My horrible norway maple

[GailC]

When I first got interested in Bonsai, this was the first tree I dug. It was very early spring and I thought I was getting a vine maple. Once I discovered it was a norway, I stuck it in a big pot and just left it be. It's been two years now, this is where it's at from a completely naked and limbless stump.

I was going to put it back in the woods or maybe the landscape but I figured I may as well keep practicing on it. This is my first real wire job, its bad but it will do for now. I did defoliate so I could wire. I'll probably chop the limbs back hard next spring to try and shorten the nodes some. Hell, I might even do it later this summer. I've pushed this tree to the limit the first year I harvested it so I know it can take a lot of abuse.

Wish I could shorten it by about 4" but I'm afraid it would just be too short for the big leaves. It also has a terrible nebari, just three big roots but at least they are spaced evenly.

 

[GailC]

Pics

 

[0soyoung]

Bravo!

Fear not about chopping it down, the leaves get smaller the shorter the tree, the longer (time) in pot,

and the smaller the pot

The leaves can also be made smaller via mid-season defoliation.

Besides, if it doesn't work out to your satisfaction you can grow it back up but with a tapering, moving trunk instead of that arrow straight one you have now.

 

[GailC]

@0soyoung do you think it could be chopped now? I'd hate to waste a season growing it just to chop it next year. I suppose if I do kill it, I can go dig another. They are all over.

 

[JosephCooper]

as with many large-leaved trees, the leaves can be reduced surprisingly a lot. Just takes more work.

 

[0soyoung]

@0soyoung do you think it could be chopped now? I'd hate to waste a season growing it just to chop it next year. I suppose if I do kill it, I can go dig another. They are all over.

Yes, but keep a branch just to be safe.
And go dig more. Then, in the future you will be able to try different things on different trees - learn in parallel instead of serially.

 

[TyroTinker]

Yes, but keep a branch just to be safe.
And go dig more. Then, in the future you will be able to try different things on different trees - learn in parallel instead of serially.

What about root work on a Norway maple this late in the season? I've got a tiny one that is currently sharing a pot with some other plant and I want to separate them...

 

[0soyoung]

What about root work on a Norway maple this late in the season? I've got a tiny one that is currently sharing a pot with some other plant and I want to separate them...

They seem pretty much like any other maple with regard to roots. Moderate root work is okay when foliage is hardened and not extending. I dig volunteers all season long, so I think you can soak and gently coax or just cut it loose. Maybe keep in the shade for a week or two (or forever, for that matter - they seem to be quite shade tolerant).

 

[TyroTinker]

They seem pretty much like any other maple with regard to roots. Moderate root work is okay when foliage is hardened and not extending. I dig volunteers all season long, so I think you can soak and gently coax or just cut it loose. Maybe keep in the shade for a week or two (or forever, for that matter - they seem to be quite shade tolerant).

I might just give it a go. I'm just a little nervous because I'm not sure how mixed together the roots are.... but I have to do it eventually. I'll post about it in the mame contest thread when I finally do it. It's one of my entries

 

[just.wing.it]

Norway Maple is one that I see frequently here in yards...
Good on you for giving it a go!
I'm working on Liriodendron, big leaves too...
Gonna try an American Sycamore soon too.
If it's a big tree... plus whatever leaf reduction you get from container growing, I think it can be done...and it should be done.

 

[GailC]

Its growing like mad, getting some shorter nodes too.

 

[GailC]

I pretty much ignored the tree this year and it just keeps on growing. I'll have to do something with the chop wound next year, it seems to be healing really slow.
Besides that, its good. I haven't wired it since the last batch was left on too long and made dents in some branches. I'll have to slap wire on next spring and try again.

 

[0soyoung]

Next year, let the circled shoot run. The wound won't 'heal' until it is nearly the thickness of the trunk below. Foliage on that circled shoot is the only thing that will make the bark close over the wound.
As it approaches this point is when you will cut it back hard just above that low branch on it, say, and then let it go until it becomes nearly as thick. Then you have a trunk that tapers.

Meanwhile, do what ever you wish with the rest of the tree. Maybe let the lowest branches run so they get thick and pruned the higher side branches so they won't become so heavy. Of, course, vary this part according to your vision for the future bonsai. Upper branches could even be completely removed because cutting back that leader will readily release lots of buds higher up on the trunk.

 

[GailC]

Thank you @0soyoung I will let everything run except the branch I circled, it needs to come off before it gets any bigger.

Do you think I should gouge out more of the center on that wound? I didn't do a very good job since this was just a practice tree but I like how its going so I want to try and do it right.

When I first dug this, it didn't have any branches, it bad budded really well.

 

[0soyoung]

Yes, I agree with removing the branch you circled.

No, don't gouge out the center of this wound. It should be flat or maybe slightly convex (i.e., opposite of gouged out) so that it is rounded like the trunk when the bark closes over it. Your thinking would be correct were this a pruning wound from the removal of a big branch (from the side of the trunk). IMHO.