Acer Kiyohime

[baron]

Hi all,

A few days ago I had the opportunity of getting a little Kiyohime. I think it's already a lovely little tree with some nice potential.. Other then it being in the pot now for a good 2 years now I don't have much info on the tree but I just couldn't resist..

I will be inspecting the tree more thoroughly come fall when its naked and possibly removing 1 or 2 branches to give the inner foilage some more room next. Could also do with some root work.. maybe next spring...

As always, tips and pointers are always welcome

 

[baron]

Without leaves now.
Spend a few hours removing aphids from the little branches...

 

[AlainK]

Trees in the "Hime" series are lovely little cultivars ("Hime" means princess from what I've read).

I have a 'Little Princess', aka 'Mapi no Machi Hime' that looks a lot like yours, but is not so ramified - yet. And yes, the problem is which branches to cut?

Probably those that cross others, like for instance:



I would also plant it a bit lower in the pot.

 

[baron]

Hmm yes, will definitely be removing some crossing branches...there's quite a lot tho, so don't think I will be doing them all at once or the canopy will have massive holes.
Was hoping to bend down the lowest ones a little (pray they don't crack) and then start working my way with the ones above that crossing the lower ons and so on... if that makes any sense?

Still unsure if I should do it now or when I repot it

 

[baron]

edit: double post

 

[baron]

I removed 3 bigger branches because they were growing straight up and I couldn't bend them down anymore without snapping everything off.
As the pics show it left some gaps so I did some lighter pruning on the other side too and rewired the branches.





Needs a lot more work on the branches but with the biggest issues out of the way I'm gonna do a repot come spring and have a look at those roots first.

 

[baron]

Went for a repot one this one too.



My phone died here so fast forward a little...
The plan was to put it back into the same pot, but it felt a little big so I decided on smaller one.

original:


smaller:

 

[baron]

 

[Nanuk]

Looks better in that smaller pot.
Nice looking tree.

 

[baron]

So far the tree seems to be recovering ok from the repotting procedure. Apart from the aphids, scale and flying bugs, but they seem to like all my kiyohime maple's.

Also I think there might be a branch dieing... It's the only branch where the bud at the end didn't open.
As you can see it has a very yellow hue compared to the other branches and blackened on the spots where the wire touched the branch.

Unfortunately it's the branch directly above the crossing branch I removed past fall/winter so I'm assuming it has something to do with and is my fault.
I removed the wire that was on it, but is there something I can do about it?

 

[AlainK]

Very nice !