KIFU BROOM A. PALMATUM

[MACH5]

This Japanese maple was purchased back in the summer of 2014. At about 11" high (not counting the long whip at the top) and a 3.5" trunk at the collar, it has a powerful presence despite its small size. This tree was grown and developed in open ground and is now probably around 20 years old.

This is how the tree looked in late fall of 2014.






Early summer 2016.






Unsure as to what the cultivar is, but almost certain it is not a regular A. Palmatum judging from the shape of its leaves.






Autumn color has not been easy to achieve in this tree as leaves are challenging to keep in good shape all the way into autumn. However, last year I was able to get an intense pure red as a result of placing the tree under much more shaded conditions.






Maple as it appeared today before it received its first styling as a bonsai.






After the work. The container is not final and only used for training purposes.












The thick trunk and flaring nebari give the tree a powerful stance. However, there is room for improvement. The scar between the two large roots is from a failed root graft. Ideally I'd like to get some finer roots all around the nebari to complement the larger ones.

 

[Chuah]

Very beautiful and powerful tree.

 

[j evans]

Looking good

 

[Rusty Davis]

Looks good and love the fall color. Any ideas on the most sun tolerant of the maples? I lack shade but your forcing me to get one with all these pics

 

[Ohioisonfire]

An amazing maple with a very strong/big appearance to it. New to the hobby and have taken an interest In maples. I get excited Everytime I see a thread of yours pop up. Very inspiring!

 

[iant]

I'm not familiar with the cultivar Kifu. What are it's characteristics? (other than very nice fall red color!)
Would you call this a broom style?
Best,
Ian

 

[MichaelS]

This will be another quality tree @MACH5. Good to see some serious thought/work to branch arrangement.

 

[whfarro]

I'm not familiar with the cultivar Kifu.

Kifu is the size classification for Medium sized Bonsai. The chart below shows additional categories and subcategories of Bonsai size classifications. Hope this helps.

 

[AlainK]

The chart below shows additional categories and subcategories of Bonsai size classifications.

I'm quite perplexed by this classification: "Mame" bigger than "Shohin"?...

Where did you get that chart from?

Edit: it actually looks like a copy of the chart displayed on Wikipedia, with an inversion between "Mame" and "Shohin":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai#Size_classifications

 

[MACH5]

Looks good and love the fall color. Any ideas on the most sun tolerant of the maples? I lack shade but your forcing me to get one with all these pics

Rusty, in my experience one of the most sun tolerant cultivars is the beautiful arakawa. I leave mine in full sun all year long and barely get any scorching at all. The key with some maples is to get them acclimated very early on in the year to receiving full sun. With other cultivars they just simply will not tolerate it. A bit of trial and error sometimes. On this specific maple, if it gets a bit too much sun during the growing season, the leaves will not make it until autumn and by the time late august rolls around, they start to exhibit scorching all around their edges.

 

[MACH5]

I'm not familiar with the cultivar Kifu. What are it's characteristics? (other than very nice fall red color!)
Would you call this a broom style?
Best,
Ian

Ian, as Will mentioned, Kifu is a size classification. Typically a tree that's 8" to around 14" in height. This is more of a general guideline.

I would consider this tree's style to be in the broom family. It is not what one might consider a classic broom, but I believe it falls within that style category.

 

[JudyB]

Nice wiring as always! Do you plan to keep the current apex branch or replace it at some point? And are you carving or healing that wanna be uro?

 

[MACH5]

Nice wiring as always! Do you plan to keep the current apex branch or replace it at some point? And are you carving or healing that wanna be uro?

Judy, yes the plan is to hopefully make that little straight piece back bud lower and replace. For now, I wired a small whip up to keep the area strong and sap flowing.


As far as the uro, it is a scar that's almost all healed. At the moment it's somewhat of a focal point because of it's darker color from the cut paste that's now fallen off. I don't plan to carve it, but let it be and eventually let it blend in with the rest of the bark. However, I am planning to go back and perhaps carve further some of the thicker branch transitions.


Off now to work on more trees!

 

[AlainK]

As far as the uro, (...)

Oh no! No uro, no no no!!!

This tree deserves much better than trying to mask one's inability to make it a great tree and pretend it's a "Burton" tree by carving it so it looks like a survivor from Hiroshima, or Beyruth, or Kent...

And BTW, since I'm on my "wise arse" mode, to me it looks more like a beautiful "Moyogi", not a "Hokidachi"...

Great job you've done, super tree in the make...

 

[whfarro]

I'm quite perplexed by this classification: "Mame" bigger than "Shohin"?...

Where did you get that chart from?

Edit: it actually looks like a copy of the chart displayed on Wikipedia, with an inversion between "Mame" and "Shohin":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai#Size_classifications

Good catch. Thanks. I just grabbed a screen shot and didn't really look closely at it. Yes it does look like same chart but your link has the corrected shohin / mame listed.

Thanks.

 

[Les]

Very nice Tree!! this post gave me some good Ideas I can use on my Arakawa.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Very nice Sergio. Training pot or not, the tree looks at home, potted so nice and level to show off the strong base. That autumn shade is great as well, you are a master brewer of fall colors. You have me convinced that I must shade my maples more this season.

 

[MACH5]

Very nice Sergio. Training pot or not, the tree looks at home, potted so nice and level to show off the strong base. That autumn shade is great as well, you are a master brewer of fall colors. You have me convinced that I must shade my maples more this season.

Thanks Bri! It was a stunning clear red this past fall. It almost glowed in the garden. I looked for pics of the entire tree in fall color but somehow I could not find any. Pretty sure I took at least a couple. Anyway, wish I knew what cultivar this is.

 

[fredtruck]

In your hands, maples look so easy and natural--effortless. Looking at your pictures I can convince myself that even I could do that, but not really. Incredible design and execution, Sergio!

 

[whfarro]

In your hands, maples look so easy and natural--effortless.... Incredible design and execution, Sergio!

Agreed.