Two Maple Score?!?!?

[moke]

I frequent a local businesses that sales overstock, refused, lost, and damaged merchandise. This place is amazing for always having something I didn't need but had to have and occasionally something I in fact needed at unbelievable price.

They have a nursery as well through spring and summer, which I browse weekly as there inventory is always changing. I scored a nice Atlas cedar a month 1/2 ago and was chatting with the saleslady and told her I was going to torture it into a bonsai she replied she had something show up a couple of weeks earlier that she thought was maybe a couple of bonsai? But they were buried in the back and if I came back the next week she would let me check them out.

I figured they were most likely grafted Japanese Maples but was still interested to see what she had. The following week my wife and I stopped by to check them out but she told us they were still buried in the back “OMFG” .. The next week we showed up again and could see she was busy so we meandered towards the rear of the nursery area where their storage is located hoping I could peek back there and see what she had. There were two giant sliding doors that I peeked into the crack Low and behold on a shelf I could see two very nice Maples OMFG!! I told the wife they look like actual in training bonsai!! At this point we were almost running up front to find the saleswoman….. she told me again she would dig them out that afternoon if I wanted to come see them the next day “OMFG”.

The next day we arrive and the place is a mad house she is swamped with customers, after browsing a bit my wife finally chats with her about the trees she tells the wife give her a bit and she’ll get them for us. Once again the place becomes crazy and she is busy and clearly has forgotten about us so I tell my wife lets split we will try again in a week. So here we are this past week short story long!!! We find the saleslady and she begins apologizing for forgetting us the previous week and she said another gentlemen had asked her if she had any bonsai type trees which she had showed him them the day before and he offered her $250 each she told us she remembered us and told him she would consider his offer and contact him.
She said the main reason she didn’t take his money right then was she remembered us and wanted us to get first chance.
Like I said short story long but I wanted to share the build up to now owning these two spectacular trees. They are both beasts and needed haircuts and repotted which is in the works.
When she received them early spring they were bare root so she put them into pots with potting soil, So for the most part the nebari were unseen.

Here’s some pics I took today one has been repotted the other will happen soon. I’m really curious what would one reasonably expect to pay for trees similar to these? As I have never bought Japanese Maples of this size & advancement but am quite sure I received the tree deal of my lifetime

Please let me know what you think of them and I will take all the help you all can dish as I am new to maples and want them to thrive. I know they need some attention to get them back into shape and I look forward working with them.

 

[Adair M]

You got two very nice project trees!

Since they had been bare rooted, just let them be for now.

Here’s the deal... these will make very nice broom style trees. The branches are all very much too long, right now. There’s no taper to them, and all the foliage is way out on the tips.

At some point, the branches all need to be cut back, hard. To where they are only about 3 inches long! Then, you’ll get tons of new shoots and you can start developing branches with taper.

Here is a picture Ebihara did to his Zelkova;



That’s an image from a Japanese magazine, and the pictures go from tight to left. On the left, you see a nice trunk with long spindly branches. Just like what you have. The middle picture is after he cut those branches back. And the picture on the left is what it looked like two years later.

The next thing is something you can start next winter, and that is developing a killer nebari.

See MarkyScott’s thread “Ebihara Maples”. There he discusses how to develop great maple nebari.

 

[moke]

You got two very nice project trees!

Since they had been bare rooted, just let them be for now.

Here’s the deal... these will make very nice broom style trees. The branches are all very much too long, right now. There’s no taper to them, and all the foliage is way out on the tips.

At some point, the branches all need to be cut back, hard. To where they are only about 3 inches long! Then, you’ll get tons of new shoots and you can start developing branches with taper.

Here is a picture Ebihara did to his Zelkova;

View attachment 194137

That’s an image from a Japanese magazine, and the pictures go from tight to left. On the left, you see a nice trunk with long spindly branches. Just like what you have. The middle picture is after he cut those branches back. And the picture on the left is what it looked like two years later.

The next thing is something you can start next winter, and that is developing a killer nebari.

See MarkyScott’s thread “Ebihara Maples”. There he discusses how to develop great maple nebari.

Thanks Adair, Great info

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Those are really nice, I particularly like the one in the wooden box! It will be cool to get a good look at the twisty-turny branches on the other one this winter when it drops its leaves. Material this good is hard to come by in my area. I don't know what a reasonable price would be, did you pay $250 each? I don't think that is too far off-base, if you look on some of the FB auction sites you see 2 to 3 year old saplings with minimal styling going for 40-50 bucks sometimes.

I am with Adair on just letting them grow this year, when they drop their leaves this fall, you can get a good look at what you have and start formulating a plan.

John

 

[moke]

Those are really nice, I particularly like the one in the wooden box! It will be cool to get a good look at the twisty-turny branches on the other one this winter when it drops its leaves. Material this good is hard to come by in my area. I don't know what a reasonable price would be, did you pay $250 each? I don't think that is too far off-base, if you look on some of the FB auction sites you see 2 to 3 year old saplings with minimal styling going for 40-50 bucks sometimes.

I am with Adair on just letting them grow this year, when they drop their leaves this fall, you can get a good look at what you have and start formulating a plan.

John

Agreed, I plan on moving the other one in the pot to a box as well this week. I want to get it out of the potting soil they both have fairly nice nebari starts as well, they are hidden beneath the substrate right now. I ended up paying $300 each. I felt that was fair considering their development.