Arakawa Main Branch Cutts

[SantaFeBonsai]

About when to cut:

Fall, right as the leaves are turning, is the best time. The sap isn't rising, it's falling. But, the tree is preparing for winter, and it's readying buds for the following spring. Use a soft cut paste. The Japanese apprentices I've spoken with believe that cuts made in fall callous over with a thinner callous. Whereas a cut made in spring or summer will callous over with a thick callous that's likely to create a bulge. Because it grows so quickly. The Japanese would rather it heal slower but be less unsightly when it's done than have a fast growing callous that creates a bulging scar.

On a large cut where they take a heavy branch off the trunk, for example, after applying the cut paste, they'll wrap it with grafting tape or something. The idea is the callous will spread across the wound under the tape, rather than bulge up and make a protruding bump. Now, when it comes time to remove the tape, you have to be extremely careful not to accidentally pull the callous off!

Tree is very healthy and vigorous. Four previous main branch chops need trimming to the trunk. How many can I do this fall? Hoping to do the two lowest now and possibly two more early summer '18 after hardening off?

 

[Adair M]

Tree is very healthy and vigorous. Four previous main branch chops need trimming to the trunk. How many can I do this fall? Hoping to do the two lowest now and possibly two more early summer '18 after hardening off?


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I’m assuming you are going to try to keep some of the new branches? Eventually, you’ll want to keep just one.

Yes, go ahead and carve back those stubs to the trunk. Make a good clean cut where the cambium is and use cut paste.

It looks like you got a lot of new growth! Remove any thats growing back towards the trunk, or growing down. Cut back. Rather hard. I know, its painful! But that’s how you build taper in your branches.

For reference, here’s my miso yatsabusha trident maple I worked at Boon’s a week or so ago:

Before:



Lots of lush growth!



After pulling off leaves:



You can see I had a lot of runners. I purposely let them grow long over the summer. I wanted to let the tree grow strong, and build roots. It’s on a board in that oversized pot, I’m working of getting a pancake style nebari going.

After cut back:



Runners all cut back! I rubbed off the buds on the bottoms of branches. I removed one large back branch.

In the past, this tree had been pinched back a lot. Which created knobs on the branches. Where ever possible, I cut the knobs off. So now I’m working on developing branches with taper, and having alternating subbranches.

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

How many knobs at once can I cut safely? These are close to 2" dia

 

[JoeR]

I’m assuming you are going to try to keep some of the new branches? Eventually, you’ll want to keep just one.

Yes, go ahead and carve back those stubs to the trunk. Make a good clean cut where the cambium is and use cut paste.

It looks like you got a lot of new growth! Remove any thats growing back towards the trunk, or growing down. Cut back. Rather hard. I know, its painful! But that’s how you build taper in your branches.

For reference, here’s my miso yatsabusha trident maple I worked at Boon’s a week or so ago:

Before:

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Lots of lush growth!

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After pulling off leaves:

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You can see I had a lot of runners. I purposely let them grow long over the summer. I wanted to let the tree grow strong, and build roots. It’s on a board in that oversized pot, I’m working of getting a pancake style nebari going.

After cut back:

View attachment 168353

Runners all cut back! I rubbed off the buds on the bottoms of branches. I removed one large back branch.

In the past, this tree had been pinched back a lot. Which created knobs on the branches. Where ever possible, I cut the knobs off. So now I’m working on developing branches with taper, and having alternating subbranches.

Whoah! Where’s the thread for this beaut??

 

[Adair M]

I’m thinking you can cut all the stumps back to the trunk now. Especially if there are new sprouts around it. And try to keep any new little branches that grew below the chopped branches. Those branches are connected to the roots underneath. If you cut them off, it’s pissible to get dieback from the stump down to the roots on that side of the trunk. Obviously, you don’t want that!

Be sure to seal the cut. Pay particular attention to the cambium and cover it with sealer.

 

[Adair M]

Whoah! Where’s the thread for this beaut??

I haven’t created one just for this tree. I did post it on my thread I wrote about my week at Boon’s.

 

[M. Frary]

pissible

Could this be the creation of a new word?
Now how can it best be used for maximum effect?

 

[Adair M]

Could this be the creation of a new word?
Now how can it best be used for maximum effect?

Gotta love Apple’s spell check. It doesn’t fix something like that, but it will change “repotting” into “reporting” every time!

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

Just one for now, its a big one and we're going to use the next branch cuts as thread grafting host site.

This is the most excited I've been over this tree since I ordered it.

Here's a pictorial

 

[Les]

Wow, that maple is a lot larger than what I thought it was . Nice

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Just one for now, its a big one and we're going to use the next branch cuts as thread grafting host site.

This is the most excited I've been over this tree since I ordered it.

Here's a pictorial

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I knew that tree looked familiar. Could it be pissible you and I've met?

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Looks like a tree with a nice future. Love arakawa.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

@NorthTXacer Do you have an update of this tree. How is the wound doing?

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

I will be posting an update with pics shortly after repotting in a few weeks.

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

I did the cuts a few days ago and noticed after taking pictures I didn’t get the cuts close enough to the trunk as arakawa’s are known to swell rather large at those locations so I went back and routed another 1/4” out of the cut site. Now the challenge of getting cutting to root for future root grafts which we will need plenty. I hope I live long enough to see this tree through.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

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I did the cuts a few days ago and noticed after taking pictures I didn’t get the cuts close enough to the trunk as arakawa’s are known to swell rather large at those locations so I went back and routed another 1/4” out of the cut site. Now the challenge of getting cutting to root for future root grafts which we will need plenty. I hope I live long enough to see this tree through.

The section below the wound is straight and uninteresting. Have you considered air layer right below the wound?

 

[Jcmmaple]

Nice tree, is it grafted? What tool are you using to carve, I don’t think I have seen one like that before?

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

The section below the wound is straight and uninteresting. Have you considered air layer right below the wound?

I have considered it and still am, actually I’m leaning pretty hard that way now.

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

Nice tree, is it grafted? What tool are you using to carve, I don’t think I have seen one like that before?

It is not grafted to my knowledge

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Wish you the best. It's definitely on it's own roots. I have tried fixing a trunk like that with root grafts. Better to start over and have roots start at a more interesting point. Then add more root grafts as needed. It was just one trunk I tried to rehab, but it was more work than just starting over and gaining better potential.