Summer clearance maple

[bonsaidave]

I have purchased a couple of these in the last 2 years. A local garden center gets rid of their japanese maples in July for $7.50. They are in 1 gallon pots with trees that are about 6-7 feet tall.

Keep on the look out for material. You never know what you might find, even in 100°f heat of summer.

This is 2 weeks after purchase and chopping in mid July 2017. It only got about 4 hours full morning sun for the rest of 2017. Didn't want to cook the new growth.


Today, February 2018, I repotted this little guy.





I will remove most of the branches tomorrow and let it grow wild this year.

I hope this inspires you newer nuts and gets those bonsai thoughts flowing.

Happy repotting!

 

[Stan Kengai]

Nice find @bonsaidave Wish I could get some $7.50 starts like that. Be sure to get some wire on those. Wire the branches down, and put some movement in the trunk line.

 

[Rodrigo]

I have purchased a couple of these in the last 2 years. A local garden center gets rid of their japanese maples in July for $7.50. They are in 1 gallon pots with trees that are about 6-7 feet tall.

Keep on the look out for material. You never know what you might find, even in 100°f heat of summer.

This is 2 weeks after purchase and chopping in mid July 2017. It only got about 4 hours full morning sun for the rest of 2017. Didn't want to cook the new growth.
View attachment 178230

Today, February 2018, I repotted this little guy.
View attachment 178233
View attachment 178234
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View attachment 178232

I will remove most of the branches tomorrow and let it grow wild this year.

I hope this inspires you newer nuts and gets those bonsai thoughts flowing.

Happy repotting!

Are all Maples ok to chop in mid July or is Japanese Maples specifically? Those are awesome finds for that cheap! Looking forward to the progress.

 

[Stan Kengai]

Mid summer is not the time to chop plants typically. But young plants seem to take a lot more abuse than older plants.

 

[bonsaidave]

I had to cut this one down about half way to get it in the car, so I figured just chop it down all the way. I wanted to test chopping in summer too. In this case it worked out but I would not chance this with any tree I didn't want to lose. I did have some dieback at the chop as one of the pictures shows.

 

[Rodrigo]

Mid summer is not the time to chop plants typically. But young plants seem to take a lot more abuse than older plants.

Yeah that's what I thought, I just wanted to be sure. Thanks.

I had to cut this one down about half way to get it in the car, so I figured just chop it down all the way. I wanted to test chopping in summer too. In this case it worked out but I would not chance this with any tree I didn't want to lose. I did have some dieback at the chop as one of the pictures shows.

Ah I see, thanks Dave. Did you do anything specific that you think may have helped in the survival of the tree, or did you just get lucky with a good tree?

 

[bonsaidave]

I sealed the chop with cut paste and gave it morning sun only. After 11am -12pm it was in the shade of my house. That kept it much cooler during those 100+ °f days. If it had full afternoon sun I think it would have baked the new growth. I also cut back water due to it having few leaves. Didn't want it to stay too wet and get root rot.

 

[Rodrigo]

Thanks for the explanation @bonsaidave!

 

[bonsaidave]

It was beautiful outside so I did some repotting today. No fronts chosen just letting it grow. Probably going to chop off the leader in 1-2 years if it gets thick enough.
Here is the $7.50 Maples a year later, February 2019.





One big root was just too high. Wire cut in to the trunk. Let's you know it was growing a bit.



And finally repotted and next to another $7.50 maple. Didn't want to chop the roots super hard so I stuck it in this oval ish Chinese pot for more room to grow. I scratch up the sides of the trunk at root level to hopefully encourage new root growth. Will see what happens next year.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

You managed to have reasonable roots on this one. On young material without radial roots I use the top growth to make a ground layer first. After you have a near perfect rootbase and some taper you cut back. If you want them really small sometimes there is no other option than the way you did. There are different ways to get to the goal and I like to (see) work on young material. Looking forward to see the progress.

 

[bonsaidave]

I worked on one of these japanese maples today, the one on the left in my last post. I have had this tree for 3.5 years now. After working this tree today I am finally seeing some promising structure. Considering this was a straight 6 foot tall garden center tree 3.5 years ago I am very happy with how the tree looks today.
I figure 1 maybe 2 more grow years, then I will switch to devolping fine branching and foliage.
I think 5 years from now this tree should start looking pretty nice.

Happy spring everyone!

Before work:


Leader chopped, other small.braches trimmed, roots cut back some, more damage to the base to try for some front roots:


I bit more top trimming and into a grow pot for another year:

 

[AlainK]

I like your style

I mean, it looks like one of mine That's exactly what I would do.

Om, shanti, om...

 

[AlainK]

I like your style

I mean, it looks like one of mine That's exactly what I would do.

Om, shanti, om...

Hey, isn't that a gold nugget ?

A black and white gold nugget ?

 

[bonsaidave]

Another trim and repot this spring. I got impatient and dropped this maple into a small pot. Can't wait for it to leaf out !



I am pretty please with this tree so far. It's come a long way from the 6 foot tall garden center landscape tree.

 

[luvinthemountains]

Nice. I am curious to know how your root work turned out? Specifically, the nibbling off of the side of that big fat one.

 

[bonsaidave]

Nice. I am curious to know how your root work turned out? Specifically, the nibbling off of the side of that big fat one.

@luvinthemountains I don't think I have pictures from the original root work on this exact one. If you go to the top of this post there are images from another one that I chopped and repotted at the same time. The root work with that one and this tiny one were very similar.

As for that scarring I did last year, it just calloused over. It is still all live wood on that side but no new roots like I hoped. I did the same thing to it a few weeks ago but a little deeper and a bit lower this time. I may have to try some root grafting in the future if I want roots on that bare side.

 

[bonsaidave]

Almost repotting time. The pot turned out to be a tad too small. Got a slightly bigger pot for this year's repot.
Left the wire on too long in 2021 like a bonehead
This little tree grew like crazy last spring.
Left branch scars are likely too bad to keep the branch. Will decide at repot time.
Repot will be in 1-2 months so more pics to come then.

 

[Scrogdor]

These are sweet! No such sales exist at any nurseries I know of where I live . Hard to bring myself to pay 185$ for the 6-8foot maples. Cheapest I’ve been able to find in the Bay Area. I’d rather shill out 300$ for a nice pre bonsai stump/ material.

 

[bonsaidave]

@Scrogdor It was a sweet one time deal that's for sure. Sure wish they were still $30. I haven't seen many Japanese maples around recently. Last time I noticed one I think it was last year for something like $100-150 range.
Seeds, cuttings, air layers, or buying 1-2 year seedlings and grow them out is probably the way to go at this point for us cheapskates

I have a few trident maples grown from seed that are starting to get a little thick 1/2-3/4 inch on a couple. This is year will be year 3 or 4 for them. All are pot grown so not as much growth if they had been in the ground.

 

[Gabler]

Did you keep the branch?