Help Air-layers on mature JM

[Danonito]

Hello all,

I'm new member but long time lurker in the forum. Cutting straight to the chase. The attached photo is a Japanese Maple growing in the front of my house since around 07-08 (I moved into the house last year). The previous owners most likely let her grow unchecked apart for a few major cuts at the top of the canopy. I dont want to dig the tree out (yet) due to the bad inverse taper but I do want to make several air layers at the green marked spots. The aim is to lighten the tree, make it look less like a bush and more like a niwaki and also have a few thick layers for future bonsai projects. The two bottom layers close to the trunk actually belong to a big branch behind the main trunk but the photo gives a different illusion. Future leader will be one of the two blue lines.

Do you have any suggestions or tips for this plan? Too many air layers maybe? Any other proposals on where to cut/airlayer to produce a nice future result? The tree is very healthy facing south, zone 8b. (NL)

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

This is a nice landscape tree with a lot of potential as a landscape tree. If this were my tree, I would make some prunes and guy wire a few branches, and enjoy it every day when I leave for work in the morning and come home in the evening.

Where are you located? I bet maple pre-bonsai are available wherever you are, which are better for many reasons not least of which is the cultivar/variety.

If there were specific segments of this tree with especially nice movement, I'd recommend air layering--but I don't see any that are truly worthwhile.

 

[Danonito]

enjoy it every day

This is exactly my vision, I want it to stay as a garden tree. Last year despite light pruning, it was still looking very bushy and that's why I decided to be a bit drastic with some heavy branches, but I would hate to waste them!

The variety is atropurpureum (red leaves throughout the years with slight green tint mid summer). Its a very common variety here in the Netherlands and last year I had a successful layer from the same tree.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

atropurpureum

The fact that Atropurpureum is part of the amoenum group is, for me, very good reason to ignore it completely when it comes to bonsai: Japanese maples in the amoenum group tend to have larger leaves and do not behave or react like the palmatums and dwarves that we tend to use such as Arakawa, Beni Chidori, Deshojo, Kashima, Katsura, Kiyo Hime, Koto Hime, Seigen and Shishigashira. It took me a long time to accept this because some of my favorite cultivars, notably Hogyoku, are in the amoenum group.

Netherlands

You're in one of the best countries in the world for Japanese Maple variety, and the Netherlands and your neighbours have excellent pre-bonsai maple options. Clubs, nurseries, etc. will send you in the right direction to find appropriate material. Danny Use (aka. Danny Gingko) comes to mind - if I was anywhere on the same continent I would drive to visit him and drive back with a nice project.

 

[Danonito]

amoenum group

Thanks for the lesson, I hadnt even heard of this sub group of palmatums! I have some other varieties I am playing with (Orange Dream, Bi hoo, and some other unidentified ones..) so I guess I need to research more. Thanks for the recommendation too, will look into that nursery.

What would you do to the pictured tree to improve it as landscape tree?

 

[AlainK]

I agree with @Canada Bonsai : you could air-layer it, but that would mean disfiguring the tree with plastic pouches or pots for several week for a result that wouldn't be so nice after all....

Some of the cultivars in the amoenum series can be used as bonsai, but most of the "good" ones are in the palmatum series.

Classification des érables — Wikipédia

fr.wikipedia.org

 

[Danonito]

Thank you all for the replies, will still think about it and make a decision later. I have another landscape maple of the same species that is much bigger but also much more difficult to decide on it. When covered in foliage it looks like a huge bush (the tree is about 2m tall from base) so trying to correct that. Not looking to airlayer this one but I have a hard time deciding on where to cut... See attached picture. All comments and ideas welcome!

 

[dbonsaiw]

If there were specific segments of this tree with especially nice movement,

Can you describe more specifically what you are looking for in an air layer candidate?

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Can you describe more specifically what you are looking for in an air layer candidate?

This is something that is very hard to describe in text. Danny Use (Danny Gingko) recently gave a presentation on maples that was open to the public, and a large part of that presentation was devoted to air layering. Here is one example he shared. The 'before' picture (blue background) is a maple with no real potential to create a fine bonsai because of the straight segment in the middle that disrupts the otherwise acceptable movement in the base and apex. (There is nothing inherently wrong with straight trunks - the problem here is with the inconsistency in the trunk line). Danny decided to air layer the apex, and thereby created the tree you see in the 'after' image (grey background).

Sergio's recently acquired Kiyo Hime is another very good air-layer story:

CLUMP KIYOHIME ON IBIGAWA

This is a wonderful piece I picked up from Bjorn last year at the Nationals. It's a bonsai I knew well for many years. When I saw that he had it up for sale, I had to figure a way to get it into my garden. Simply put, I could not pass this one up! This clump style Kiyohime bonsai has some...

www.bonsainut.com

These things are hard to explain in words. But first of all, you want to make sure you have a cultivar worth investing your time in (in this case, the OP doesn't). Second, note the density of the nodes and movement in the 'before' picture. This is the case because Danny invested many years training that apex in preparation to be an air layer (or potentially, an apex). This density in Danny's apex is important for many styles of maple bonsai because it gives you opportunities for ramification, movement, and taper. If you let a Japanese maple grow freely, you get long straight internodes, not much interior growth, and movement that looks like narrow V's.

... Of course, the OP can go ahead and air layer a big 'V' shape with 4-inch internodes knowing that the bottom of that tree is going to look like a 'V' forever unless one grafts something down there. Can something be achieved with a 'V' shape? Sure, there are so many great examples, here's one:

@kokufu_maples on Instagram: "Japanese Maple (95cm) in a Koyo pot, by Eiji Nozaki from Kanagawa prefecture, Kokufu 79 (2005) #盆栽 #bonsai #bonsais #bonsaï #bonsailovers #bonsaioftheday #bonsailife #bonsaigarden #bonsaiart #bonsaiworld #bonsaigram #bo

2,439 likes, 2 comments - kokufu_maples on February 18, 2022: "Japanese Maple (95cm) in a Koyo pot, by Eiji Nozaki from Kanagawa prefecture, Kokufu 79 (2005) #盆栽 #bonsai #bonsais #bonsaï #bonsailovers #bonsaioftheday #bonsailife #bonsaigarden #bonsaiart #bonsaiworld #bonsaigram #bonsaitree...

www.instagram.com

...And of course, one can also air layer an arrow straight branch and turn it into a fine bonsai if you invest the time and technique. Again there are hundreds of examples, but here's one:

@kokufu_maples on Instagram: "Japanese Maple (80cm), by Makoto Endo from Shiga prefecture, Kokufu 74 (2000) #盆栽 #bonsai #bonsais #bonsaï #bonsailovers #bonsaioftheday #bonsailife #bonsaigarden #bonsaiart #bonsaiworld #bonsaigram #bonsaitree #kokufub

240 likes, 0 comments - kokufu_maples on November 3, 2021: "Japanese Maple (80cm), by Makoto Endo from Shiga prefecture, Kokufu 74 (2000) #盆栽 #bonsai #bonsais #bonsaï #bonsailovers #bonsaioftheday #bonsailife #bonsaigarden #bonsaiart #bonsaiworld #bonsaigram #bonsaitree #kokufubonsai #国風念裁度...

www.instagram.com

So yes, somewhere in the tree in the OP's original post is a potential air layer or 2 ...or 200... depends what one has in mind. But if the OP is asking what to air layer, it's safe to say that the big V or the arrow-straight stick are not what they had in mind... those are longterm projects that require an advanced sense of design to make look VERY good. If there was something more like Danny's apex in the OP's tree, this is what I personally would have recommended to air layer--but the OP's branch-ends are mostly just a bunch of narrow V's...

Anybody who stops to spend some time thinking and looking at maple bonsai will realize that the range of shape (trunk lines and primary branches) is incredibly vast. Luckily, this exists:

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[dbonsaiw]

As for Danonito's tree, perhaps an layer in the middle of the tree could produce a good trunk, although I'm not sure what exactly would be left of the landscape portion of the tree. I outline my suggestion in orange in the attached pic.

This is something that is very hard to describe in text.

Agreed. In fact, it's not even so easy when one is standing in front of the tree. I've been studying my shishi for potential airlayers and have tied string to a half dozen potential candidates so I know what I'm doing when the tree is in bloom. They all have similar "S" movements along the trunk, so they seemed like perfect candidates. But there are dozens of branches and so much potential material here. I don't want to massacre the tree (just yet), but there are many potential multi-trunks and a few that would have an extreme bend in the lower trunk (basically to a lateral position).

 

[Hack Yeah!]

The fact that Atropurpureum is part of the amoenum group is, for me, very good reason to ignore it completely when it comes to bonsai,...It took me a long time to accept this because some of my favorite cultivars, notably Hogyoku

I purchased a Hogyoku today. Have you tried layering them or any bonsai techniques? The leaf size seems reasonable for a larger tree, maybe 2-3ft tall? I didn't do any research before purchase, I just liked the leaf, size and price of the tree.