maple id?
- Thread starter Rose Mary
- Start date
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
I will bet on Ukigumo as well. Mine have a pinkish hue to their emergent first leaves
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
Either name doesn't alleviate the fact that either is pretty weak worked as bonsai, not to mention they always look diseased to mine eye....
What, just picked it up and didn't bother to ask what it was? Of course the folks that sold it to you probably didn't quite know what it was.
What, just picked it up and didn't bother to ask what it was?
Of course the folks that sold it to you probably didn't quite know what it was.
pbrown00
Mame
It certainly looks like Ukigumo to me; butterfly is more solid/striped.
Thank you for your id thoughts. I believe after looking at photos of ukigumo that it is indeed an Ukigumo! Thank you.
I have had it for many years, got it at a nursery closeout sale and it had no leaves. all the nursery worker knew that it was a japanese maple of some sort.
It is quite healthy besides losing the apex when I tried to air layer it twice below an interesting movement in an attempt to get a smaller trunkline
for a possible bonsai.
I now enjoy it as a landscape tree and think it is quite lovely. The pink tinge and varigated leaves make it an interesting subject. I have found the pink varies depending on where I have it placed. sunlight vs shady to partly shady.
I have had it for many years, got it at a nursery closeout sale and it had no leaves. all the nursery worker knew that it was a japanese maple of some sort.
It is quite healthy besides losing the apex when I tried to air layer it twice below an interesting movement in an attempt to get a smaller trunkline
for a possible bonsai.
I now enjoy it as a landscape tree and think it is quite lovely. The pink tinge and varigated leaves make it an interesting subject. I have found the pink varies depending on where I have it placed. sunlight vs shady to partly shady.
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
IMHO, Ukigumo is nonetheless a very interesting as an a.p. specimen. There is nothing that is so dramatically white aside from freshly fallen snow. It can be kept in full shade to full sun (with protection from wind). I find ts growth to be 'unpredictable' for bonsai - I can never tell when I will get a long, relatively thick internode versus fine twiggy growth. It also seems slow to thicken, but the sort of abuse I've dispensed on my air layer (now in a bulb pan) certainly hasn't helped - it has been my main subject for experimentation with approach grafts (long internode problems!).
Ukigumo is actually a pretty vigorous tree. I have one in the landscape that is about 8' tall and it requires a lot of cutback to avoid looking like a bush. I've never seen one as bonsai but it would be quite unique. The variegation is finicky though so it may not display its most famous characteristics under bonsai cultivation.
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
Lift it and root prune and replant.....two different growing philosophies.
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
That's a weird-ass leaf right there!
Not sure how I feel about that....
Is this similar to variegated trees?
Not sure how I feel about that....
Is this similar to variegated trees?
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
My uki air layer in an 8 inch bulb pan (1 approach graft done, 3 still in progress). Not going to win any contests, but interesting fun nonetheless.
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
It isn't as vigorous as a grafted specimen (grafted on generic 'green' a.p.), but it does grow. I would class it as 'weak' compared tao generic 'green' a.p., a.p. 'Orange Dream', and generaic acer shirasawanum, which I think are classed as quite vigorous growers (period).
I do not recommend Uki for bonsai for the reasons similar to why I do not recommend EWP (p. strobus) - I think they are seriously challenging to make into refined bonsai (truth be known, ALL species are seriously challenging for me, these two are a little bit more so). They are, however, interesting horticulturally and entertaining challenges for those who like 'exploring'. I chime up with encouragement when I encounter seeming birds of a feather. I think it surprising how attractive Ukigumo can be and that it is a worthy subject for "wasting one's time'.
One who is seriously intent on making a maple bonsai should just get a generic 'green' a.p. or a small leafed buergerianum. Grow from seed, start with 50 whips produced to be grafting roots stock. a 5+ year old garden center 'specimen' and/or air-layers of it, or an almost bonsai. All you will need to do is read, follow directions, and patiently stick with it - you are likely to succeed in making a nice bonsai (not that there is anything wrong with that).
I do not recommend Uki for bonsai for the reasons similar to why I do not recommend EWP (p. strobus) - I think they are seriously challenging to make into refined bonsai (truth be known, ALL species are seriously challenging for me, these two are a little bit more so). They are, however, interesting horticulturally and entertaining challenges for those who like 'exploring'. I chime up with encouragement when I encounter seeming birds of a feather. I think it surprising how attractive Ukigumo can be and that it is a worthy subject for "wasting one's time'.
One who is seriously intent on making a maple bonsai should just get a generic 'green' a.p. or a small leafed buergerianum. Grow from seed, start with 50 whips produced to be grafting roots stock. a 5+ year old garden center 'specimen' and/or air-layers of it, or an almost bonsai. All you will need to do is read, follow directions, and patiently stick with it - you are likely to succeed in making a nice bonsai (not that there is anything wrong with that).
jmw_bonsai
Mame
Put me in as "birfd of a feather" with you! LOL I started as a Japanese maple lover. As I am growing out things for Bonsai in the future, I often focus on them when they may not be the best true Bonsai candidates. I have a 'Ukigumo' in the yard that has needed a branch pruned for awhile, but I have been holding off to air layer. I didn't do any last year, but I think this year I will be upsetting the wife with lots of tin foil on the trees!
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
Spooky
. My start in bonsai came on the heels of collecting Japanese maples for our landscape too. We got an Ukigumo bargain and later realized that the second trunk was the root stock that the grower had forgotten to trim. It was my first air layer. I layered it and layered those layers - something like a dozen trees, but I quit counting. I took a deep dive into tree physiology and 'experimented' many of them to death. I still have six. I too frequently layer branches from our trees that must go, rather prune-and-toss. My wife has been quite encouraging of my interest (and still is, really), but has begun muttering how tired she is of always seeing baggies/pots in our trees.
