Maple Virtuals

mholt

Mame
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Hello,
I'm new here and it's my first year getting into bonsai. I am posting a few virtuals that I came up with. They aren't of the best material but I need to start somewhere. Two are of Amur maples I purchased this fall at a garden center and the other is probably a Norway (growing on a neighbor's Property). The two Amurs are about 2.25" in trunk thickness and the other is probably around 3 or so. The only thing I've done with the Amurs this fall is remove about an inch of soil off the top and pot them up to 5 gallon containers. My first question is regarding the chops. Do you think I can obtain decent backbudding on these pieces and are the locations (of the chops) suitable for this growth? Secondly, do you think a near finished look similar to the virtuals is an obtainable or realistic goal within 5 years. The operations will take place in spring. Thank you for any input.

-Matt
 

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plant_dr

Chumono
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I like your first one the best; it seems to be the most feasible virt. in my opinion. I haven't done much with maples, so I may not be the best judge as to what can be done.

To me the first one seems to be the least amount of work and least intensive, therefore the best chance of success from my experience. With the others, you have virtualed in alot of rootage. Although not impossible, these grafting techniques take a bit of skill and experience to do well. Since you are new to this addiction, my advice would to find a bonsai organization in your area(where do you live by the way?) and ask the members there what the best course of action should be. They will be able to give you specific advice with each tree. Also, keep researching on these web forums you can find a lot of info here.

Best regards,
Zach Johnson
 

mholt

Mame
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Thanks Zach. I agree with the first one having the most potential. I live in southeastern WI and have tried to search out clubs online in the area. One up in Milwaukee and some Chicagoland ones...all an hour or more away. I guess it depends on how much I'd like to travel. I will continue to search out networks.
 

mholt

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Wow! Thanks for that video post, John! I appreciated the time you took to do that. Great points made. I have visions for trees but not the experience and horticulture background to know if a piece of material will get there or not. Of course, as a newbie, I will be curious about time-frames and what to expect, etc. Ideally, I would like a collection of trees at different stages to work on, hack up, whatever it takes to learn the process. I agree with you regarding the last maple. It would make a difficult path to anything decent and the species is probably not suitable to bonsai to begin with. Anyway, thanks again. It was much appreciated.

-Matt
 

johng

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John,

I wanted to thank you for posting such a great response. It was a very nice way to deliver informative and instructive advice/critique.

Kirk


Thanks Kirk:)

John
 

johng

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Wow! Thanks for that video post, John! I appreciated the time you took to do that. Great points made. I have visions for trees but not the experience and horticulture background to know if a piece of material will get there or not. Of course, as a newbie, I will be curious about time-frames and what to expect, etc. Ideally, I would like a collection of trees at different stages to work on, hack up, whatever it takes to learn the process. I agree with you regarding the last maple. It would make a difficult path to anything decent and the species is probably not suitable to bonsai to begin with. Anyway, thanks again. It was much appreciated.

-Matt


You are headed in the right direction Matt!! It was my pleasure to do the video critique.

John
 

mholt

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John, excellent garden you posted on youtube! I took the liberty to view some of your videos.
 

cquinn

Shohin
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I would airlayer below the intersection and have a nice clump style bonsai. Maple do grow that way naturally.
 

johng

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John, excellent garden you posted on youtube! I took the liberty to view some of your videos.


Thanks Matt:) It is a labor of love!!

John
 

rockm

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Be aware that with amurs, any substantial trunk chop, branch pruning or major wounding will result in significant dieback at the cut site. That's just the way they are. At major trunk chops, this means you will likely get dieback on at least a sliver of the trunk below the cut. It's unpredictable where this dieback will occur, but it WILL occur.

Mostly, since amur are prolific growers, this isn't a huge deal, as callus tissue can take over pretty quickly in younger specimens. Such dieback can actually add to the final image, as it can develop hollows and quirky trunks...
 

mholt

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Follow-up

Thank you for the head's up, Rockm. I stumbled across another post after my initial post regarding die-back on Amurs as well. It's good to know now so I don't fall into a proposed design to then have it not follow that course. Anyway, I revisited the 2nd Amur yesterday with a new design proposal in mind. Instead of a multi-trunk perhaps a single. With die-back in mind, would it be safe to assume I should leave a stump when chopping these heavy branches (trunks) to let die back or cut back further at a later moment? I am attaching two proposals, which are the right side of the tree (shrub) from the original perspective. Opinions are welcomed and encouraged. My vision is not of a sumo style but of a natural tree so was wondering if instead of chopping the new leader, I let it grow unchecked to see if it will fatten to a more pleasing taper in relation to that of the base? These multiple trunks are about 5 feet long however. I guess I'm not worried about hollows or gnarled locations either as long as it doesn't look contrived. Thank you all!

-Matt
 

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ghues

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hollows and quirky trunks

Hi Matt,
As an example of "hollow and quirky trunks" here is a couple of photos of my Amur that I recently got from a member of our local club. Gives you an idea of how to incorporate then into the design.
Cheers G
 

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mholt

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Ah, that is where I saw info on the Amur, GHUES. Your "thrifty" bonsai purchase is where I saw Rockm's comments on Amur die-back! Thank you for posting. The tree has a romantic personality coming through. What are the dimensions?
 

rockm

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The individual knotholes on this specimen amur are undoubtedly where trunk chops were made and branches where removed. This is pretty typical of my experiences with Amur over the last 12 years or so. I've also noticed that callus tissue around these wounds can become prolific growth centers, as well as pushing new shoots down the trunk.

Additionally, they move VERY quickly come springtime. You have to be on your toes if you intend to report them in a given year. I've had mine push leaves in early February. I missed the repotting window completely.
 

mholt

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Rockm, in your experience with these trees, is it safe to assume that my two are fine over winter outside? I see you're in zone 7 and I'm in 5 and these guys are just on the ground in 5 gallon containers.
 

nip

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Nice virtuals Matt. Amur maples do back bud well. Here is some info on them: http://www.bonsai-bci.com/species/acergin.html
And here is a 7 year progression of an Amur http://www.rgbonsai.com/amurearly.htm

You have some quality material that should transform into nice trees over the years. Your best bet would be to plant them in the ground after the chop and let them grow untouched for a year. Select your leaders and let them grow again until they gain the desired size. There are products to help reduce die back. Dig them up when you are ready to develop branches. After 5 years of growing you may have the trunk line finished, but it will take another 5 to develop branches and reduce roots. You will have some nice trees in under 10 years, though they may not look good naked. And as John mentioned, after 15+ years, the branches will be ramified and wounds will be completely gone. Good Luck.

Great video response John..

Nip
 
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rockm

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"I see you're in zone 7 and I'm in 5 and these guys are just on the ground"

If you do a search on "Acer ginnala," you will see it's listed as hardy to USDA Zone 2, or 3...It's tough in the cold and why it's used as a substitute for the less cold hardy Trident maple in Northern climates.

In your case, since the roots are in relatively substantial five gallon containers, I'd mulch the containers in a sheltered place the backyard or yard out of the sun and let 'em alone. They should be fine.

My problem here in Zone 7 is they're TOO cold hardy. Since I don't get much bone chilling cold my amurs typically start pushing new growth in February. I have to find ways to keep them cold to stop the growth.. I have resorted to buying 25 lbs of ice at 7-11 and piling it up on top of the mulch covering. This has worked during several warms snaps the last couple of Februaries. The melt gets in the roots and cools the surrounding mulch mass.
 
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