More natural look help

[Flippyflipflop]

hello everyone. I'm fairly new to bonsai but I am trying to create a trident maple with a more natural look. I know most folks prefer a super fat trunk and try to make the tree look like a mushroom. I'm looking for something more like the attach photo. The trunk doesn't appear to be chopped. How is this achieved? Thanks for your help.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

First, welcome.
Second, the tree is a shohin, so around 8" tall from the soil surface. While it is small, it has remarkably good scale. Great bonsai don't make you consider whether a tree is 8" or 28" tall.

It likely began as an air-layer, which helps establish a large, radial base. It probably has a chop, where I noted in the photo. Still, the tree appears to be 10-12 years of good work.

So to answer the question...have a vision, make a good, radial base, grow a good trunk without scars. Try to keep a few small branches with short internodes on the trunk. Take time and develop branching and twigginess. Simple, not easy.

 

[MACH5]

I have this Kiyohime in a similar style. It has been container grown from a seedling.

 

[Flippyflipflop]

I have this Kiyohime in a similar style. It has been container grown from a seedling.

Would growing in a bonsai container create a slimmer trunk yet still appear strong like yours? BTW, your tree is very good. It's right along the lines of what i would like to accomplish.

 

[Alain]

So to answer the question...have a vision, make a good, radial base, grow a good trunk without scars. Try to keep a few small branches with short internodes on the trunk. Take time and develop branching and twigginess. Simple, not easy.
View attachment 80692

As my mum was used to say: "y'a pu qu'a"
I think Nike translated that by: 'Just do it'

Welcome and good luck with your maple dream!

 

[MACH5]

Would growing in a bonsai container create a slimmer trunk yet still appear strong like yours? BTW, your tree is very good. It's right along the lines of what i would like to accomplish.

Is not really the container that creates the "strong, natural and slimmer trunks". Is your own vision, skill and time. All the pot does is perhaps slow things down. You will not get fast thickening or fast overall development in a pot. So if you want your tree to be small and with a slim trunk is ok to just grow it and develop it in a container. Be aware that for a tree to gain an aged and mature appearance does take time no matter where it is growing. You simply cannot fake it specially with deciduous trees.

You could also grow a big trunk in a pot, it will just take decades to do so. Ultimately depends on the type of tree you want to have that will determine where and how it needs to be developed. Keep reading and researching. There is much to learn. Lots of info via simple google searches and lots of great info here as well from some very experienced and knowledgeable members.

Welcome to BNut and do post your location as it is easier to get better help that way.

 

[barrosinc]

I have this Kiyohime in a similar style. It has been container grown from a seedling.

That is a nice one! Is the color lime sulphur? Have you thought of healing that scar a bit?

 

[Paradox]

Is the color lime sulphur?

The color of the trunk, particularly the upper branches indicates that it is a green maple. The bark gets more grey as they get older.

It is a nice tree though.

 

[MACH5]

Yes a bit of lime sulphur to even out the bark color a bit. The bark is beginning to age at the bottom but this tree is still young and has a long way to go to really acquire that aged look I mention in my previous post.


The scar is completely healed. It just needs time before it all blends in together

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The scar is completely healed. It just needs time before it all blends in together

Kathy likes to take the back of a knife and scrape down the chunks of bark around those scars to smooth everything over. Enjoyable, mindless work, and one of those details that makes the difference over time when you put one on display...

 

[JudyB]

Kathy likes to take the back of a knife and scrape down the chunks of bark around those scars to smooth everything over. Enjoyable, mindless work, and one of those details that makes the difference over time when you put one on display...

Can you elaborate a little on this? How deep is this scraping? Maybe show us a pic of the technique?

 

[jk_lewis]

Re: lime sulfur on the bark. I wouldn't do that. First it will always look artificial, and second the LS is essentially like paint over the natural bark and may actually inhibit the formation of old (GRAY) bark. Third, the maple bark allows SOME absorbtion of sunlight, etc. into the tree (especially while it is green and with its own chlorophyll) and you interrupt the proper use of energy by the tree. LS is used on DEAD wood. Or as an insecticide/fungicide.

Let trees get mature at THEIR rate, not yours.

 

[MACH5]

Can you elaborate a little on this? How deep is this scraping? Maybe show us a pic of the technique?

I'll let Brian elaborate more on this Judy but essentially is to smooth out the rough edges of a callous. You don't scrape too deeply but just enough to make it all nice and clean. One of those things that you do specially when preparing a tree for exhibition.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Can you elaborate a little on this? How deep is this scraping? Maybe show us a pic of the technique?

Like this:
https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/more-spring-cleaning-2/

jkl...LS "may actually inhibit the formation of old bark" is nonsense. You may not like the look, but it is not disruptive to the natural aging process. I'll continue to follow Kathy's guidance on this as well, which is: 1:1 LS to water applied with a brush from trunk out to secondaries in the spring to even out the variable tones on young JM.

All bonsai is an illusion. Use whatever tricks you need, including LS on Jin solely for the purpose of imparting a sense of age. If it looks convincing, mission accomplished. I happen to like the look, so I do it.

 

[JudyB]

Thank you!

 

[brewmeister83]

Hi Flippy!

When I first started bonsai I stumbled across this site:

http://bonsai4me.com/index.html

Tons of good info and inspiration for the bonsai novice, I still go back from time to time to refresh my knowledge of the basics. Read everything there (there's a lot!), and it will probably answer pretty much any basic question you'll have as to how to do any bonsai technique you might use. Harry keeps a great record of the progress of his trees, so you can see him do a technique and what it looks like 10 years down the road - very helpful for planning with your own trees.

Good luck, and welcome to Bonsai and BNut!

 

[jk_lewis]

to even out the variable tones on young JM.

Think what ya will, Bryan, but I suspect there is an evolutionary/biological reason that there is chlorophyll in the bark of young Japanese maples. The bark is a part of the overall photosynthesis mechanism of Japanese maples.

If you have a young tree, be patient; all of us were young once. It soon ends.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Think what ya will, Bryan, but I suspect there is an evolutionary/biological reason that there is chlorophyll in the bark of young Japanese maples. The bark is a part of the overall photosynthesis mechanism of Japanese maples.

If you have a young tree, be patient; all of us were young once. It soon ends.

Will do Jym...and I suspect painting the wrapper of a candy bar won't wreck the overall tastiness of the Snickers inside.

 

[jk_lewis]

I suspect painting the wrapper of a candy bar won't wreck the overall tastiness of the Snickers inside.

Now THERE'S an analogy for the ages! Are you really suggesting that the foil/plastic wrapper on a candy bar has a comparable function to the bark on a young tree? I certainly hope not.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. Citation: http://literarydevices.net/metaphor/

Emphasis added...in the off chance someone actually thought I was being anything other than metaphorical to illustrate you can say ANYTHING so long as you add a disclaimer like "I suspect...".