@doctorater
I see youre fairly new to the forum and to bonsai.
Welcome to the hobby and to the forum.
You probably arent going to like what I have to tell you about this tree, but I happen to agree with
@Forsoothe! that this tree is not great material and probably not worth the time and effort to try and get something decent out of it.
I however will try to be more diplomatic than his first post and try to explain why its not great material and that while it could provide a great learning opportunity, it wont make a good bonsai.
I have walked past by 100s of these in my travels around tree nurseries looking for material and when I was new to the hobby was very tempted to buy them just as you did.
The biggest problem with these is the octopus configuration, trunks going out at all directions so left as is, its just a topiary, and cant make a convincing bonsai at all.
fI think that you have also come to that conclusion.
The second problem is that they mostly have rather straight trunks with all the foliage quite a distance away from the roots and as somone said, they dont seem to back bud at all.
Lastly the angle that each trunk comes off the root base is too extreme to make even a convincing informal upright and they dont bend so a cascade is out of the question as well.
I honestly dont know how easily San Jose air layer as I have never tried it myself but if you want to experiment, you could give it a try.
That said, lets assume that they do air layer well and look at each branch to discuss how if each one might be worth air layering.
Trunk 1
Has a little bit of movement from the angle pictured, but the branching above leaves a lot to be desired. There is a very large thick branch up near the top which would have to eventually be dealt with. Possible candidate.
Trunk 2
Very straight near the bottom with a bit of reverse taper wehre the branches start. Could try to do the air layer about halfway up the straight portion to make a better possible candidate.
Trunk 3
Very straight in the middle of the branch, reverse taper below. Lots of branches but the straight section would make it kinda meh.
Trunk 4
Very little taper throughout the branch. Interesting movement halfway. Might try the air layer just bleow the first branch. Area below the first branch very straight and not interesting at all so not worth keeping.
Trunk 5
IMO this is the best branch. It has nice movement near the bottom, relatively low branches. I would try this air layer where the edge of the pot is if you can.
Trunk 6
Also not a bad trunk except for the reverse taper where the branches start. I would air layer this about 3-4 inches below the branches.
Your proposed 2 trunk with #1 and #2
This configuration creates a 'Y' and would not be a very compelling 2 trunk. If you cant bend them to try and reduce that effect, its probably not worht it.
We usually try to avoid trees and branch configurations that form a 'Y' because they just dont look good at all.
IMO the best trunks in order are 5, 6, 1, 4 IF the tree can be air layered.
My advice is to try doing air layers on the less desirable trunks first (2, 3) to see if it will work.
You will learn something along the way.
Any way you go, this is a long term project to get anything decent. Whether its worth it or not, I dont know. For me it wouldnt be.
Dont get too invested in the tree because the chances of getting a decent tree out of this is slim.
Work on trying to find better material that has a better chance of developing into something nice.
Good luck
