A Japanese Maple forest beginning refinement

[Adair M]

I know... out of character for me, right? Well, I do have a few deciduous trees.

So, this forest started getting refined last spring. As the new foliage emerged from the bud, I would go in and pinch or snip out the center leader between the two first leaves. I had to do that every day for a period of about 3 weeks as they were opening up. Then, new buds would form, and they would open up, too. So, I would try to keep up, as best I could.

This picture shows what it looked like during that period:



Eventually, it got so dense, I couldn’t keep up with all the new shoots. So, I let it grow out from there.

We had an extraordinarily hot and dry summer, so some leaf scorching occurred, when discouraged me from taking photos of it during the summer. Sorry about that.

And, we didn’t get much color this fall, again due to the hot, dry fall and continued draught. Anyway, I pulled off the remaining dry leaves, and here’s what it looked like;



As you can see, lots and lots of fine twigs and short internodes. There are still rough stubs from pruning, abrupt taper junctions, overly dense places, bare places, but I’m pretty pleased with the progress.

Time for a cut back:



I cut back this time of year because Japanese Maples are less likely to bleed sap when pruned in the fall. I’m actually a little late, I should have gone it as the leaves were turning brown, not after they’ve turned brown. I did dab each cut with cut paste.

 

[Warpig]

Vary nice, looking forward to seeing this progress. The two pictures of it bare being from opposite sides really messed with me for a minute. Lol

 

[MACH5]

This is a nice forest Adair with lots to work with. Is this the one you got from Bill?

 

[Adair M]

This is a nice forest Adair with lots to work with. Is this the one you got from Bill?

Yes it is. Bill has the design aspects of trunk placement perfected. So all I have to do is the easy part: build ramification.

 

[Adair M]

Vary nice, looking forward to seeing this progress. The two pictures of it bare being from opposite sides really messed with me for a minute. Lol

Sorry about that! I think the second one is the front, although it looks good from both sides. The “before” picture almost didn’t get taken! I sat down to do the cut back, then remembered I ought to take a picture. So I plopped it down, and just focused on getting it straight, and didn’t even notice I was photographing the back.

 

[Djtommy]

Nice forest but Adair would say that it is planted too high in the pot.

 

[namnhi]

Nice forest but Adair would say that it is planted too high in the pot.

Mounded... Which is acceptable for forest planting.

 

[Adair M]

Actually, I agree! And, I think the pot is too tall. But, it’s young. I’ll leave it in this pot for a couple of years so that the root masses of the individual trees mat together entirely. Then, I’ll repot the entire forest as if it were a single tree into a larger, but thinner forest tray. Possibly even a slab.

 

[Paulpash]

Who the hell are you - what have you done with the real Adair ???

 

[Mayank]

Actually, I agree! And, I think the pot is too tall. But, it’s young. I’ll leave it in this pot for a couple of years so that the root masses of the individual trees mat together entirely. Then, I’ll repot the entire forest as if it were a single tree into a larger, but thinner forest tray. Possibly even a slab.

I love the idea of that in a slab. I also love the before and after and didn't even notice that one was the front and one the back!

 

[Adair M]

Who the hell are you - what have you done with the real Adair ???

SSssshhhh....

Don’t tell anyone, but I’m actually @MACH5 ’s evil twin! (I just don’t have any fashion sense, people skills, real bonsai talent, or hair stylist... otherwise we’re identical!)

 

[Nybonsai12]

Any history on the grouping? Are they fused? all part of the same batch of seeds? all look to be similar in age/size..should be fun to develop.

 

[Adair M]

Any history on the grouping? Are they fused? all part of the same batch of seeds? all look to be similar in age/size..should be fun to develop.

I purchased the forest from Bill Valavanis. He puts together a number of these every year. How many? I don’t know. Maybe 20? 30? I really don’t know. From seedlings. He posts about producing them on his blog.

Once they’re positioned, you just let them grow together in the pot. You ask, “Are they fused?” Uh, there are 9 separate trees. But the roots are getting all tangled together in the soil. Eventually, they will become so intertwined they will become “as one”, even though each tree will have its own genetics.

I suspect they all came from the same batch of seed. And I’m guessing here, from seeds grown by Matt Ouwinga.

 

[Cable]

Nice forest but Adair would say that it is planted too high in the pot.

Eh, nobody listens to that guy. He's nuts!

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Adair would never touch a maple..... you are an alien and have stolen his body!

 

[bonsai45]

@Adair M nice tree!

would love to see you share pictures of the repotting process! repotting maple forests is something that can be very discouraging (at least for me!) and requires expertise and patience! would love to learn from your approach

 

[Adair M]

@Adair M nice tree!

would love to see you share pictures of the repotting process! repotting maple forests is something that can be very discouraging (at least for me!) and requires expertise and patience! would love to learn from your approach

Easy Peasy!

Cut the wires on the bottom of the pot.
Run a sickle around the inside perimeter.
Lift the forest as a whole out of the pot.
Set the forest on the edge of the work bench on its side so that the branches can hang over the side, and the bottom of the forest is verticle.
Use a 3 prong rake to scrape the bottom of the root mass. There will be tons of circling and matted roots that will get loosened. Keep the bottom of the root mass flat as you scrape. Don’t dig holes in the bottom.
Cut the excess roots off with sharp scissors.
Repeat with the rake, then cut the roots off flat across the bottom as necessary to work the depth of the root mass down to the desired depth.
Set the forest back upright, then using bent tip tweezers work around the perimeter of the root mass, loosening soil and trimming back.
Keep the whole forest united as a single unit. Don’t try to separate the trunks.

Prepare the pot with fresh screen and tie down wire. Put a new layer of soil in the pot, replace the forest in the pot and tie it in. Add fresh soil, chopstick, level, water, and you’re done! No problem!

 

[SouthernMaple]

Beautiful forest Adair, and thanks for posting something about maples, I get so tired of seeing all these non maple posts on here.

 

[bonsai45]

Set the forest on the edge of the work bench on its side so that the branches can hang over the side, and the bottom of the forest is verticle.
...
Keep the whole forest united as a single unit. Don’t try to separate the trunks.

i guess this might be my issue - i'm repotting it too early! I created a forest with 9 maples, and when i repotted 2 years later they were effectively still 9 independent maples so it felt like i was restarting from 0 with the lay-out that I had originally spent so much time setting-up!

I'm guessing Bill lets them settle for more than 2 years before their first repotting

Thank you @Adair M !

 

[Adair M]

i guess this might be my issue - i'm repotting it too early! I created a forest with 9 maples, and when i repotted 2 years later they were effectively still 9 independent maples so it felt like i was restarting from 0 with the lay-out that I had originally spent so much time setting-up!

I'm guessing Bill lets them settle for more than 2 years before their first repotting

Thank you @Adair M !

Or longer! You should let them get very tight. (Potbound is ok. They can live for years being potbound). If they were still independent, you might have planted them too far apart, and they probably didn’t need to be repotted.