Finally got my maple

aml1014

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Today was the day I decided to give this maple (acer negundo) another shot, it's been in permafrost all winter but with spring arriving here I was finally able to put my shovel in the ground. I've had my eye on this particular tree for about 8 months now, it was chopped down to what appeared to be around 24in tall a very long time ago. I started digging and didn't find roots for maybe 8in down at which point I trenched around the tree and realised it only had 3 main roots, a massive tap and 2 "surface" roots, not a great start to a nebari but it has an amazing buttress from these roots. Unfortunately being in the high desert and this tree having to deal with drought at times, it didn't have many feeders near the trunk. So I broke out the folding saw and had this guy out in about 30 mins. I hope it makes it, but I've seen some trees recover from just as brutal of attacks before, I'll just have to see. It's got about a 5in trunk and is currently around 32in tall which is perfect considering the leaf size of these trees. It also has a very nice subtle curve that was most likely cause by the hill it was growing on. I really need to learn to take pics while I'm out there, I just get to excited lol.

Let's hope for recovery, I currently am trying the plastic bag method to induce new buds on this, I'm assuming, very old maple.

Comments and suggestions welcome

Aaron:)20160301_083242.jpg 20160301_083257.jpg 20160301_095754.jpg 20160301_095917.jpg
 

aml1014

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Went and picked up another one that's much, much younger. It was a low branch that ground layered itself. It's got tons of roots so I'm not worried very much about survival.

Aaron20160308_135618.jpg 20160308_135624.jpg 20160308_135629.jpg
 

Cypress187

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11 days is fast, is it too late to put mine in a bag (i collected it 4 or 5 days ago).
 

aml1014

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11 days is fast, is it too late to put mine in a bag (i collected it 4 or 5 days ago).
It's never too late, I've been having good success this season with the bag method, just watch out for mold, it's best to vent the bag for about an hour once a day.

Aaron
 

AlainK

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"Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America. Box elder, boxelder maple, ash-leaved maple, and maple ash are its most common names in the United States; in Britain and Ireland it is also known as ashleaf maple." (Wikipedia)

I tried smaller specimens, but from my experience they resent being pruned, a lot of die-back results in poor shape. The inside of the branches are quite soft compared to other maple species, perhaps that's why. Maybe pruning "in green", when it has leafed out is safer. I still have a couple that grow freely in my backyard jungle, and an A. negundo 'Flamingo' in the front garden. I'll follow the development of yours with attention, maybe they're worth trying again...
 

sorce

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11 days is fast, is it too late to put mine in a bag (i collected it 4 or 5 days ago).

Note, he is in the desert.

I doubt you need a bag.

For the record.

I doubt he needs a bag.....for the tree.

Sorce
 

aml1014

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This weekends collection journey landed me with a couple new bigtooth maples (acer grandidentatum), and some gambel oaks which will get their own thread. I got two, here the larger one with about a 3"trunk and good movement. (9" knob cutters for size reference)20160323_082345.jpg
And here's the smaller one with about a 1"trunk, but I like it's character and it appears to have super short internodes on some branches.20160323_082426.jpg
Let me know what you think! Thanks.

Aaron
 

sorce

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You gotta get some friggin wide and shallow growing containers!
These are worth it!

Sorce
 

aml1014

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You gotta get some friggin wide and shallow growing containers!
These are worth it!

Sorce
Kinda broke at the moment, I'm 21 and saving for a 2 week trip to Florida in may, oh and I'm a nursery worker so I'm not very wealthy to begin with lol.
I do like your idea on cutting to the drop branch and making it an interesting different tree, which it definitely was out where I found it, I didn't see any others with that type of drop branch and about 80% of this trees branches were doing the same thing.

Aaron
 

Redwood Ryan

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Curious Aaron, what did you see in these trees that made you think they're worth collecting? The one in the orange/tan pot has nice movement, but the others seem kinda useless for bonsai.
 

aml1014

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Curious Aaron, what did you see in these trees that made you think they're worth collecting? The one in the orange/tan pot has nice movement, but the others seem kinda useless for bonsai.
I'll agree on the little boxelder maple that has bad taper problems up top, but the others I feel can make decent bonsai one day. I actually really like the little bigtooth maple a lot, there's far more character than the pictures I can take can show. What do you see is unusable about the original boxelder? It'll need to be chopped and regrown to get some taper, but there's no flaws I see personally.

Aaron
 

Redwood Ryan

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I'll agree on the little boxelder maple that has bad taper problems up top, but the others I feel can make decent bonsai one day. I actually really like the little bigtooth maple a lot, there's far more character than the pictures I can take can show. What do you see is unusable about the original boxelder? It'll need to be chopped and regrown to get some taper, but there's no flaws I see personally.

Aaron

That first one is just so straight and taper-less. It's a hefty trunk, but it'll need years of growing out and several chops before it's on track, IMO.
 

aml1014

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That first one is just so straight and taper-less. It's a hefty trunk, but it'll need years of growing out and several chops before it's on track, IMO.
I agree, as I said it'll need to be chopped back and regrown for taper. Luckily this is an extremely fast growing species and I doubt itll be any more then 10yrs before I'm building branches, which I'm fine with. I'm very young so I can start some long term projects and not worry about dying before ever seeing "complete".

Aaron
 
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