New Japanese Maples - Young Stock

Hi folks,

I bought a few JM's last year - a few different varieties, all are young two - three year old saplings. They're just in pots at the moment but I'm planning on planting them out next spring - the idea being to let them grow on for the next 7-10 years to develop decent trunks. A few of the trees have got multiple trunks, with no single obvious trunk to develop and about four/five stems all growing out. Should I choose one for my trunk and cut everything else off? I've left them on for now thinking they'll help develop the trunk thickness in time, but they look a bit congested at the moment?

Any advice?

Thanks all,

Andy

Pictures always help ;-)

AndyJ said:

Hi folks,

I bought a few JM's last year - a few different varieties, all are young two - three year old saplings. They're just in pots at the moment but I'm planning on planting them out next spring - the idea being to let them grow on for the next 7-10 years to develop decent trunks. A few of the trees have got multiple trunks, with no single obvious trunk to develop and about four/five stems all growing out. Should I choose one for my trunk and cut everything else off? I've left them on for now thinking they'll help develop the trunk thickness in time, but they look a bit congested at the moment?

Any advice?

Thanks all,

Andy

Click to expand...

Depending on the number of trunks and their location, I would recommend letting them all grow for a few years, then identify the trunkline you wish to keep, and understand that at some point down the road, you will be removing the other trunks. It is quite possible that the trunks will fuse over time near the bottom and help you develop a strong nebari. and, as ajm says, pics always help. For the people who have a bunch of experience in bonsai on this forum, photos allow them to give design/growing advice. For now, without seeing photos, I would just let them grow a few years and make those decisions after you see if they might fuse or are diverging.

I like the one on the left best!

Ian

iant said:

I like the one on the left best!

Ian

Click to expand...

You trolled me so perfectly. I thought he had posted pics of them. Then I get here and no pics. Nicely done sir.

Hi folks - I'm back with pictures. They're not great I'm afraid - hopefully they're good enough but let me know if I need to do better!