Maple advice.

grizzlywon

Shohin
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I bought this maple at our club meeting this Sat for the great price of $12! It has a 2" trunk and stands about 25" tall. It also has a nice root flare. Now, where should I cut it? I'm thinking that it would be best as a broom. What do you guys think and where should I chop it?
 

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JasonG

Chumono
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A few options?

Man this is a tough one since we can't see the root spread. Seeing that would give you (us) am much better feel for which leader/subtrunks to keep or get rid of.

What do you want out of this tree? If you want shohin don't cut on an angle, cut flat. But cutting low like that doesn't mean you will get shohin, that just means you are setting yourself up for a faster taper.

Personally I would like to see a shot of the front with what you say has the best roots. Is that possible?

Thanks, Jason
 

irene_b

Omono
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Remove the soil at the base till you get to some real roots....Then take another pic....Most trees are planted deeper than needed....
 

nip

Yamadori
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12 bucks! Wow, that is an incredible deal! Only in CA do people "dispose" of trees like this for $12.

You could combine both your ideas and cut it low to make a broom style shohin? But I am partial to small heavy trunk trees. I see SUMO! :)
Your high cut above those large branches would probably be the fastest route to a decent tree, but it will be limited by the lack of movement in those thick branches and lack of taper. If you want more trunk movement and taper, cut low. A low cut also allows you to start branches from scratch so you can add movement. Al has a great thread on developing maples by chopping very low.
 
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grizzlywon

Shohin
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Nip, I hate to rub it in, but I got three just like this for $12 each. I'm trying to sell the others to pay for them. Money is tight these days.

Al was there and made a comment about liking this tree the most, I think because of the base and branches nice and low.

Al, what were you thinking? Sumo?
 

grog

Shohin
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Funny. A sick stick A. Palmatum goes for $25 a pop here at sale prices. My better half spent close to a hundred dollars on a "patio" dissectum with less than a 1" trunk :)
 

grizzlywon

Shohin
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This has been in mostly shade for almost two months and has been growing like a weed. So I pulled it out again today and did a little pruning.

I took off the top but am wondering if I should take off the small branches on the bottom part of the trunk too. Or if I should cut the trunk like we discussed down to the first three branches. I posted more pics this time so you can see that the three first branches are almost all on the same side (pic 2). Not cool! If I cut them off I have four evenly spread branches growing at the top. (pic 4) There is a small branch at the center top of this pic that I could let run and get some girth on it to match the others.

Obviously at this point I am only thinking about a good old fashioned broom style. Do I have much else to choose from?
 

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