JM Planning and Design

Matt B

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So I found myself in Walmart's garden center, preparing to be thoroughly disinterested, I found a few Japanes maples sitting on a pallet. I have never seen them in nurseries, let alone a Walmart. I figured that was a sign, so I picked the one that had the most interesting roots, even though they are tiny now, and probably won't show up in the photos. The one I picked up is a little shy of three feet, and it looks like it was chopped before at about 16 inches.

I want this tree to be a larger specimen, maybe a little shy of 20 inches with a in 5 years, and while I know a bit about creating ramification and wiring, I find my knowledge lacking in the earliest stages. I know what I want to for the tree long term but I need help on what steps to take, and more importantly, when and in what order to take them.

I want it to have an interesting trunk, and right now it is s vertical line, so I need to introduce some character now while it is young and flexible, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that. Its in a nursery pot now, and I'm not sure if I should pot it out now so that I can anchor wires to introduce the trunk features, of it I should let it settle into it's new home before I start. What is the best method and timingto introduce some trunk bends?

I want it to grow a thick trunk after I introduce the features that I want it to have. Should I leave the current foliage and not trim it shorter immediately? I know if I cut it shorter, the small branches at the bottom will grow out and it will start creating others to flesh out the tree, which will contribute to it starting to look more like what I want it to eventually be. If I leave it at the current height, the bottom branches will probably shrivel up as the tree continues to pour energy into the existing canopy. The existing canopy is thickening the trunk, though.

Should I re-pot, cut the height and work out some bends first and all at once, and grow a more appropriate canopy with sacrificial limbs to thicken the trunk from there?

Should I find a good place in the yard and let it go nuts for a year or two to thicken the trunk, then trunk chop it to the height I want, and work it back into a bonsai pot?

My initial thought is that the initial trunk bend has to be done now, and once that has set, all else can follow.

What are steps1, 2 and 3 on this project, and what is the timing?
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Shibui

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You appear to have purchased grafted trees. Lower green bark suddenly changes to the red of the grafted variety.
Grafts can sometimes be OK in bonsai but I suspect a graft half way up a trunk will stand out like a beacon. The graft union will usually show a change of bark colour and often swells more than the trunk above and below.
Te root stock is likely standard AP so if you chop below the graft the new leaves will be very different from those you have now.
if you allow the lowest buds on the root stock to grow those branches will look way different to the top part. I can't see that looking good.

Now that the leaves are open repotting is not recommended. You can slip pot into larger pots with minimum root removal if you want to speed up growth.
They appear to be weeping variety which are not really prolific growers so development ill be slower than standard JM.

After all that do you still want to proceed?
 

Matt B

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*facepalm* This should be illegal. I never thought that a tree this small would be a graft. I thought it was simply a chop. Growers should have to be clear on the tree tags because if I got tricked and I know that such a thing as grafts exist. Most people wouldn't know. Why would the growers even graft such a tiny tree?

I suppose I'll drop it in the ground and air layer it when It gets bigger.
 

Forsoothe!

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These kinds of leaves are usually weepers and if so, the graft is very close to the top, but I can't see from these photos. That presents a different set of problems. We can't discuss this until that is established. Look close and give us look, too.
 

theta

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What's going on here? -- Annotation 2020-05-02 091408.png

Turns from green trunk to red, is there a graft union there? The close up of the lower trunk and roots don't look grafted to me.
 

Forsoothe!

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Photo doesn't have enough pixels to see clearly, but that's where I would expect it. You have some green leaves emerging very low. Let them get big enough to ID that the green trunk grows whatever kind of leaves. You being in GA means very different advice from what Yankees do.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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*facepalm* This should be illegal. I never thought that a tree this small would be a graft. I thought it was simply a chop. Growers should have to be clear on the tree tags because if I got tricked and I know that such a thing as grafts exist. Most people wouldn't know. Why would the growers even graft such a tiny tree?

I suppose I'll drop it in the ground and air layer it when It gets bigger.

Please don't feel bad, whether a tree is grafted or not is an "insider's info" for the nursery trade. If you are not familiar with nursery propagation practices, there is no way you would have known.

For future reference. If the Japanese maple, actually pretty much all maples, has a cultivar name, it was propagated by grafting. The reason this is done is that maples are spotty as to which ones reproduce via cuttings. A grafted tree can be sales ready in 24 months from grafting, cuttings often need 3 to 5 years to size up sufficiently for sales.

So if a maple has a cultivar name, and you are at a nursery for the landscape industry, there is a near 100% probability that it was grafted.

One recent twist. I did run into a block of 'Bloodgood' maples that had no graft scars. On investigation found out they were from meristematic tissue culture propagation. 'Bloodgood' and 'Emperor I' are the two I have heard of that "might" be from tissue culture. But there are tens of thousands being produced from grafting, so you just need to check for graft scars.

Certain bonsai related nurseries sell cutting grown maples. And you pay a small premium to get them. Not all maples will root from cuttings. Best I know of come from Evergreen Garden Works, Brent Walston is the owner. Even bonsai nurseries sell grafted plants. Brussels in Olive Branch MS, sells named maple cultivars and they are grafted. Most have "pretty good" grafts, but if you were expecting a flawless trunk, you won't be happy.

Check out Evergreen
 

Matt B

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I feel embarrassed that I didn't catch this. It might as well have slapped me in the head, as obvious as it is. I looked down low for a good root structure, up high as the foliage, and since I knew it would need a chop, the middle wasn't catching my attention at all.
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Forsoothe!

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You don't get a certificate, but you have now advanced to 2nd grade.
 

Forsoothe!

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You will have a decision to make. You may decide to air layer the top off and grow both the bottom and top as small bonsai. That would be a good choice. JM make good mame and you'll be able to enjoy trees that will be presentable, muy pronto. If you decide to grow these very small starters into a bigger size, You'll have a hundred other trees before these are presentable. My philosophy has always been to grow what I have as is and refine it from day one. Want a bigger one? Buy a bigger one.

When you air layer the top off, keep the standard (the straight trunk) very short so you can grow it out of a lava rock as weeping (cascading) tightly down where the trunk graft is very close to the surface of the soil and invisibly hidden by surface moss. The graft will always detract from the good looks, unless only the top wood can be seen. It will be better artistically if the viewer can never see the trunk. The thin branches will be easily trainable to trail down the rock.

The green stock is at a better scale for mame if you cut it off a couple inches above the soil line, just above whatever leaves it has. Reduce the roots in three steps in three consecutive springs and you'l have a cute mame for your local clubs Show in that third year. Enjoy!
 

Matt B

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So I checked out the Evergreen site that was recommended, and I discovered, perhaps for my 3rd grade participation award (since no certificate will be forthcoming) that one JM is not the JM. If I dig the traditional red foliage and small leaves, and as a relative noob, I don't want something that has expert features (like picky, difficult to prune, agonizingly slow growth, grows different foliage if pruned) what cultivar do I want? My eventual goal will be a tree in the 2 foot tall range, larger than shohin, so i will probably want something in a larger size to start. That is, or course that the trunk will still be able to be trained for some movement.
 

Shibui

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If you want a bonsai relatively quick I'd steer away from the dwarf types as they grow pretty slow. Most o them also need slightly different pruning.
I like standard palmatum seedling grown trees for bonsai. No grafts, relatively quick growing and development and they are generally hardier than many cultivars. Usually easier to get hold of and cheaper until you get up to well developed bonsai stage.
Of the varieties. 'Seryu' seems to be quite hardy and grows relatively quick. It also has the added attraction of deeply divided leaves like those weeping type but it grows as an upright tree. Leaves are relatively small and internodes are not too long.
Most of the red leaf types I've had seem to have large leaf and long internodes so can be more difficult as bonsai.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I'm resting my back, so with time to kill I thought I'd edit Brent's list for one page reading so you can decide more easily
I have grown a few of these, 'Kiyo Hime', 'Ao Kanzashi', 'Ibo Nishiki', & 'Katsura' currently I have zero Japanese maples. So my recommendations are from what I have read, or have seen in trees grown by others.

Of Evergreen's list, I like them all. My favorite are the red leaf cultivars. Probably 'Whitney Red' would be the the best for shohin & small-medium bonsai with red leaves. 'Yuri Hime' is probably best of the dwarf 'Hime' types and could be used for the very smallest of maple bonsai. If you want to "go big" 'Nuresagi' is probably the best of the deep purple leaf types, and 'Osaka Suki' is the best of the green leaf, brilliant fall color types for larger bonsai. It is all about what you want. I recommend reading and re-reading Brent's list, my notes leave out some important details. But this puts their size traits on a single page. You also can not go wrong with the seed raised maples.

I use small bonsai as being anything under about 12 inches, this would include shohin at 8 inches max and Kifu at 8 to ? 12 or 14 inches. I forget the exact size categories. Medium I view as 12 to 30 inches and large being over 30 inches. But this is just my rough convention. It is not exact. Even a cultivar normally used for the largest of styles, if handled right can make a very small tree, and the reverse, a cultivar normally used for small trees can sometimes be used for a large tree.

0501 A. palmatum (small leaf dwarf) -small & medium bonsai
0502 A. palmatum (small leaf, small seed) - small and medium size bonsai
0508 A. palmatum 'Ao Kanzashi' - deeply cut leaves, upright growing, fine twigging and thick trunks possible, good for any size bonsai
0527 A. palmatum 'Beni Schichihenge' - very similar to 'Butterfly', variegated pink, white, green - good for small and medium bonsai
0531 A. palmatum 'Bloodgood' - red to burgundy leaves, hold color well, leaves large, best for larger bonsai
0534 A. palmatum 'Burgundy Lace' - red leaf dissectum for small and medium size bonsai.
0535 A. palmatum 'Butterfly' - slow growing heavily variegated, good for small & medium bonsai
0544 A. palmatum 'Coonaria Pygmy', - semi dwarf - good for small & medium bonsai
0556 A. palmatum 'Fall Gold' - medium size bonsai
0581 A. palmatum 'Ibo Nishiki' - pine bark fully develops by 20 years, medium to larger bonsai
0583 A. palmatum 'Inabe Shidare' - deeply cut purple dissecta type leaves, weeping form, medium and larger bonsai
0595 A. palmatum 'Karasugawa' - pink leaves in spring, shrubby growth, small and medium bonsai
0598 A. palmatum 'Katsura' - popular for small and medium bonsai, has growth habit of larger forms, (not the shrubby 'Hime' type form) yet grows slow enough for small & medium bonsai.
0601 A. palmatum 'Kiyohime' - excellent for small bonsai - 'Hime' type shrubby growth, tends to be wider than taller.
0639 A. palmatum 'Mure Hibari' -excellent for small bonsai, 2 inch leaves reduce nicely for small bonsai.
0647 A. palmatum 'Novum' - best for medium and larger size bonsai 18 inches and up
0650 A. palmatum atropurpureum 'Nuresagi' - best for larger bonsai 24 inches and up
0658 A. palmatum 'Orido Nishiki' - for small and medium size bonsai
0660 A. palmatum 'Osaka Suki' - a full size maple best for larger sizes, famous for fall color, summer color is green
0665 A. palmatum 'Pixie' - best for medium size bonsai - leaves are red in spring, purple in summer, crimson in autumn.
0675 A. palmatum 'Ryusen' - arching branches, can be trained to weeping, may wire to any shape, good for medium and larger bonsai, green spring & summer, yellow, orange & red for autumn
0682 A. palmatum 'Sazanami' - leaves 1 to 2 inches, shorter petioles, good for small & medium bonsai - spring orange leaf with veins of white color, summer green & white vein pattern, autumn crimson
0686 A. palmatum 'Seiryu' - vigorous upright tree, medium & larger bonsai, deeply cut, almost thread leaf, green color spring & summer, autumn gold to crimson
0690 A. palmatum 'Sherwood Flame' - Purple leaves all growing season, good for medium and larger bonsai (12 inches and up).
0694 A. palmatum 'Shindeshojo' - excellent for smaller bonsai, through medium & large bonsai. Red spring foliage, green in summer.
0699 A. palmatum 'Shishio Improved' - similar to 'Deshojo' and 'Shindeshojo' - red spring, green summer, maroon autumn foliage, leaves larger than 'Shindeshojo' medium to large bonsai
0745 A. palmatum 'Whitney Red'' - medium to small leaves, best red leaf type for small bonsai
0749 A. palmatum 'Yuri Hime' - reddish stems, leaves green with red margins in spring, one of the smallest of the dwarfs, best for small bonsai, shrubby 'Hime' type growth ideal for shohin
0806 A. shirasawanum 'Aureum'' - best for larger bonsai 18 inches and up
0808 A. shirasawanum 'Shir Autumn Moon' - best for larger bonsai 18 inches and up
0810 A. truncatum 1gal - best for large scale bonsai - 24 inches and up

 
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