New to Maples: Development Question????

[chefmateo]

I have been a mainly a tropicals guy for the duration of my bonsai practice. This spring I acquired three Trident Maple seedlings from a forum member. Per his suggestion I potted them into pond baskets, fertilized them during the summer, & gave them plenty of water. While the trunks & roots are coming along nicely, I'm curious as to why no branches(with the exception of one) have started to form? I have tons of potentials, but they are less than an inch or two and are still very much like petioles. I would have thought that at least a few of the lower ones would have begun to harden off by now. Is this just one of the development stages of maples? Of note: During the middle of summer I even cut back the tops to shorten then overall height & also my thinking was to trigger some lower development. Anyway, I appreciate whatever insight someone has to offer. Thanks.

 

[PABonsai]

In PA maples grow everywhere. And yes, young maples appear to be just a branch sticking out of the ground getting as tall as it can. In subsequent years you'll get more limbs. Pruning does help develop more budding which will eventually turn into branching.

 

[chefmateo]

Then I'll keep cutting back the height of it & just watch & wait. Thanks.

 

[PABonsai]

Then I'll keep cutting back the height of it & just watch & wait. Thanks.

I would let it grow out a little more before worrying. See how much branching you get next year maybe without pruning. You could let the thing get 5-6' tall without worrying. Many do that just to fatten the trunks up before worrying about branching and shaping. Branching will come. No worries.

 

[MrWunderful]

Let them run and pretty soon you will hve more branches then you will know what to do with.

 

[ysrgrathe]

Any branches you grow now will likely become too thick for the final design anyway, so better to grow trunk and worry about branches later in my opinion. Tridents backbud very easily.

 

[GGB]

what they say is true. just takes some time