Silver maple forest

aml1014

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So I have about 15 silver maple seedlings that I started this spring and very in size from 3 ft to 1ft and pinky thickness to twigs. I got the idea of doing a nice forest with them and wanted some feeback on how to get started considering I've never set up a forest.
 

0soyoung

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What seems to work best is to make the largest/tallest seedling the focal tree. It pretty much must be in front. Then arrange the other trees to consistent with the perspective you would have were you standing in (or at the edge of) the forest, in front of the feature tree - they generally get shorter and thinner the farther they are from the feature tree. After that, create!
 

Eric Group

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Remember the rule of thirds and try to avoid blatant symmetry...

Depending on the number (IOW, are we talking 5-10 trees, or 300?), You generally want to avoid even numbers in the arrangement also.
 

whfarro

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Good luck. Silver maple don't have a reputation for making good bonsai. Long internodes and leaves do not reduce well.

I have hundreds that sprout all over the place here, gutters, in between pavers, on my deck, you name it. I haven't given them a try in a pot though.

Let us know how you make out.

Please post pics of your progress
 

sorce

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Because there are downfalls in silvermaple, keep it tight for a nice winter image.

Sorce
 

aml1014

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I've heard that they don't make good material but I have one that I started to prune regulary and now the leaves are probably no bigger then my pinky which is still kinda big by our standards but I guess I'll see down the road.
 

aml1014

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Didn't get around to doing this planting this spring(actually forgot to) so all the trees I had last year are still in their own pots and are in trunk development. I figured why not try with the ones I started this spring.

There's 9 trees varying from 3 inches to about 18 inches. Not to much difference in the trunk thickness of them all but I'll figure it out lol its nothing magnificent but it's my first little forrest so I'm happy with it.

Pot provided from my buddy @abqjoe 20160720_145733.jpg
Let me know what you think.

Aaron
 

aml1014

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How do you find they grow vs red maple? My red maple have been crazy vigorous as well but I'm not sure which species would be the most vigorous
That's a tough one for me, I personally don't own any red maples but I'm very familiar with them as my teacher has several, unfortunately they all have been in training for between 10-35 years if I remember 35yo is her oldest, so they are pretty refined. They seem to be vigorous growers but I personally feel the silver maple is more robust, at least in my climate.

Aaron
 

aml1014

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Some fall colors20161114_080733.jpg
And another little forest I threw together a few weeks back. I'm playing with dormancy a bit and these ones are now in the greenhouse and appear to be swelling buds.20161113_064818.jpg
Aaron
 

Grant Hamby

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Can't wait to see how this forest develops. I'm super inspired to tinker with these now!
 

aml1014

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Can't wait to see how this forest develops. I'm super inspired to tinker with these now!
They're pretty fun. They grow fast, take the desert sun pretty well, great fall colors, and the foliage CAN be reduced significantly. I wish I could find one small enough to dig. They're either 40 ft monsters, or recently planted trees that the owner doesn't want to get rid of. So seeds are the way to go for me.

Aaron
 

Grant Hamby

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They're pretty fun. They grow fast, take the desert sun pretty well, great fall colors, and the foliage CAN be reduced significantly. I wish I could find one small enough to dig. They're either 40 ft monsters, or recently planted trees that the owner doesn't want to get rid of. So seeds are the way to go for me.

Aaron

Yeah we usually have like 50 volunteers from our front yard tree, lol. I'll definitely be playing around with some next year. Maybe stick a couple through washers and see what happens.
 

aml1014

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Yeah we usually have like 50 volunteers from our front yard tree, lol. I'll definitely be playing around with some next year. Maybe stick a couple through washers and see what happens.
I've noticed these can develop a nice nebari pretty easily just with regular root work. These are both two year old saplings (though the big one is like 7ft tall lol)20161116_084316.jpg 20161116_084348.jpg
Both had their tap root pruned this spring and roots spread radially.
Thus one had no root work done and was just potted up, I applied a wire tourniquet about 6 weeks ago to ready it for a ground layer in spring.20161116_083831.jpg
It's developed a nice flare very quickly.
Every single tree I am developing on it's own will be screwed to a board and planted into a shallow grow box next spring.

Aaron
 
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