Acer Palmatum 'Ibo Nishiki' - Cork Bark Maple #1

Apex37

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This was my first purchase from Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks and I can't say I'm disappointed! Trees came in super healthy and honestly bigger than I thought. I could use some advice or care tips from here. This is tree #1. This guy has nice movement and then it's pretty straight till about the first branch.
Any tips on getting branching lower? My plan is to keep it in this pot till next spring and repot. You can already see some of the bark showing down low.
 

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Caleb Campbell

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I had a trident and field maple come in the mail a few weeks ago from him and they were very healthy and are doing great. I'm thinking about purchasing this cultivar from his selection, is this the 4" or 1 gallon pot size?
 

Apex37

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I had a trident and field maple come in the mail a few weeks ago from him and they were very healthy and are doing great. I'm thinking about purchasing this cultivar from his selection, is this the 4" or 1 gallon pot size?
This is the 1 gal size. It's been growing a lot and doing pretty well, just be careful as I've noticed this cultivar is a bit more sensitive to leaf burn. Something to consider and plan for especially here in TX.
 

Apex37

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So I got around this weekend to repot this guy for the first time.

I decided to go ahead and try Ebihara technique on a few trees just to get a better nebari going from the getgo and a flatter root base. I unfortunately don't have the ability to ground grow, but I found these seedling trays on Amazon very similar to Anderson flats and decided to give them a shot. I'm really sad I didn't buy more because they removed them from Amazon now. 15"x12"x3" and notice they even cleverly have holes for wires along the rim.
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Little help from a friend:
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Put in small layer of soil.
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Got a board and drilled a hole in the center and lined up the tree and drilled into the bottom of the tree. From there I reduced the roots some, removing any upward or downward growing roots. Then I arranged the roots with some thumb tacks and wired the board to the pot.
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Filled remaining portion with soil and top dressed with sphagnum moss.
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Finished product:PXL_20220313_202524316.jpg

Long term plan is just to let this thing grow. I might cut it back at some point just to avoid too much drooping/leaning and possibly it snapping or something, but really I'm just wanting to add girth to the trunk. Probably won't touch this guy for the next few years on repotting, but wanted to keep a log of what all I did and when and maybe can be of help to others.
 

Canada Bonsai

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I would very loosely wire those 2 whips at the top back down toward the base of the trunk, in preparation for 1-2 thread grafts about 11-12 months from now.

Depending on what you have in mind for a 'finished' tree (and there is a HUGE range of options: https://www.instagram.com/kokufu_maples/), it is almost certain that you will want shoots growing within the first 1/3 of that segment below the first bend (i.e. 1-2" from soil line). The suggested thread grafts might become sacrifice branches, new leaders, or even your first branch, depending on how you vision for the 'finished' tree evolves over time as well.

Pay close attention to the total height of the trees in the captions of those images, and to the well-healed scars and their size in relation to the thickness of the trunk at their location.

edit: think about taking cuttings as well, in case you ever need to root graft, or thread graft in a location where an existing branch cannot reach. This is especially important because Ibo nishiko has unique bark.
 

Apex37

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I would very loosely wire those 2 whips at the top back down toward the base of the trunk, in preparation for 1-2 thread grafts about 11-12 months from now.

Depending on what you have in mind for a 'finished' tree (and there is a HUGE range of options: https://www.instagram.com/kokufu_maples/), it is almost certain that you will want shoots growing within the first 1/3 of that segment below the first bend (i.e. 1-2" from soil line). The suggested thread grafts might become sacrifice branches, new leaders, or even your first branch, depending on how you vision for the 'finished' tree evolves over time as well.

Pay close attention to the total height of the trees in the captions of those images, and to the well-healed scars and their size in relation to the thickness of the trunk at their location.

edit: think about taking cuttings as well, in case you ever need to root graft, or thread graft in a location where an existing branch cannot reach. This is especially important because Ibo nishiko has unique bark.
Amazing insight! Thank you so much for your suggestion. I hadn't really thought of that, but that's a great idea on grafting. I'm still newish to the hobby so I'm still trying to learn and take any advice I can get.

I hadn't really put a lot of thought into what I was going to consider as the final tree height. Probably somewhere around 18"-24" would be a rough estimate/guess. Ultimately I plan on using this tree and a cork bark Chinese elm I have to get cuttings to mess around with and also for these trees due to them being harder to find cultivars.
 

Apex37

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If you have a soil sieve set, grate the sphagnum through the “coarsest” sieve grid. Generally grated/shredded sphagnum is used as a top dressing and not the intact long fibres
Cool! Good to know. I'll have to sieve it once it dries out.
 

JeffS73

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Someone mentioned you should mask up when you do this, there's a health hazard from grating the moss I believe, just can't remember the name of it.
 

Apex37

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Repot went without a hitch and this guy really started to pushed buds afterwards.

Pics from a couple days ago with some flowers forming.
 

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coltranem

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It looks like you have at least one low internode. If you can get a bud to form there you will create some nice movement using that as a new leader.
 

Apex37

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Well we had some unexpected 30mph gusts last night that definitely ripped this guy slightly off the screw on the board he was in. I'm not really sure the best solution to take here.

Weather the next 5 days is mid to high 80s.
From now on I'm keeping all young trees staked that are growing out.

I could use any advice possible as I'd really like to not lose this guy.
 

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