Just a quick question - any chance Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum) is good for bonsai? I have a number of them growing on my property. I thought they were Striped Maples (no good for bonsai, apparently) until they started to flower. I'm guessing they probably aren't very good for bonsai but thought it was worth asking. It's difficult to find info because Japanese maples are sometimes called mountain maples, too.
Mountain maple for bonsai?
- Thread starter karen82
- Start date
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Can't really say. Species hasn't been used very often for bonsai I would think from looking at pics online and seeing this tree in person along the Appalachian ridges here in Va., that the growth habit is kind of long and lanky for bonsai and the leaves are pretty large. That would tell me that using larger examples, like trunks with over three inch diameter up to eight inches, would work best...If smaller, proportions of the "finished" tree would look odd.
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
We don't have Acer spicatum here, but from what I've read from reliable sources the leaves of trees in the wild are almost the same size as Acer tataricum (ginnala), maybe it's possible to reduce the leaves the way one does with other maple species (pruning => shortening the internodes, defoliating, etc...)
But again, I've never seen one here, so...
But again, I've never seen one here, so...
