Kiyohime?

[tmmason10]

For the record, it is not a kiyohime. I though it may be because when I bought it I was told it may be a dwarf vsirety, as the leaves seemed pretty small.

I agree that at some point the trunks will be rearranged. I think I'll spend the year studying the movement of the trunk, and watching it grow. I think some drastic cuts at the top are necessary at some point, but I have time. The trunks are nice and old though which is why I got the trees in the first place. Thanks for chiming in.

 

[tmmason10]

The trees seem happy. I might give up on conifers completely I have much better luck with deciduous/tropical.

 

[tmmason10]

Sideways again!? So strange, not like that on my phone.

 

[Dirty Nails]

Tom if you are still in the development stage with these handsome trees and you repotted them anyway why didn't you put them in a grow box or the ground? Wouldn't that speed things up as well as aiding in any layering or chopping you will do?

 

[tmmason10]

Tom if you are still in the development stage with these handsome trees and you repotted them anyway why didn't you put them in a grow box or the ground? Wouldn't that speed things up as well as aiding in any layering or chopping you will do?

Good question. I don't have ground to grow them out in yet, a larger grow pot probably would have been more suitable. Thankfully they are growing pretty strongly anyway. I also still don't really have a vision yet so I'm just keeping them as is for now. Thanks for your comment.

 

[tmmason10]

Definitely a happy group. Probably my favorite piece so far this spring. My wife and I used this three tree forest in our baby announcement, so we call it our family tree. The sizing is just about right for the three of us.

 

[MACH5]

Tom good growing! Your maples look happy and healthy. While you study and find your way with these trees, do consider trimming back aggressively the top to encourage lower growth. The more lower branches on the trees, the more design possibilities you'll have

 

[tmmason10]

Tom good growing! Your maples look happy and healthy. While you study and find your way with these trees, do consider trimming back aggressively the top to encourage lower growth. The more lower branches on the trees, the more design possibilities you'll have

Thanks for your comment, I'm hoping to do some selective pruning sometime soon. Buds did pop lower last year so I hope for the same this year.

 

[tmmason10]

The crown of this tree was definitely getting quite dense, so I have it a cutback which you can see on my blog. Do other people's jms usually get this dense?

 

[Stan Kengai]

Tom, I think most all of the dwarf varieties get extremely dense crowns. I know my 'Sharp's pygmy' landscape specimen does. So much so that it is constantly losing low branches.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Mine does, I do a partial defoliation around now (tonight in fact!) by removing one leaf of each pair. Tedious, but allows light in without the stress of a full defoliation. It doesn't prompt further growth this year, but does encourage stronger interior buds for next year.

 

[cmeg1]

There is a nice post on bjorvala's blog called 'acer theory'

 

[tmmason10]

Mine does, I do a partial defoliation around now (tonight in fact!) by removing one leaf of each pair. Tedious, but allows light in without the stress of a full defoliation. It doesn't prompt further growth this year, but does encourage stronger interior buds for next year.

Thanks Brian, this is actually exactly what I did on most of the tree. The top was getting really tedious and it got harder and harder to pick one of the pairs. Good pictures to follow though.

 

[tmmason10]

The trees seem to be responding well. Obviously the top is responding the best so far.

 

[tmmason10]

Horrible picture, but you can see the forest responded happily to its cutback done in June. On Father's Day in fact! I think more refining this fall will take this forest to a better place, it's come a long way in two years in my opinion. Compare the first pic of the topic to now.

 

[MACH5]

Good growing Tom! Do post pics when leaves fall!

 

[tmmason10]

I'm excited to see this forest without leaves in a few weeks. I've included a shot of one of the sacrifice branches on the tree, I think it has improved the taper slightly.

 

[MACH5]

Nice Tom! For faster results on your taper, I would not cut back your leader. Leave as is and let it keep growing next year. Also the advantage of leaving a few shoots grow long without cutting them back, is that later you can use them for possible thread grafts if need be.

Do post again when tree is bare

 

[tmmason10]

Nice Tom! For faster results on your taper, I would not cut back your leader. Leave as is and let it keep growing next year. Also the advantage of leaving a few shoots grow long without cutting them back, is that later you can use them for possible thread grafts if need be.

Do post again when tree is bare

Could be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyways. By leader I assume you new the extensions a the top, does this help thicken the base more that the shoots from the base itself?

Thanks for your comments, you do really well with you JM so thanks for sharing some tips. I am also curios to see what it will look like without leaves.

 

[MACH5]

Could be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyways. By leader I assume you new the extensions a the top, does this help thicken the base more that the shoots from the base itself?

Thanks for your comments, you do really well with you JM so thanks for sharing some tips. I am also curios to see what it will look like without leaves.

Yes that is correct Tom. I believe I may have misunderstood and thought you wanted a smoother transition up top? The ones lower down are generally more effective to thicken the trunk, just need to be careful ending up with unsightly bump(s) later on particularly if you allow several branches grow out from the same area. A bigger question then for you is why do you want to thicken the trunk(s). One quick way (and faster!) is to actually shorten your design and by doing so your trunks will appear much thicker. I may have mention to you earlier in this thread that I do think your design will benefit by shortening it and going for a smaller image.


Thanks for the comment Tom! I am also just as curious to see it without leaves