Acer Ginnala styled

[MACH5]

Wow looking great Serg... such an increase in ramification in those 3 years between 2015-2018. The close ups really highlight the features of this tree that show off it's age.

Thanks Bri! I even surprised myself when I took a look back at the 2015 pic. It's getting there. These trees do not ramify as finely as tridents or Japanese maples. It is the nature of the species but they will get there in time. When compared, there are wart-like growths or bumps on the trunk that are getting more pronounced that help add age and charcacter. Trees... one of the few things in life that get better with age!

 

[MACH5]

looks like you'll have your original goal accomplished by ... next fall? This progression is awesome, glad I have some of these maples headed my way. Been seeing more and more great examples of ginnala

Thanks GGB. Not so sure. More like another 4 to 5 years I think? I agree, I am seeing more people tackle this species in the US which is good to see. Extremely tough and winter hardy with spectacular autumn color on a good year. The only challenge I have encountered with older specimens is the lack of good root bases. Have not seen any being used in Asia despite being native to parts of that area. I suspect because of their more coarse ramification? In Europe of course there are some very impressive ones like the ones Walter Pall has been posting here.

 

[willw86]

MACH5, I read through this thread and a few of your other ones... amazing work! Really inspires me to get a few maples next spring and see what I can do. Thank you for sharing!

 

[MACH5]

MACH5, I read through this thread and a few of your other ones... amazing work! Really inspires me to get a few maples next spring and see what I can do. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks Will and welcome to BNut! I wish you luck and have fun with your maples. They are the quintessential deciduous trees for bonsai. You pretty much have it all with them. Color, bark, leaf shape and size, four seasons interest, etc. Everything!

 

[JudyB]

yeah baby, that thing is coming on now. Good year. I don't know why our color is so late this year, but I've only seen two maples in the whole woodland turning here so far. It's been too warm and wet I suppose. Would like to see some fall! We've had frosts the last 2 nights so maybe soon.
I would have hoped your amur would have more oranges and yellows.

 

[MACH5]

yeah baby, that thing is coming on now. Good year. I don't know why our color is so late this year, but I've only seen two maples in the whole woodland turning here so far. It's been too warm and wet I suppose. Would like to see some fall! We've had frosts the last 2 nights so maybe soon.
I would have hoped your amur would have more oranges and yellows.

Same here Judy. Most of my bonsai and even trees around me are still quite green. We have gotten quite a bit colder this week so that should help get things going. This amur is usually one of the first to turn. Not a particularly good year for it in terms of color but happy at least to see progress on its ramification.

 

[ConorDash]

No flash @ConorDash. Flash lighting is very harsh and flattens out the image. I use what they call softboxes made for photo studio purposes. I use two, one on each side of the tree but at different intensities and/or distance to have one side of the tree more brightly lit than the other. Below is what it looks like when I am shooting my trees at night. Of course you can also use a black background to get the same effect.








HA! Correct! No flash, but unfotunately and sadly no "angelic glow" here either.

Oh wow. I’ve always seen those boxes but never really known their proper use or purpose. Well, they work. They really do.
Thanks for info and pic

Also, autumn for UK, my trees seem to be reacting very quickly, I thought it early. My Oaks leaves are going, a Wych Elm has lost all leaves, a Pomegranate lost all leaves. All other elms and maple are completely green, showing no signs of winter, so far.

 

[theta]

I'm in love with this tree Sergio! Amazing job with the level of work you've put into it. Do you have any updates for this Spring? I read a few pages ago I think the plan was to cut back to get better taper and angle changes in the branches? Is that still going to happen?

 

[MACH5]

I'm in love with this tree Sergio! Amazing job with the level of work you've put into it. Do you have any updates for this Spring? I read a few pages ago I think the plan was to cut back to get better taper and angle changes in the branches? Is that still going to happen?

Thank you @theta! Here you go. Tree just leafing out. It was lightly wired and pruned back to keep shortening branches back to where they bifurcate closer to the trunk. They tend to produce long internodes but patiently they can be shortened. Plan is to fertilize heavily and let it grow unchecked until late June. At which time it will be cut back and let go again for the rest of the year. The transitions from trunk into the primary branches is slowly improving.

 

[MACH5]

Blast off! Aiming at further thickening main branches. Planning to leave it all season growing as it may. Not precisely very pretty but necessary.

 

[MACH5]

Another one

 

[just.wing.it]

Another one

View attachment 245055

Nice and bushy!
Do you hedge them at all?

 

[MACH5]

Nice and bushy!
Do you hedge them at all?

If it was in earlier stages of development I might. At this point I do not hedge it.

 

[Nanuk]

Killer tree Sergio. Love where you are going with it.
Really nice pictures also.

?

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Fall pics?

 

[Stormwater]

Thank you for sharing your close up photos. Great learning material for us unlearned folks!!!! Much appreciated !

I wanted to start a thread to keep track of the progress for this Amur maple I purchased from a member here about two and half years ago. A couple of weeks ago it was completely wired and styled into a sort of informal broom, or at least the beginning of one.

It was repotted into a Tokoname container. Alhtough I think it's ok for now, down the road I'd like to find a pot with sharper corners and darker color. Perhaps even unglazed? I also added a couple of dwarf Sea Lavender (Limonium Binervosum) plants to add some additional interest. This is something I do not usually do but thought to try it out here. Next step is to let this tree grow wild and in another couple of months cut it back again to keep on building a rounded and ramified canopy.

Below is the tree as it looked during the summer of 2014.






I do not have any photos of how the tree looked before being styled but here it is now.














This is a virtual of what I am aiming for in possibly another 5 years or so.

 

[MACH5]

Nice and bushy!
Do you hedge them at all?

Sorry, missed your post. I don't hedge my trees. Honestly and with all my respect to those that do, I am not keen on that method. Don't want to start a huge debate here as God knows there are many already on this subject. I respect that if it works for someone I'd say please continue to do so. I choose another approach that has worked well for me.

EDIT: Ugh, sorry again I just realized that I had already responded. Doh!

 

[leatherback]

Hi,

Very nice tree. Makes me wonder whether I should put my youngster back on the bench, and remove it from the row of trees to give away/sell this winter. Hm..

Hard to tell.. How big is it? i read somewhere 4 inch trunk? Makes this 2ft wide, 1 1.2 ft tall tree?
Do you find the trunk fattens up when given space to run?

 

[BunjaeKorea]

I like your work man. Looks awesome as leaves are just budding out

 

[MACH5]

Hi,

Very nice tree. Makes me wonder whether I should put my youngster back on the bench, and remove it from the row of trees to give away/sell this winter. Hm..

Hard to tell.. How big is it? i read somewhere 4 inch trunk? Makes this 2ft wide, 1 1.2 ft tall tree?
Do you find the trunk fattens up when given space to run?

Yes, measurements are roughly that. But... now it's smaller as this year I cut it back quite drastically and brought it all several steps back. The big difference is that now the transitions from trunk to primaries is much better. This was achieved but just letting the tree grow all year without any cut backs. Next year I will again focus on developing the rest of the canopy. Someone may ask why I didn't do this from the beggining? I anticipated that as I developed the tree those primary branches would thicken much faster that they actually did. I was not happy with the results and decided to take more "aggressive" approach and let all things go for the entire season with absolutely no cut backs.

In October I cut it back after it was done growing for the year. I will try and post some photos as soon as I can. Lots of projects I am tackling and this guy is at the back of the line at the moment.

And yes, I noticed further thickening of the trunk as well although much more subtle than that of the branches which is usually the case.