Japanese Maple material

BobbyLane

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Setting some basic framework, on a nursery japanese maple...

tree was picked up recently from a nursery, the nebari caught my eye but i think the trunk could benefit from a spell in shallow container to help bring the base out a little, want to get it into a seed tray of some sort

20190130_124208 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20190201_183620 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

after some thought, i went through the design process in stages, i know i want a naturalistic style maple, so i wanted to see how i could build from the two subtrunks emerging from main trunk, common feature of wild trees
20190201_172729 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i also want to make decisions that give me the least scarring/wounds, or try to make cuts that are or will become obscured, or not so large that they wouldn't heal.
20190203_205310 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

then i decided that i could get better movement, taper and variation by removing the smaller trunk and then wiring up a thinner shoot behind it, treating the branch as a secondary apex,
20190204_172828 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

one problem here is, most of the branches are coming from the other side of tree,
20190203_205655 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20190204_172520 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
 

BobbyLane

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so i began looking to the back side as a better image, i just need some buds to pop on the main trunk, to give the tree a better balance going forwards....there are dormant nodes on the main trunk
20190204_172701 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20190204_172701 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the nebari isnt as good on this side, still not too shabby, so i think going forward ill look to build from here
2019-02-04_05-54-13 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

will be looking to get more height also in the main trunk
 

BobbyLane

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Looks like a nice start. More buds will pop. Don't fix on one side just yet.

Yep, true Dirk, well will build with two fronts in mind anyway.

think ill hold off re potting until buds pop with this one, will be looking to take advantage of all that root pressure for the new budding
 

R3x

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Nice nebari for sure. Is the tree grafted? I guess not. If you cut that hard and the tree has lots of energy stored (was well fertilized) I guess it will push buds everywhere. Just wait for spring.
 

BobbyLane

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Nice nebari for sure. Is the tree grafted? I guess not. If you cut that hard and the tree has lots of energy stored (was well fertilized) I guess it will push buds everywhere. Just wait for spring.

Hi, i dont think so. these are from a wholesale tree nursery, there's loads there that dont look like grafts. or if some are, they're done so that you could hardly tell.
 
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have you thought about potting it about an inch deeper? yes, it would temporarily hide your nebari for a few years, but it would encourage roots to emerge from those exposed finger-like roots as you prune the roots (from what i understand it doesn't alway work, but it certainly doesn't work above soil level)
 

BobbyLane

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@BobbyLane

have you thought about potting it about an inch deeper? yes, it would temporarily hide your nebari for a few years, but it would encourage roots to emerge from those exposed finger-like roots as you prune the roots (from what i understand it doesn't alway work, but it certainly doesn't work above soil level)

at the start of growing season when everything is potted up, i usually top layer with fresh spagnum moss. that tends to help and encourage new surface roots.
 

ConorDash

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at the start of growing season when everything is potted up, i usually top layer with fresh spagnum moss. that tends to help and encourage new surface roots.
Debated cutting a few thin windows around base of my maple, hormone, cover with moss... should work. But my maple has enough work to do, don’t wanna give it more.

Ever done that before?
 

ysrgrathe

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Good find! Although the nebari looks nicely radial, I agree that you will want some more lateral roots in between the existing major roots, so burying this in sphagnum sounds like a good idea. After the next repotting this tree would probably also be a good Ebihara technique candidate.
 

BobbyLane

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Good find! Although the nebari looks nicely radial, I agree that you will want some more lateral roots in between the existing major roots, so burying this in sphagnum sounds like a good idea. After the next repotting this tree would probably also be a good Ebihara technique candidate.

Hi there, honestly the roots are just fine. trust me, ive seen a lot worse!
i didnt buy this tree to mess about with creating more roots with fancy techniques. i bought it to begin building a branch structure. :)
 

BobbyLane

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Debated cutting a few thin windows around base of my maple, hormone, cover with moss... should work. But my maple has enough work to do, don’t wanna give it more.

Ever done that before?

sure, ive had a vigorous trident consistently push out new surface roots, simply by placing fresh spag moss on the surface
IMAG3392 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

ill try it with the maple, im not really bothered whether it does or doesnt tbh mate:D

to be frank, i bought the new maple with a view to developing some structure and selling on, as will make a nice broom for someone who really loves maples. in the mean time it will be fun to learn and work on.
 

Cattwooduk

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Indeed I may be interested when the time comes to shift it on for more space :p
Nice looking tree!
I always check the maples when I go to garden centres but never found anything very suitable unfortunately. Some nice stuff at a tree wholesaler near me but they were really old massive things I wouldn't be able to afford or have the heart to chop down.
 

Vindeezy

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so i began looking to the back side as a better image, i just need some buds to pop on the main trunk, to give the tree a better balance going forwards....there are dormant nodes on the main trunk
20190204_172701 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20190204_172701 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the nebari isnt as good on this side, still not too shabby, so i think going forward ill look to build from here
2019-02-04_05-54-13 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

will be looking to get more height also in the main trunk
I can’t believe how nice the nebari spread is on that for a nursery tree.
 

BobbyLane

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japanese maple material 2 Orange dream

the nebari isnt as good on this one, i think it makes up for it by having a better basis for a natural image...
there is some flare at least, thats important and good enough for me and suitable for an informal broom....
happy enough with the cuts made for now...
i think this has good options to ultimately create a maple with no visible scarring and cuts that will heal over, i prefer keeping this over the other one...
20190211_200453.jpg

ive left the shoots quite long, i'll be looking to get extension all over before cutting back, i'll also be reducing the roots quite a bit in a few weeks.
got some variation in sub trunk heights
 

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Paulpash

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These will be interesting examples as a result of chopping and if there is any dieback. Usually it's best to cut from 'shoot to shoot' - an open (shootless) side of the chop is where it is most likely to die back in a V shape. I hope you get lucky and the bonsai gods smile on you - it's always a bit of a lottery!

It's good to see you having a go at maples mate - they're way less forgiving than Hornbeam but such a gorgeous tree :)
 
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BobbyLane

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These will be interesting examples as a result of chopping and if there is any dieback. Usually it's best to cut from 'shoot to shoot' - an open (shootless) side of the chop is where it is most likely to die back in a V shape. I hope you get lucky and the bonsai gods smile on you - it's always a bit of a lottery!

It's good to see you having a go at maples mate - they're way less forgiving than Hornbeam but such a gorgeous tree :)

Hi Paul, these have been cut with potential die back in mind. ive left reserve on areas where i think die back will could occur. where as on a hornbeam i might have cut more flush. some of the cuts are just above dormant nodes, with shoots further down the branch/trunk. this will ultimately show me what i can and can't do with maples. i know already that we should leave some reserve when cutting maples buddy.
 

BobbyLane

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the one cut that was made flush was this cut on the trunk in the first maple
2019-02-04_05-54-13 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

its between two point of growth above and below. there is absolutely no way that whole section of trunk will die back even with a flush cut there. should there be a little dieback, the sap flow to the apex will not be compromised imo, even on a maple.

this cut in red was made just at the shoulder , cutting into the green line, i think would of been the more dangerous move
20190204_172520 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

but we shall see what happens

updater later
 
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AndyJ

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Nice trees Bobby - in my opinion you can't whack a good Maple and you look like you've got great potential there!

Is the plan to just leave them to grow for the rest of this year? Are you going to leave then in their pots or are they going in the ground?
 

BobbyLane

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these will go into nursery containers around half the depth of current pot. the roots will be reduced flat and laid on a piece of board or plastic. earlier in the thread i said they would go in shallower containers, but ive changed my mind. this will be done as the buds are swelling in a few weeks time.
 
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