Rescue mission; possible fatality

[leatherback]

I do not see a weak tree here. I see a tree with strong growth on it. The plant is pushing now, and not sitting sulking away..
Ah well. Bit of a theoretic issue. I fertilize if a tree looks like this. To me this is recovery, and start of rebuilding.

 

[ConorDash]

As I said, this is one persons take on things, you may not agree:

1hour 29 minutes in, for 4-5 minutes.
Essentially, it’s a supplement, not food.

I gotta rewatch that video, it’s really good.

I do not see a weak tree here. I see a tree with strong growth on it. The plant is pushing now, and not sitting sulking away..
Ah well. Bit of a theoretic issue. I fertilize if a tree looks like this. To me this is recovery, and start of rebuilding.

Yeh, you might be right. This video and my meaning is behind a weak or sick tree.
It might be my misunderstanding.

 

[Cattwooduk]

I'll watch that later thanks for the link. I can see there being a difference in a sick tree and a recovering one and having different requirements probably.
As I said when I asked my plan is to only use a half strength dose for now, may stop feeding over summer if/when growth slows down and then do some half strength feeding again until october/November.

 

[leatherback]

Essentially, it’s a supplement, not food.

One would hope this is not news to anyone growing bonsai.

They provide however, essential elements to be able to build the tree. It is not the bulk of the tree. But -as in all systems- the growtyh is limited by the first building block to run out. So once you see strong growth occuring above-ground, this typically relates to growth below-grounds (Especially on trees that grow roots easily and need roots for clear growth, like acers). At that point you know water, sunlight, co2 are not the limiting factors anymore: It has good acces. At that point the tree is working with the stored essential elements. And you need to start giving the plant access to external sources: Fertilize. But well, that is how I see it. I think the section that you posted is not in conflict with this.

 

[Cattwooduk]

Growth is strong !

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Great green maples Batman! What did you end up using for the spider-mites if anything? What did you decide on for your fertilizing schedule?

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Nice!!!! I would plan to layer it for a better nebari in the future, as the current roots looked horrendous. Glad to see the tree made it!

 

[Cattwooduk]

Great green maples Batman! What did you end up using for the spider-mites if anything? What did you decide on for your fertilizing schedule?

Just some general pest spray that said it tackles a variety of annoyances, seemed to work pretty quick! I've fed it maybe 4 times with half strength organic fertiliser, approx once every 3 weeks, kept in shade for the first month or two then gradually moved it into a more open position.

Nice!!!! I would plan to layer it for a better nebari in the future, as the current roots looked horrendous. Glad to see the tree made it!

Yeah probably could do with a new set of feet eventually. I'm still thinking of reducing the height of the thicker trunk possibly down to this as a new leader.

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Hi Cattwooduk,
Great news the tree has recovered and is growing strongly. Kudos to you for being bold as I don’t know if I would’ve been this brutal.
So I agree with others that you need to keep your hands off this for another season, and I wouldn’t worry about all the growth everywhere. Pencil thick branches don’t /won’t make much of a scar in 5 years.
So this might sound a little fool hardy so take this comment as you wish.
After the tree has fully recovered and you think it might be able to be repotted, I would be tempted to chop the stove pipe trunk ( right hand as I see it) back at the joint. Then you would get movement in the wiggle and taper. Um, yes, you would have a major scar but placing this out of view ( facing to the right or backside) would solve this. Obviously you would need to grow this out for a few years in your big box to get the scar to mend, and maybe it might never heal totally.
My 2 cents and if others seriously disagree I will message an apology as to being too brutal. Something to ponder anyway.
Good luck and I will follow with interest ?
Charles

 

[Cattwooduk]

Yeah I was going to leave it at least until 2020 before I do anything to it really. Would I get away with maybe removing half of the unwanted branches next spring though to force the growth into fewer branches?

I had considered removing the dead straight fatter trunk as you suggested, but I'm not sure where would be best to take it off. It's more visible in the first pictures but there is already a huge wound on the inside of the trunk on the right where I removed another dead straight trunk. Taking off the thicker trunk would make a giant wound all the way down the right hand side. At the moment it might be possible to hide the existing wound between the two trunks with low branches (?) but I'm less sure that having a large wound on top of another one would make for good viewing. Another way around it would be to carve the whole area way further down the line when I have ANY experience in carving.

 

[Cattwooduk]

This one hasn't skipped a beat this year. I removed about half the shoots I didn't want earlier in the year and the rest have been thickening nicely, so time to do some wiring soon I think. I'm still trying to decide at which point on the right hand straight trunk to make a chop

I'm also planning on ground layering this at some point to get the base much closer to the twin trunks and hopefully create a nice flare at the same time. With all the discussion lately about autumn collecting and how much root growth there is happening around now, I was wondering if now would be a good time to layer this guy? I can set up a collar around the base to hold the substrate and move it into the greenhouse to protect over winter. But I think now isn't usually the ideal time to do air layers usually because of potential lack of root development before the temp drops. Ground layering is basically air layering but... in the ground, but apart from that is there for any reason less risk with ground layering this in a greenhouse now while the big root growth is happening?

 

[cbroad]

is there for any reason less risk with ground layering this in a greenhouse now while the big root growth is happening?

I don't think you'll get any root growth from a layer this time of year, but you will have an open wound going into winter which probably wouldn't be a good thing, especially for a j.m.

I would wait until spring to do the operation. Maybe you can move it into the greenhouse late winter to trick it into breaking dormancy early, then do the layer. Then maybe you can separate the layer a lot earlier than everybody else could and be able to pot it up late spring and have the rest of the growing season to establish in its new container.

 

[Cattwooduk]

I was looking at this again a few days ago and wondering about angled cuts between two nodes...
I would be leaving a little more above the line for die back.
Can I get away with something like this below, or will it just die off to the lower node?