Maple bark cracking open - what’s happening here?

[Cadillactaste]

Here is a little update. Tree grew pretty well this year and stayed fairly healthy. I got a knife and pulled out all the soft and rotten pulp. Lime sulfer on what was left and we will just go from here.

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Wood hardener is what ones in the UK use on deciduous. Steve Mckee/BonsaiSteve over on Instagram has many a scarred maples. I personally asked him. With my now owning three myself. Three scarred trunk maples that is.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

You aren't out of the woods yet. The callousing on the sides of the wound is great. This crack at the top is not great. The bark is continuing to die back up there. I would carefully remove all the dead bark up there until I got to clean healthy cells, and then lime sulfur the whole area.

 

[Cadillactaste]

He protects this tree...with wood hardener.
Not discrediting anyone...on technique. But the UK...sees wet winters. This method they use. Will be my regiment for deciduous trees. Because UK...do deadwood features on deciduous far more than we in the USA.

Steve Mckee on Instagram: "My seigen Japanese maple in a stunning ian baillie pot #japanesebonsai #stevesbonsaigarden #bonsai #bonsailovers #bonsaiart #bonsailife #bonsaipots #bonsaigarden #bonsaiempire #bonsaiworld #bonsaigram #stonelant

619 likes, 2 comments - bonsaisteve on October 7, 2023: "My seigen Japanese maple in a stunning ian baillie pot #japanesebonsai #stevesbonsaigarden #bo..."

www.instagram.com

 

[GGB]

I like the character too. Id care for it the best you can and try to appreciate nature jumping in to help style

 

[MHBonsai]

This is what I use here...

https://www.amazon.com/Minwax-41700000-High-Performance-Hardener/dp/B000BPINKS/ref=sr_1_2_pp?hvadid=616927709404&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013129&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6329333000450248788&hvtargid=kwd-6108845913&hydadcr=8457_13573167&keywords=minwax%2Bwood%2Bhardener&qid=1700580811&sr=8-2&th=1

I reapply annually, at a minimum. I like how it works - it's very thin, you can paint on lots of coats and the deadwood soaks it right up. Doesn't really change wood color - but I've found that it really dries it out, and can cause some cracking/checking.

 

[River's Edge]

Here is a product that I have used effectively to preserve deadwood on my bonsai. Brushes on and soaks in easily. It has preserved effectively the deadwood on collected juniper.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Here is a product that I have used effectively to preserve deadwood on my bonsai. Brushes on and soaks in easily. It has preserved effectively the deadwood on collected juniper.

Looks interesting. How is it for stench? As...my lungs clearly can't handle strong things.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Talk of wood hardener...and I seen this shared. Bizarre...Yet I found it intriguing.

Recipe: Alcohol / Resin Wood Hardener

Wood hardener lengthens the life of deadwood. It hardens punky wood in danger of eroding away, and likely protects against decomposition by pathogens. Store bought wood hardeners can certainly be u…

crataegus.com

 

[River's Edge]

Looks interesting. How is it for stench? As...my lungs clearly can't handle strong things.

I tend to ignore chemical smells, or wear a mask with charcoal filters. Not the best one to ask, would be a very subjective view at best.

 

[River's Edge]

Talk of wood hardener...and I seen this shared. Bizarre...Yet I found it intriguing.

Recipe: Alcohol / Resin Wood Hardener

Wood hardener lengthens the life of deadwood. It hardens punky wood in danger of eroding away, and likely protects against decomposition by pathogens. Store bought wood hardeners can certainly be u…

crataegus.com

Noticed that email today! seems fundamentally sound to me. Will give it a try. with all the trunk reduction I do with developing pines, there is lots of resin to collect with little effort. Good opportunity with Scotch Pine and Shore Pine, both heavy in rain production.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I tend to ignore chemical smells, or wear a mask with charcoal filters. Not the best one to ask, would be a very subjective view at best.

Understandable, thanks anyways.

I'll continue to use my wood hardener. As I got some when I watched Bonsai Empire's online classes and it was addressed as to using it for deciduous deadwood. Then went further and asked ones on application and frequency across the pond as they have more deciduous with deadwood than ones here I know.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Update 2024:

I carved around a bit on the deadwood and will just continue to remove it as it pulps out. The tree itself is growing out very healthy this year and I’ve not noticed anymore rotting spots. The bummer is all the branches are on one side of the tree so it looks pretty bad in fall. Hopefully can encourage some elongating growth to the other side to balance it out but we’ll see.

 

[Wood]

The bummer is all the branches are on one side of the tree so it looks pretty bad in fall

Maybe let some secondary branches grow out dramatically this year and then thread graft them next winter? Using some secondaries on the lower right branch would really thicken that branch and help create branch taper, and then help correct the winter silhouette of the tree over time

 

[namnhi]

Update 2024:

I carved around a bit on the deadwood and will just continue to remove it as it pulps out. The tree itself is growing out very healthy this year and I’ve not noticed anymore rotting spots. The bummer is all the branches are on one side of the tree so it looks pretty bad in fall. Hopefully can encourage some elongating growth to the other side to balance it out but we’ll see.

View attachment 536782

Am glad the tree made it from that rot episode. I was fear it was a goner but so happy to see it's doing well.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Maybe let some secondary branches grow out dramatically this year and then thread graft them next winter? Using some secondaries on the lower right branch would really thicken that branch and help create branch taper, and then help correct the winter silhouette of the tree over time

I like this idea. This particular cultivar of JM is extremely brittle and you can’t move even the small branches one way or another very much. I’ll have to look over that bottom right branch and see if I have any opportune leaders for the job.

 

[leatherback]

I have been enjoying this thread. I must say.. That very first picture you shared to me shouted dead trunk to me. Look at it again with what you know now..

I would allow the tree a good season of pretty much uninterupted growth again. Wood hardener can be used, but is not per se needed. The trunk will create a barrier where the rotting stops, if for the rest in good health. THe dead sections will decay up to that barrier, and can be brushed out at some point.

 

[Wood]

I like this idea. This particular cultivar of JM is extremely brittle and you can’t move even the small branches one way or another very much. I’ll have to look over that bottom right branch and see if I have any opportune leaders for the job.

Possibly move them a little bit every week? You've got the entire growing season to pull them into place, plus the newly extending growth should be more flexible. I've pre-bent branches anticipating a thread graft in the next seasons and it worked well, but nothing as brittle as Kiyohime or similar