Not sure I follow. Is this what you propose for the spring pruning, followed by angling the cut and pruning back the lower right branch in the summer?
Acer HomeDepotnium #2
- Thread starter dbonsaiw
- Start date
Maiden69
Masterpiece
Let it grow till post-flush harden, you don't know how it will react right now to take that decision. Once it pushes out new growth (and if there is no die back) you can go ahead and select your poison... if everything goes well, you should have plenty of options to select from.
Hack Yeah!
Omono
That's pretty much what I was thinking when looking at it, maybe cut up one node higher on the left initially
Just a general development question - why would you cut back the new leader this spring, instead of letting it grow out to thicken?
Hack Yeah!
Omono
I'd cut it back to change direction and place some movement in the lower trunk
BonsaiNaga13
Chumono
Id wait atleast a full grow season to do anything to it. Chopping so soon made the top more prone to potentially die backand could be why it was so easily damaged like that. The initial cut was too angular and too early in my opinion. Longevity should be the MO not instant gratification. A rule of thumb for japanese maples is leave a stub for potential die back and clean up in spring once sap is pushing or after the first flush has hardened off.
For what it's worth, I didn't tie down an 8x6 greenhouse properly, the wind got under it and it went flying around the yard. It managed to catch the leader on this poor sap and then flew like 30 feet in the other direction. The leader didn't stand a chance. Not sure I liked my initial chop either, but no question it would have been intact after winter but for collision.
I'm on the same page, but my initial thinking was to let the leader grow until it was like 2/3 of the base and then cut back to the first node and change direction. That isn't based on any rationale necessarily. What are the benefits of doing it earlier than that?
This tree is always full of surprises. Had a really hard time pulling it out of the mulch pile - turned out there was a copious amount of roots growing out of the box from every direction. Couldn't rest the box flat on the ground. So it was repot time. Combed the roots out and pruned back. I'm sure I could have gone harder on the roots. It went into a larger grow box though - 14X14X5" on the inside. Still not sure if I will cut the trunk back a little further or start growing out from here. In the interim, at least the nebari seems to be progressing.
