can do twisted trunk / cascade but the young tree just simply tries harder to form new shoots and drop the old branch. It is a lot less likely to drop the old branch once the tree is bigger and more established. That is why I encourage growth right now. Cascade training is much easier when we trunk chop and train a branch shoots to go down.