Maples - tips & advice

Paulpash

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To Rock: Where would you chop my tree if you had to?

The pruning scars have like a beige bulge on them. Should these be cut off with a sharp scalpel and the inside scored to reactivate healing?
 

rockm

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You're not going to want to hear this ;), but I'd reduce the larger trunk by more than half. Same for the smaller one.

The trunks, as they are now, even if you succeed in putting even a little movement into them with wire, will remain monotonous and lanky-looking. The trunks are pretty much the same diameter for 90 percent of their length. Visually, that makes them appear spindly and not very graceful and that trait will remain for their entire lives if not corrected now.

Inducing sucessive taper lower on both trunks with repeated chops will force some movement into them and will look more natural down the road.

This takes time, but the trees will be better for it. It should always be remembered that bonsai is not a spring, but a marathon. Instant fixes that work at the moment almost always wind up looking like instant fixes five years down the road. Developing convincing, quality trunks and limbs over time produces finer results that won't require re-working in three years...

I'm currently doing similar cut and grow out on at two Japanese maple forests. JMs are pretty resilient and fast-growing. The forests I chopped this summer have pushed new leaders that are now a half inch in diameter. I expect that kind of growth to accelerate this summer and plan additional reduction chops in the next two years.

I will begin chopping back branching to develop that in the next couple of years.

In all the project could take as long as five years, but the planting will be "acceptable" within three.
 

Paulpash

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I knew it would be like half a decade or so. Something like this? :
 

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rockm

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I'd go lower by a third:) on both.

I don't know if you'll be able to use that bigger branch on the bigger trunk as the new apex. It emerges from the trunk at an angle too accute to be bent back up convincingly. It will look strange as things move along as that initial angle will be very hard to alter, if it can be altered at all.

You will see that JM will put heavy growth at their apex pretty quickly and you will probably have to manage that along the way, allowing a year or two of unrestricted growth, followed by successive chops. Those reductions will push new branches lower down.
 
D

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@Paulpash any news on this tree? I just read through the discussion, and i'm curious as to what step you eventually took: slight bend or chop (or nothing?)?
 

Paulpash

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@Paulpash any news on this tree? I just read through the discussion, and i'm curious as to what step you eventually took: slight bend or chop (or nothing?)?

Chop and ground grow ... it's 7 ft tall now from growth. I have grown maples over the long haul b4 - my field maple is 20 plus years in the making.

IMG_20180619_181422_DRO by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

The nebari is still buried - it reaches to the edge of the pot barring about an inch. This was it earlier in the year. Bear with me tomorrow and I will update - building branches is very slow . It's just slowing down, soon it will be butter yellow all over.
 
D

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thanks for sharing! So it's not a twin trunk anymore i can see! It's certainly got taper though!
 

my nellie

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Great taper!
Is this a P. Dorda's pot, if I may ask?
 

Johnnyd

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Super Brian (BVF) has a good post on his blog here: http://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/more-spring-cleaning-2/ (edit: about scar healing/cleaning)


I don't know about the angle yet. it was just a thought. sometimes it is best in art generally to do as little as possible in the face of uncertainty. Often the key to a good design hinges in the things the designer chooses not to do

anyway, with those nice branches pulled down, and the side trunk pulled down, I think the slanting twin thing could work, but you seem to have a firm footing in bonsai, maybe pm one of the better posters and see if they make you a virt.
Do you know what tool he uses to clean up the scar? Wire brush?
 

Johnnyd

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Chop and ground grow ... it's 7 ft tall now from growth. I have grown maples over the long haul b4 - my field maple is 20 plus years in the making.

IMG_20180619_181422_DRO by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

The nebari is still buried - it reaches to the edge of the pot barring about an inch. This was it earlier in the year. Bear with me tomorrow and I will update - building branches is very slow . It's just slowing down, soon it will be butter yellow all over.
What happened to the Japanese maple? Pics?
 

Paulpash

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What happened to the Japanese maple? Pics?
Oops wtf was I doing uploading a pic of my field maple instead of the Acer Palmatum? Well it was chopped and grown on and grafted. Still a long way to go growing out but at least the movement doesn't resemble sticking two fingers up. It's in a custom dog basket with a subtle plastic patina.

IMG_20190803_172504.jpg
 

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Johnnyd

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Oops wtf was I doing uploading a pic of my field maple instead of the Acer Palmatum? Well it was chopped and grown on and grafted. Still a long way to go growing out but at least the movement doesn't resemble sticking two fingers up. It's in a custom dog basket with a subtle plastic patina.

View attachment 255871
Looks like some nice complimentary movement.
Were both trunks bent and then chopped?
I'm in the process of correcting a similar tree.
Thanks for the update.
 
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