Big Deshojo (nursery stock)

[keri-wms]

I dropped into an unfamiliar garden centre I was passing last month for a nose round and in the middle of their assorted £20-30 2-year grafted Acer display was this big old Deshojo with no price! Signs of old dieback but it’s in compost and it’s a very exposed windy location so I thought it’s worth the risk and I better ask.

The guy had no idea, they were about to close so he suggested £45 as they had a sale on, I said hmmm, he said wellll £40? so I said sold!

When I got home I found a really faded “£120 reduced to £75” sticker!

The graft is pretty good, the lower trunk is boring, the plan is reduce it using air layers (and save it from the compost!!!) then eventually chop it.

A few pics for scale:

 

[keri-wms]

Next was the repot. The outside of the rootball was pretty bad with dead mushy roots but the middle was ok, if very tangled. I took off a few small roots above the nebari or at really silly angles but I left some big nasty ones in place....I don’t wang to stress it more than nesisarry this year, I can go back in next year or the year after!

Compost was washed out (watching not to take the bark off the roots, using a filter stack to reduce mess!), dead stuff cut back, potted in open mix and it’s tucked out of the rain for the moment.

Have to say the nebari was a pleasent surprise!!!

 

[keri-wms]

(Obviously any final chop will have to be above the graft! ;p )

 

[eryk2kartman]

Nice find, im planning to get couple of mature maples and propagate more out of them, maybe air layer, maybe cutting.....

Sanicat is use ?

 

[keri-wms]

Yup, this year it’s 2pt Tesco molar clay (litter, which is back again, same as Sophisticat Pink but a better range of particle size), 2pt course Perlite, 2pt seived bark and 1pt Akadama. See how that goes in the new extra-rainy UK!

 

[BrianBay9]

I'd keep the root stock - nice start there - and air layer the top at the graft.

 

[eryk2kartman]

Yup, this year it’s 2pt Tesco molar clay (litter, which is back again, same as Sophisticat Pink but a better range of particle size), 2pt course Perlite, 2pt seived bark and 1pt Akadama. See how that goes in the new extra-rainy UK!

Really? I miss it, i used to use it until the stopped selling it, i had a look at my Tesco online and its still saying product not available
Its rainy over here, i used to use very similar mix as yours but with no acadama and extra grit for drainage, i also add some bark for some trees, but now mostly what im using is inorganic
Maples should be fine in that mix.
Best of luck!

 

[keri-wms]

I’m planning to shorten the branches by air layering about 2-3” at a time for propagation purposes, then see what’s-what when I end up with a broom pompom on a stick! That’ll take a good while but should create back budding that’ll protect against whole branches dying back below the layers.

 

[sorce]

Nice, I've only seen @wireme do a better balancing act.

Sorce

 

[keri-wms]

all good so far, slow in the pre-existing dieback twigs but we’ll see if it fires them up later - not got worse at any rate. A poke at the soil found a feeder right under the surface so that’s a good sign.

One detail I got wrong is it’s a ShinDeshojo....very nearly the same thing.

 

[BobbyLane]

nice colours, hopefully the vine weevil will stay away from this one!

 

[keri-wms]

nice colours, hopefully the vine weevil will stay away from this one!

Yeah I hope so too - I repotted a similar size garden centre Arakawa last night and again in the compost, weevils. Not enough to cause a big issue though...

 

[BobbyLane]

i wouldnt even want to see one single grub. it will evolve and multiply! the females lay thousands of eggs.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

'Shindeshojo' is even a better find!!!! Noted for being much less disease prone than 'Deshojo'.

At least in the photos, the graft union does not look that bad. I would be tempted to use the trunk and the first 2 levels of ramification as my tree. Maples are best as medium to large scale bonsai. If you keep and use the trunk and 2 major sub-trunks, through and including where the 2 branch, as the first 2/3rds of the tree, you will have a really sharp looking tree relatively quickly. The graft union is nice enough that I would be able to ignore it. The graft union might preclude it from being the cover photo for "Bonsai Focus" magazine, or a Crespi cup or Nolander's Trophy winner, but it could sure be a fine looking bonsai, that would show well at home and in local shows. This larger tree could be show ready in as little as 5 years, maybe 10 years.

Air layers are not a guaranteed route to success. An air layer on a tree like this is only 50% to 80% chance of being successful. There is the real possibility it will fail. The you will loose what is relatively rare, a good size 'Shindeshojo'.

The tree was just repotted. I would not attempt to air layer low in the tree for at least one year after the repotting. The roots need unobstructed flow from the branches to get the carbs they need to recover from the repotting. You try a low air layer that takes the bulk of the tree off this year, you are very likely to loose the whole tree. You can air layer little twigs off, if they are not more than 20% of the canopy.

The earliest I would attempt to do the major air layer would be 2021 or 2022. Then the air layer would need 2 years without major styling work for 2 years after separation. By the time the air layered tree is ready for its first styling it will be 4 or 5 years from now.

If you try to work with the whole tree as is, graft and all. You will be able to do your first major styling at the end of this summer, or middle of the year in 2021. Probably better in 2021. This would put you at least 3 to 4 years ahead of the other route.

Its up to you, the slow route, or just learn to ignore the graft, the less slow route.

 

[keri-wms]

The rough plan is:

- Wire lazy twists in all the tips and let the tree grow freely this year
- If it’s recovered/vigorous next year air layer off all the tips (pre-curvy!)
- Over the next 2-3 years see how much back budding / layering I can get while shrinking the tree (at some point during this phase I’ll deal with that curling root!)
- Finally either layer the trunk OR build up the ramification again but without the dead straight branch structure it has now. If I keep it as one tree I’ll possibly move it to a raised bed so it thickens the trunk/primary branches to get it more to scale with the height.

 

[keri-wms]

Two funny leaves - be great if I have a mutation!!!! Not holding my breath...

 

[ajm55555]

Not sure it's either a Deshojo or Shindeshojo. Their new leaves are just ruby red, no sign of other colors. Maybe Chishio...

Palmatum: Acer palmatum Chishio Improved (Also see Shishio Improved) - Davidsans Japanese Maples

 

[misfit11]

Nice material, especially for the price. I agree with your idea to air layer. The nebari is quite nice but the lower trunk is a stovepipe. This way you can hopefully get two trees out of the deal. Keep us posted!

 

[AlainK]

be great if I have a mutation!!!!

I often had this kind of hope

But I have about the same on a couple of seedlings of maples, I think it's not a mutation but probably some kind of fungus, pest, or the result of a stress. I think that unfortunately, they will disappear when the tree settles.

Here's one that looks a lot like yours (except the colours) :



And as everyone knows, in France the communist radio-active cloud from Chernobyl stopped at the border - so the government at the time said...

 

[keri-wms]

The garden centre label says shindeshojo so I’ll stick with that until disproven!

A few more shots of the colours...