how to accelerate the aging in the bark

[barrosinc]

Hi, I was wondering how to accelerate the grey/brownish color for the trunk of a japanese maple...

Is there a way? like brushing it or applying something as lime sulfur is used for deadwood?

 

[Adair M]

Not really.

Mature bark comes with age.

 

[0soyoung]

The light grey color you see on Japanese maple bonsai is lime sulfur and not the natural bark.

 

[Adair M]

Not necessarily. I have a Japanese maple, and it has light grey bark, and I have not line sulphered it.

It also has the little vertical lines in the bark. Only comes with age.

 

[jk_lewis]

Mature bark comes with age.

But . . . see page 19 in Colin Lewis' The Art of Bonsai Design.

Disclaimer: I've never done this so don't know HOW quickly it may work. Reading carefully, however seems to indicate he still is thinking in terms of years, though.

 

[0soyoung]

The light grey color you see on Japanese maple bonsai is lime sulfur and not the natural bark.

Not necessarily. I have a Japanese maple, and it has light grey bark, and I have not line sulphered it.

It also has the little vertical lines in the bark. Only comes with age.

Yes, of course, one can get grey bark with age and true grey bark does indeed only come with age.

Small branches/twigs of japanese maples will be colored, usually green. In (dormant season) exhibits, though, one sees apparently grey bark even on the small branches/twigs of acer palmatum bonsai. This is because of a lime sulfur coating.

Brian vanFleet's acer palmatum 'Chishio', for example, appears to have grey bark throughout because he painstakingly paints each little twig with dilute lime sulfur.

So, to sum up:

• Natural grey bark comes with age
• Twigs are not old and will not have a natural grey bark
• Applying lime sulfur is the usual way to fake grey bark

 

[barrosinc]

Thanks guys! I thought maybe scrubbing it with something lowly abrassive?

What are the problems of using lime sulfur on the bark?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks guys! I thought maybe scrubbing it with something lowly abrassive?

What are the problems of using lime sulfur on the bark?

Don't scrub it with anything abrasive. On maples, I don't use anything stiffer than a toothbrush.

No problems using LS on the bark, except it does flake off over time, and it does smell bad. Apply LS diluted 1:1 with water to even out the tones as 0soyoung stated...and you can see in the photo.

 

[Vin]

How are the azaleas Max? We haven't heard anything in while.

 

[barrosinc]

Full of little buds!! But no leafs yet! I was waiting to show them.

So let me get this straight... to get and old looking tree, I have to wait?!!!!! well that sucks LOL

 

[Vin]

Full of little buds!! But no leafs yet! I was waiting to show them.

So let me get this straight... to get and old looking tree, I have to wait?!!!!! well that sucks LOL

If it's any consolation, my landscape JM's only took about 10 years to get gray bark.

 

[barrosinc]

If it's any consolation, my landscape JM's only took about 10 years to get gray bark.

my deshojo is like 5 years old and needs another 3 years in the ground. Hopefully it gets grey in some 5 or so years. It needs some growing still. I will try to post pics soon.

 

[Shima]

Not really.

Mature bark comes with age.

Or, in some cases, no fertilizer. As in pines. I used to visit Muranaka-san the elder who grew JBP in the ground, which in his case was sand. They had nice plated bark at a relativily young age which he said was due to not fertilizing. The son carries on but I'm out of the picture so I don't know the current protocol.

 

[Vin]

Or, in some cases, no fertilizer. As in pines. I used to visit Muranaka-san the elder who grew JBP in the ground, which in his case was sand. They had nice plated bark at a relativily young age which he said was due to not fertilizing. The son carries on but I'm out of the picture so I don't know the current protocol.

I'm not sure sacrificing the health of the tree in order to speed up the aging process would be my choice. However, I'm sure Kanemi knows what he's doing though.

 

[Adair M]

This is part of the "zen" of bonsai.

Sure, we want our trees to look "old". It still takes time to put on growth that's tapered, grow bark, develop ramification. With proper techniques, all this can be done in a decade.

A DECADE??? That's a long time!

Sure it is, but not when measured in "tree time".
We are able to accomplish in a decade what it takes nature to achieve in a century.

If this was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing!

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

These kinds of questions always make me smile.....

I don't have bark issues usually.... but then again I skip the waiting process and try and get mature material. My litmus test for choosing material is basal, bark, then branch. Newer learners oftentimes hit that list in reverse. Being seduced by branch structure they can manipulate. At some point most people generally re-prioritizes that list to be more the flow of mine, as I did. Though when working with Yamadori... all the flow is thrown out in favor of gut reaction. It takes a lot to get a reaction from me now though... lol So many small straight well aged trees are left to suffer the cataclysms decades and centuries will bring about that will make them wonderful.

I try to be mindful of future generations that way.

V

 

[peterbone]

"The immature green bark of Acer palmatum can take over 10 years to disappear and so I have gently abraded the green bark twice a year with sandpaper to encourage the appearance of mature bark."

http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATAcer palmatum Japanese Maple Bonsai page2.html

 

[barrosinc]

"The immature green bark of Acer palmatum can take over 10 years to disappear and so I have gently abraded the green bark twice a year with sandpaper to encourage the appearance of mature bark."

http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATAcer palmatum Japanese Maple Bonsai page2.html

now that is interesting.

Maybe my eyes are playing games with me, but it looks a bit awkward.

 

[Adair M]

Kimura found that pines tend to develop rough bark faster on the north side than the other sides of the trunk. He attributed it to being in the shade.

So, he had a tree he wanted to have rougher bark, so he positioned it do that the lower trunk remained in the shade, but the foliage could be in the sun. He left it there several years. Maybe as many as 5. But he claimed the bark was rougher after 5 years of shade, at which time, he styled the tree.

 

[barrosinc]

Kimura found that pines tend to develop rough bark faster on the north side than the other sides of the trunk. He attributed it to being in the shade.

So, he had a tree he wanted to have rougher bark, so he positioned it do that the lower trunk remained in the shade, but the foliage could be in the sun. He left it there several years. Maybe as many as 5. But he claimed the bark was rougher after 5 years of shade, at which time, he styled the tree.

funny how north is sout here in the southern hemisphere... now I realize "the north face" brand is the colder side of the mountain, I always thought of it as stay warmer, stay on the north side than our clothes are made for the colder side... /threadjack