Nursery Maple Styling Recommendations

[Apex37]

Just picked up this guy for $30 at local nursery. I had a hard time not getting about 5 maples with them being 25% off, but they're getting a bunch of new ones next week, so I'm going to wait till then and probably get more.

Anyway, I was trying to get some recommendations on styling.
He's pretty malleable still and definitely has potential and nice movement. The trunk isn't too bad as well. I was playing around with a possible semi cascade, but open to any suggestions based on photos.

Should I keep him in this pot till fall and then repot? Not sure how long he's been in this pot, but it's not too big.

 

[one_bonsai]

These look quite young. Best to put them in the ground for a few years to thicken the trunk. If you can't put them in the ground then put them in a large pot. Both these options can be done now.

 

[Shibui]

There's nothing much to work with yet.
If you just want a little maple in a pot you can just chop it and keep trimming as new shoots grow but that sort of bonsai does not really have any real style.
If you aspire to a real bonsai with a good trunk and branches the tree will need to grow a lot before it has any substance to work with.

I have a couple of semicascade JM but they are difficult to maintain. They are apical dominant so really want to grow up instead of out and down.

 

[Apex37]

These look quite young. Best to put them in the ground for a few years to thicken the trunk. If you can't put them in the ground then put them in a large pot. Both these options can be done now.

There's nothing much to work with yet.
If you just want a little maple in a pot you can just chop it and keep trimming as new shoots grow but that sort of bonsai does not really have any real style.
If you aspire to a real bonsai with a good trunk and branches the tree will need to grow a lot before it has any substance to work with.

I have a couple of semicascade JM but they are difficult to maintain. They are apical dominant so really want to grow up instead of out and down.

I wasn't sure if I should wire now so I can get some movement in the trunk while it is still young and malleable or just let it be. If it can be repotted, I'll throw it in good size pot asap. Definitely long long time in the making, just looking for advice.

 

[Shibui]

You can wire and bend if you like. Whether that is useful will depend on how you develop the tree. I get best results when I do regular trunk chops to develop taper in maples trunks. The regrowth after chops provides changes of direction. Chops tend to remove any previously wired parts so wiring is redundant the way I grow maples except for some more recent attempts at very small mame size maples where I have wired very small seedlings to get twisted trunks.
Be aware that JM tend to be quite brittle. It is unlikely you will get much bend in anything over 1/4' thick and will probably experience some breakage before success.

 

[Apex37]

You can wire and bend if you like. Whether that is useful will depend on how you develop the tree. I get best results when I do regular trunk chops to develop taper in maples trunks. The regrowth after chops provides changes of direction. Chops tend to remove any previously wired parts so wiring is redundant the way I grow maples except for some more recent attempts at very small mame size maples where I have wired very small seedlings to get twisted trunks.
Be aware that JM tend to be quite brittle. It is unlikely you will get much bend in anything over 1/4' thick and will probably experience some breakage before success.

Really good to know. Thank you for the valuable information! Just kinda starting out so this has been really helpful. I plan on throwing him in a 15" pot terracotta I have laying around. Any recommendations on soil mix if I'm just growing him out in that?
Unfortunately can't put him in the ground as we are moving here in the next 3 months.

 

[Shibui]

Grow pots are good. Not quite the same response as in ground but you will still get some better growth.
The larger the pot the less critical soil mix becomes. Grow pots are usually fine with any premium commercial soil mix from your nursery. Need to be aware that terracotta is porous and will dry out quickly in hot weather. I believe that Texas can be hot so Japanese maple is probably going to be a challenge for you. Will need to be on top of watering through summer and even more so with terracotta pot. Fingers crossed the larger pot size will give some added margin for error.