Tree from bag to show pot in six years.

Tieball

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Well done on the posting of the story, the steps, the changes and the overall documentation with photos. Mighty fine!
 

my nellie

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Thank you for sharing the story of making this very nice maple!
 

Smoke

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Thanks for the time it took you to document this.

It's encouraging to see that planning ahead makes the goal easier to accomplish.

That should happen before the project ever starts. Nice catch.
 
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Smoke,

When you are pruning, I think I understand that one is looking for successively smaller branches from the trunk to the leaves. What about the spacing between the branches. If you prune to have 2 pairs of buds, will the bud spacing get closer together as the branches get thinner? Or do you have to prune to 4 bud pairs on the primary branches, 3 on the secondary and so on. I'm sorry if my question is unclear, or not even wrong, I'm very new to this and trying to develop a plan for this spring.
 

Smoke

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In Jan. the virtual I made will be 5 years old. I swapped it horizontally so even though its really the back of the tree, it is virtually the same on either side. Putting them side by side is pretty uncanny while thinking about Max's observation.

Of course I still have a lot of work to do to get a base as exaggerated as the one in the virtual.

DSC_0001000130002.JPG flip0001.JPG
 

markyscott

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In Jan. the virtual I made will be 5 years old. I swapped it horizontally so even though its really the back of the tree, it is virtually the same on either side. Putting them side by side is pretty uncanny while thinking about Max's observation.

Of course I still have a lot of work to do to get a base as exaggerated as the one in the virtual.

View attachment 125285 View attachment 125286

Nice work and progression Al. I get a lot out of studying these types of threads. Thank you.

Scott
 

Smoke

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Smoke,

When you are pruning, I think I understand that one is looking for successively smaller branches from the trunk to the leaves. What about the spacing between the branches. If you prune to have 2 pairs of buds, will the bud spacing get closer together as the branches get thinner? Or do you have to prune to 4 bud pairs on the primary branches, 3 on the secondary and so on. I'm sorry if my question is unclear, or not even wrong, I'm very new to this and trying to develop a plan for this spring.
This is probably one of the most important questions you could ask. It would be very difficult and super time consuming to post all that is needed about working with maples for developing material. There is no formula like you posted for branches except to say in short, keep everything to two's. Not two buds per se, but branch divisions to two. Always keep the terminal bud removed when the tree is to the point of keeping it styled. This induces twiggyness.

In all my posts at the bottom you will find "trident maple inspiration", there you can find many tutorials on pruning maples.
 

Stan Kengai

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@Smoke Al, thank you for all you do here on this forum and on your blog. I think I speak for most, obvious outliers excepted @RickMartin , that your contributions to the bonsaisphere are sincerely appreciated.

I love this winter, summer, fall mashup. To me, it clearly demonstrates that trees can be potted to be shown either in-leaf or out-of-leaf. I like the pot and the tree, and, to me, they are nicely matched in the winter picture. However, in the summer and fall pictures, it looks like the tree is underpotted. I understand you may have had no intention of showing this tree. I also understand that underpotting a tree can improve the nebari. I have seen significant evidence of such myself in azaleas. I was wondering if you could share your thought process on choosing this pot for this tree. Was it for aesthetics? For horticulture? For nebari development? Completely by chance? (I somehow doubt the latter, even though we've all had those Bob Ross "happy accident" experiences.) Thank you for your time.
 

Stan Kengai

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Please explain. How does this work?

Scott
This topic deserves its own thread, and I will gladly explain my findings and show examples in the spring, when I repot. I've got 2" nebari on 3/4" trunks.
 

Smoke

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Please explain. How does this work?

Scott
For the sake of argument and without reading anything Stan has yet to write, it goes without say for deciduous trees. I too have experienced this and the exact reason I tie my trees in shallow pots without soil underneath. It's just such a waste of soil.
 
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