I realize TIME is ultimately the biggest factor in Bonsai I was just asking if there were any techniques I should be applying
No there really isn't except potting it UP a size or two width wise.
Just guessing from what I can see and the distance from front to
back that is in a trade gallon. This means that root ball is in 3.5
quarts of soil at best--can be as little as 3.25 and still be legal--
and that is all there is. All there is to hold moisture/hold food
(fertilizer) and grow new roots into. Find a large nursery pot. Go
to a nursery if you have to; yes they will probably charge you for it
but usually not all that. You want at least a 5 gallon. Sit your pot
beside it. Mark on the side of the new pot the soil level in the old pot.
Cut the top part of the new one off there. Take it off in one piece. That
is why you want a flimsy nursery pot. Pull your tree out of its old
pot. Center it in the new one. Pot it up in similar soil for now. Grow
on for a few more years to heal your thinning cuts and fatten up those
trunks. A proper angle on a twin trunk can make a tree appear much
thicker than it actually is.
Do not throw away the part you cut off. You did take it off intact right?
Use it as a collar. Same thing you are doing with this one but on the
ground. The collar you created by cutting off the new pot is like a ready
made raised bed form for 1 plant or a bed form to stick a few cuttings
--it never hurts--any of a number of things. Go at it and enjoy.
