Amur maple, prune or let grow?

Lorax7 · May 19, 2018

I’m fairly new to bonsai and not quite sure what direction I should be going in with this amur maple that I picked up last year. Both photos are of the same tree, one in early spring where you can see the “bones” and the other picture taken today. I’m not sure if I should be letting it grow out to thicken the side branches or if that is something that will happen gradually over the years if I just keep pruning for ramification. I know that I need to let branches at the top grow wild and free for a while in order to heal over an ugly cut in the back where I made a rookie mistake last year. What would you do with it if it was yours?

GailC · May 19, 2018

I would let it run wild to thicken branches. You can remove some of the leaves so light can get down to the center, helps strengthen growth.

cmeg1 · May 19, 2018

Welcome to the nuthouse!
I believe @markyscott has very good threads on this.
I don’t grow maples but you may have to wire as you go....so check with markyscott

my nellie · May 19, 2018

I think this is obvious that the branches need to thicken and get into proportion to the trunk, just like @GailC said above.

Lorax7 · May 19, 2018

Thanks for the suggestions. I went through and thinned the foliage a bit to let some more light reach the interior of the canopy, but avoided reducing the length of any of the shoots so (hopefully) the branches will gain some girth. Here it is now, after thinning.

my nellie · May 19, 2018

Lorax7 said:
... ...but avoided reducing the length of any of the shoots so (hopefully) the branches will gain some girth.

They will if left unrestricted to do their thing

defra · May 20, 2018

I agree with all of the above but got one thing that caught my eye wich is something you should take a close look at cus its hard to tell from one pic.

The first couple branches look like they are all sprouting out of the same height on the trunk at the same spot you see that the trunk is already slightly bulging up creating an ugly inversed taper so my advice would be take a close look and keep an eye on it to make sure that it wont get worse!

This has nothing to do with your pruning question but i think a ground layer is in order to improve the tree's nebari and so improve the overal image of the tree!

With some time and the right decisions this tree has good potentional
Good luck !

cmeg1 · May 23, 2018

Did you see this thread....seems helpful...the one I was talking about
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/field-grown-trident.18131/page-9
Page 5 branch training starts.......very informative,whole thread is good.

pbrown00 · May 23, 2018

I agree with what everyone has said; before focusing on ramification and refinement, I would let everything thicken to proportion. Nice looking tree!

Mithrandir · Aug 6, 2018

pbrown00 said:
I agree with what everyone has said; before focusing on ramification and refinement, I would let everything thicken to proportion. Nice looking tree!

@Lorax7 the Maple looks really nice!

If you don't mind me asking, do you find that they back-bud along the branches relatively easy?

Lorax7 · Aug 6, 2018

Mithrandir said:
@Lorax7 the Maple looks really nice!

If you don't mind me asking, do you find that they back-bud along the branches relatively easy?

They do back-bud easily. Whether it back-buds in the location where you wanted it to is a different story though.

Mithrandir · Aug 6, 2018

Lorax7 said:
They do back-bud easily. Whether it back-buds in the location where you wanted it to is a different story though.

Cheers. I suspected that would be the case unlike say a chinese elm where you can throw in the towel for a few months, come back and you have a million different buds/new branches. Do you prune it back frequently and at what interval of nodes? I've heard some people typically stick to 2 notes of new growth?

Lorax7 · Aug 6, 2018

Mithrandir said:
Cheers. I suspected that would be the case unlike say a chinese elm where you can throw in the towel for a few months, come back and you have a million different buds/new branches. Do you prune it back frequently and at what interval of nodes? I've heard some people typically stick to 2 notes of new growth?

I thinned the foliage a bit to let light in to the interior and improve air flow. I also trimmed side branches coming off this years’ new growth in the spring and early summer to encourage the shoots to grow long. I haven’t pruned anything else. I’m letting it grow now with the intent of thickening the branches. I’m planning to re-evaluate after the leaves drop and remove any unwanted growth that isn’t helping me accomplish my design goals.

raydomz · Aug 6, 2018

One thing to keep in mind - you want to introduce movement in those branches as soon as possible (re: now). The longer you wait, the less likely you are to achieve any kind of interesting movement via wiring. Good looking start

rockm · Aug 8, 2018

raydomz said:
One thing to keep in mind - you want to introduce movement in those branches as soon as possible (re: now). The longer you wait, the less likely you are to achieve any kind of interesting movement via wiring. Good looking start

Movement in deciduous branching isn't accomplished very well with wire. Clip and re-grow will introduce much more attractive branching in maples, including Amur.

raydomz · Aug 8, 2018

rockm said:
Movement in deciduous branching isn't accomplished very well with wire. Clip and re-grow will introduce much more attractive branching in maples, including Amur.

Let's agree to disagree.
This is purely aesthetic and down to technique preferences - I find that clip and grow creates too harsh of direction changes for certain silhouettes.

Lorax7 · Aug 8, 2018

raydomz said:
One thing to keep in mind - you want to introduce movement in those branches as soon as possible (re: now). The longer you wait, the less likely you are to achieve any kind of interesting movement via wiring. Good looking start

I’m planning on waiting until after the leaves fall to do the wiring so I can easily see what I’m doing.

raydomz · Aug 8, 2018

Is this an amur from the flower market?

Lorax7 · Aug 8, 2018

raydomz said:
Is this an amur from the flower market?

Yep

raydomz · Aug 13, 2018

Such a great shop. I don't get out there much but they've done a really great job providing such nice material to work with. It just gets better and better.

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