mountain maple clump

[Djtommy]

several weeks ago i got myself a maple, this is a standard mountain maple.
its got several flaws(tallest trunk isnt the thickest,.) and is in high need of rootwork and branchwork. meaning a fun time ahead.
it hasnt been the good time of the year yet to do any work to it and still havent done.
just cleaned the debris but thats about it

i will do all pruning work together whith repotting this spring.
but anywayz here its as i got it.

 

[Cypress187]

Love to see more work on this, the branches look a mess / tangled

 

[just.wing.it]

Yeah, definitely needs some trimming...
Looks cool though... Do you plan on keeping all five trunks?

 

[sorce]

I like the stance.

Balls!

Sorce

 

[MACH5]

Very nice piece of material DJ. I wished these types of clumps were more common here in the US. Definitely one of my favorite styles. One of the best features is the grey bark all the way up the trunks! Lots of decisions to be made here. A great fun project and look forward to its styling and development.

 

[M. Frary]

I would be trying something like this.

 

[Djtommy]

Yeah, definitely needs some trimming...
Looks cool though... Do you plan on keeping all five trunks?

Yeah sure, at least for now i see no reason to remove any, deffinatly not this year

I like the stance.

Balls!

Sorce

there is a too small turntable below the pot

Very nice piece of material DJ. I wished these types of clumps were more common here in the US. Definitely one of my favorite styles. One of the best features is the grey bark all the way up the trunks! Lots of decisions to be made here. A great fun project and look forward to its styling and development.

thanx sergio, you can find lots of already much nicer ones but also much more expensive. and i wanted a clump and something in around this stage of development. It took me a while actually although i did pass on lot of good material which i would have gotten if i had a space for it. And this one wasnt so expensive. No idea what it w
ould cost in us but i payed 15000 yen which is about 130 dollar i guess

I would be trying something like this.View attachment 96348

Yes, not a bad thing to strive for indeed , really love this wp maple

 

[JudyB]

One of my favorite images, a JM that Don Blackmond had.

 

[MACH5]

thanx sergio, you can find lots of already much nicer ones but also much more expensive. and i wanted a clump and something in around this stage of development. It took me a while actually although i did pass on lot of good material which i would have gotten if i had a space for it. And this one wasnt so expensive. No idea what it would cost in us but i payed 15000 yen which is about 130 dollar i guess

DJ very good price for that clump. No way you can get it in the US for that if you're lucky even to find one. I think a very good buy specially for that amount!

 

[Djtommy]

I cleaned out the branches and repotted today.
didnt wire anything today but will do so the coming days.
Also some points needing more cleaning but couldt make up my mind yet.
Anywayz here it is so far.

 

[AlainK]

Nice project.

Have you thought of pruning the first trunk on the left?...

The front tree looks like the smallest one: do you have any photos from the other sides? If the nebari allows it, maybe placing the smaller ones towards the back would give a better impression of perspective...

 

[just.wing.it]

I cleaned out the branches and repotted today.
didnt wire anything today but will do so the coming days.
Also some points needing more cleaning but couldt make up my mind yet.
Anywayz here it is so far.
View attachment 99903

Looking good, I dig that blue pot.

 

[Cadillactaste]

What amazing potential you have there...love those clumps!

 

[Djtommy]

Nice project.

Have you thought of pruning the first trunk on the left?...

The front tree looks like the smallest one: do you have any photos from the other sides? If the nebari allows it, maybe placing the smaller ones towards the back would give a better impression of perspective...

Thats indeed one of the points im not sure about yet.
It surely got its flaws, a big one is the trunk on the right which is the thickest, that i dont like and i also dont feel like making his trunk the head of the tree.
I want to thicken the second one from the right but that wont be easy.
If i let it grow in the top the whole trunk will get fatter and that wont be good either.
I need some lower branches to fatten the lower part only.

As for perspective and front, yes it wasnt easy to choose the front on this.
The nebari isnt bad on all sides but i liked how the different trunks emerge the best from this side. It has possibiltys for a different front though. To show more depth, i will need some branching in the back, so i hope i get some budding there but if not i will graft some branches.

Grtz

 

[Djtommy]

Looking good, I dig that blue pot.

Thanx, its yamasa i was told whoever that is, cheap pot but size was ok for this tree and i like the color. And its tokoname so quality seems good too

 

[just.wing.it]

Thanx, its yamasa i was told whoever that is, cheap pot but size was ok for this tree and i like the color. And its tokoname so quality seems good too

I have a hard time finding pots of that shape. Even online, I'm probably not looking in the correct place though.

 

[Djtommy]

I have a hard time finding pots of that shape. Even online, I'm probably not looking in the correct place though.

Hmm, did you try looking in japan? although a trip to jp would make this suddenly a very expensive pot.. There is yahoo http://category.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/list/鉢-盆栽用具-盆栽-花-園芸/2084207387/?fr=auc-prop&tab_ex=commerce&p=鉢
, its like ebay but in japan people normally use yahoo.
But then you need to pay shipping so again expensive.. Doesnt sara rayner make many round/oval pots?
Grtz

 

[Djtommy]

All trunks starting to leaf out, now im noticing another problem with this tree.
3 trunks leafing out in a nice red color kinda deshojo like.
2 other are rather different, more brown,green as usual with mountain maples.
The red is very nice, the other leafs aswell but 2 kinds of leaves doesnt look very well i think. Incidently the ones with the greener leaves have also a fatter trunk which makes me wonder if these have a different growrate..

When leaves turn green they might look similar, not sure yet.
Anywayz, i might have to deal with it somehow, perhaps grafting some red leaf branches on the other trunks,im planning to layer off some parts anywayz so i could use this for something too.
Right now it still need to rest for a while as i removed probably around 80 percent of the roots. So time to think of something.
Anybody has a good idea?

 

[MACH5]

Tommy I also have a clump (not previously shown here) that has the same issue although on mine the leaves are much more similar in color specially in the spring. I am not sure I will be doing anything about it. It is perhaps not ideal but perfection in bonsai is elusive to begin with. I think you only have three options. Leave it as is, graft or cut off the "offending" trunks. Would not recommend the latter.

I do have a concern tough. This tree looks very weak to me. From the close ups it does not appear that there are any strong and extending center buds but only two pairs of leaves on each shoot? Was the tree potbound?

 

[Djtommy]

hi sergio,

thanx for the reply.
it does look a bit weak. i may have removed a bit too much roots..plus it took a while to finish the repot.

the tree was indeed potbound and pushing itself up quite a bit in the previous pot. needed to cut a few big roots aswell. thats likely the reason why it is weak now. i guess nothing to do but let it rest for now or do you have any recommendation in this case?

thanx