Japanese maple grow out project

[KennedyMarx]

Here is a green Japanese maple I acquired last summer. I slipped it into a slightly larger container with bonsai soil. I gave it too much sun, but the heavy water and fertilizing made sure the tips kept growing even as the inner leaves scorched and fell off.

Right now it has a spot where it will create inverse taper in the trunk line from the two sacrifice branches. I'm not sure if I will keep them both. When I first got it I had planned on eventually cutting it down to the first branch.

 

[KennedyMarx]

I apologize for the sideways photos. They were all taken with my phone in portrait mode, which is what I was told would cure the picture bug.

I realize this is a long term project. Hopefully as it develops each year it will be interesting. I think I'll end up putting a CD around the base to ground layer and create a good flared nebari. It already has decent bark around the base. The guy I bought it from said it had been in the pot for quite a while.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I can't tell the size, but I suspect just by the spread that it will be difficult to get a cd around it. However, it should be enough to plant it ON a cd, prune all downward facing roots and spread out the roots radially above it. These are tridents, but shows an accelerated version of what you can get. It's important to use a shallow, wide container. Anderson flats are good for this. Your tree has the beginning structure of a nice, natural spreading look.

 

[bwaynef]

It's important to use a shallow, wide container. Anderson flats are good for this.

BVF, where do you get your Anderson Flats?

 

[whfarro]

BVF, where do you get your Anderson Flats?

I reuse the ones from the annuals (impatients,vincas,pansies, etc) we buy each spring from our local nursery. They have a couple of different sizes and likely would just give them to you if you asked.

 

[skrit]

I reuse the ones from the annuals (impatients,vincas,pansies, etc) we buy each spring from our local nursery. They have a couple of different sizes and likely would just give them to you if you asked.

Agreed, even the garden centers at your local big box store (Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart) will probably have a bunch that the employees will give you if you ask.

 

[lordy]

I apologize for the sideways photos. They were all taken with my phone in portrait mode, which is what I was told would cure the picture bug.

I found that if the PHONE is horizontal, as if taking a landscape pic, the photo should turn out upright. I take pics oriented only this way, and if I need to crop, I do so after the fact, then upload a portrait-oriented pic from that.

 

[bwaynef]

I reuse the ones from the annuals (impatients,vincas,pansies, etc) we buy each spring from our local nursery. They have a couple of different sizes and likely would just give them to you if you asked.

In an email to anderson, they said they only have suppliers along the west coast. Are you sure you're getting Anderson flats?

 

[whfarro]

In an email to anderson, they said they only have suppliers along the west coast. Are you sure you're getting Anderson flats?

To be honest I never checked the manufacturer. They look exactly like every image I have seen of them and functionally they work the same. I will try and see if there are any identifying marks on my flats next time I am in the shed....if I can remember.

 

[lordy]

This is where I have sourced them in the past. Look for AFLAT 5

http://www.stuewe.com/products/anderson.php