MrWunderful
Omono
Why do you have rafia on it? It looks like it may cause some inverse taper if you choose not to air layer the top off.
Baby Katsura
- Thread starter brentwood
- Start date
I was worried about nicking the bark with the wire, maybe over thinking it....
Here's another pic, showing the silhouette a little better.
If I don't layer it, it looks too long to me, is that accurate? I know I need to choose a leader at the top soon...
Brent
Attachments
MrWunderful
Omono
It definitely has a long straight section. I would layer it, but after it grew for a few years if it were mine.
and the commonly used technique to protect bark is to wrap the wire itself. Some use rubber tape/electrical tape, papertowels or rafia.
If you wrap the trunk with rafia on a high water mobility species like a maple, it might cause structural flaws or reverse taper.
In my opinion, the tree is young enough to just wire it bare if you monitor it cutting in.
Captain.Bonsai
Mame
Stick in a grow bag 3/19 + stick in a pot 3/20 + wiring + inquiring whether to layer, chop or put it back in a grow bag = confuse.
I guess I'm trying to figure out a timeline for a maple - I'm very new at this, don't know if it stays in a bag for 2,3,4 years. I am trying to stay ahead of inverse taper, looking for clumps of growth.
I want to get it on a nice path, that's really all.
B
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
@brentwood, IMHO one can only effectively wire maple branches when they are young, supple shoots. They soon become rigid and brittle. For example, roughly around May your tree will have produced new shoots with hardened leaves. You can wire and effectively make the new shoot curl/bend/twist/curl along a trajectory you like. You will need to remove this wire sometime in July and then repeat with the second flush shoots around August. Some rewiring and further adjustments can be done about the time of leaf drop. I like to use Al wire for this. After snapping a shoot or two, I think anyone will have quickly learned how to remove the wire when it starts to bite in. Also, don't forget that a lot can be done with clip and grow - let it grow and cut back after the new growth has hardened.
To your question, yes, I would air layer it as you have indicated. That lower left branch can function as an extension of the lower trunk, but will certainly guarantee that it stays alive during the layering. Nevertheless, you've got several years of growing ahead.
If you are interested in growth speed, grow in a pot not much bigger than the root spread, as too wide a pot will slow down growth above ground. By this time next year, or the year after, the roots will have found the pot wall and will be growing around and down the wall. You can simply pop it out of the pot and into the next larger size, filling the gap with fresh substrate/soil to get the most rapid above ground growth rate. This is what many, if not most, commercial growers of Japanese maples do, but they do it in deep pots. For bonsai, you need to do it in shallow pots or boxes, less than 4 inches deep, I'd say.
You could make a 24 x 24 x 3 inch box, say, and put your tree into it straight away. It will not really get going, though until the roots have pretty much filled the box, which could be two or three seasons from now. Making one 12x12x3 to start might be best, then in two or three years maybe you move up to a 16x16x3 box after having done all the appropriate root work. And etc.
Through all of this your trees (this and air layers from it) will have thickened and you will either lop off stuff that has served its purpose in building your trunks. If you air-layered those pieces you could have an entire yard full of maple bonsai in development instead of just one tree. Personally, I rather like this route for many reasons, not the least of which is that it gives one many opportunities to create the special bonsai - masterpieces are the result of many, many efforts, not just the first or the only try.
To your question, yes, I would air layer it as you have indicated. That lower left branch can function as an extension of the lower trunk, but will certainly guarantee that it stays alive during the layering. Nevertheless, you've got several years of growing ahead.
If you are interested in growth speed, grow in a pot not much bigger than the root spread, as too wide a pot will slow down growth above ground. By this time next year, or the year after, the roots will have found the pot wall and will be growing around and down the wall. You can simply pop it out of the pot and into the next larger size, filling the gap with fresh substrate/soil to get the most rapid above ground growth rate. This is what many, if not most, commercial growers of Japanese maples do, but they do it in deep pots. For bonsai, you need to do it in shallow pots or boxes, less than 4 inches deep, I'd say.
You could make a 24 x 24 x 3 inch box, say, and put your tree into it straight away. It will not really get going, though until the roots have pretty much filled the box, which could be two or three seasons from now. Making one 12x12x3 to start might be best, then in two or three years maybe you move up to a 16x16x3 box after having done all the appropriate root work. And etc.
Through all of this your trees (this and air layers from it) will have thickened and you will either lop off stuff that has served its purpose in building your trunks. If you air-layered those pieces you could have an entire yard full of maple bonsai in development instead of just one tree. Personally, I rather like this route for many reasons, not the least of which is that it gives one many opportunities to create the special bonsai - masterpieces are the result of many, many efforts, not just the first or the only try.
John P.
Chumono
Here’s what I’d do. You could wait and feed the $hit out of the tree to get some more caliper on the trunks. Or you could do this after the growth hardens.
Layer the top, and when rooted well, cut and plant at the angle indicated.
Layer the top, and when rooted well, cut and plant at the angle indicated.
