Hi, well for starters, 'Japanese Pagoda' is not a tree, but a brand name of the grower. You need to find out what kind of tree you actually have so you know how to take care of it, why it lost branches and what to do from now on - it could even be a tree that's meant to live outdoors 24/7/365 to experience cold dormancy and other things 'hardy' trees need. Can you post a picture either to the gallery of this forum (and leave a note on this side to alert us to look) or at least describe leaves as precisely as possible - size, whether edges are sharp toothed or scalloped (or not), whether leaves are long & narrow, whether they are not leaves but little bunches of needles (not thorns, but like most evergreens), etc. Any shape ('S'for instance) already trained into the trunk won't help BTW). Also tell how large the pot is, how often you water, if you do it from above and how much, and what kind of light you keep it in for how many hrs/day. There's a lot of help out there, but without knowing what your tree is....

Why not just wait til spring, get a big wisteria from the nursery (1-2 gal. pot, 3' high) and work on that? You'll have a decent sized trunk to work with, 5 yrs less of fiddling with seedlings, and being more established, your chances of keeping it alive will be better. Plus you'll have the winter to do some reading on bonsai and tree growing in general. Joshua trees are desert plants, not real trees, and you might want to rethink that one if you're just starting out, in NY.

Better still would be to layer the top off above the graft, something I do as a matter of course. Here is a picture of a Zelcova I'm 'shortening' (on right). Pay no attention to the planting on the left. The photo was taken as part of a series to illustrate before/after pruning of the Radermachia. The Zelcova was actually incidental to the picture; I just remembered it was in the shot. You can remove all the bark & cambial tissues in a ring equal to 1.5X the diameter of the branch you're layering; or, you can leave the bark intact and simply wrap a couple of zip ties (locate them as close together as you can get them - touching is best) tightly around the trunk & wait. How I do it: A) determine where I want the root base to develop B) wrap the zip ties below that point in late summer before I'm going to do the layering C) (important) Wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the area where you eventually want roots to grow & secure it so the area just below the zip ties to just above is in total darkness. This increases the plant's response to the polar movement of auxin and promotes the preformation of root primordia, so when the layer is completed in spring, you have a considerable jump on the process. BTW - the zip ties block the polar flow of photosynthate/carbohydrates and auxin. A very noticeable bulge will form immediately above the constriction point where the carbohydrates collect in the auxin-rich tissues. Fortunately, the prominent bulge adds a considerable amount of (visual) strength to your composition after the layer is separated from the tree. D) Start the layering process in spring. In most cases, after the separation if not before, buds will break below the layer site, providing you with another tree you can plant out, layer again later, or use as a source of grafting material. Al

Stephen, I am not familiar with the climate in Cheshire or whether you have more seasonal type rainfall, but in my climate, I stop watering containers once fall rains become common......like right now :-) If you get routine regular rainfall in fall and winter, then you can stop watering your patio pots. But I would check them periodically throughout any extended dry spells. You do not want the soil to dry too completely but neither do you want it saturated - and a good durable, aerated potting medium will help to avoid that . There is no issue about the pots being exposed to frosts but you do want to be cautious about freezing weather. The roots of Japanese maples can be fatally damaged at temps below 25F (-3.9C) and that can occur relatively easily with containerized maples that do not have the benefit of the insulating factor of a large soil mass surrounding them. Plants or seedlings in a protected location will need some monitoring of soil moisture through the winter. Again, you want the soil to be just moist, not completely dry nor too wet. I can't tell you how to handle the seeds/seedlings through winter, as that is not my area of expertise at all. Hopefully someone who does grow JM's from seed will chime in with their advice.