Japanese Maple, New Front

Mattbonsai · 05-01-2008, 10:40 AM

Hi all! This is my Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) (pic one) earlier today, After pinching out the growth of my Ligustrum (damn they grow fast!) I decided to sort out the young growth on my maple, pinch out the new growth, and decide properly where I was going with this tree.

It's easy to say you're doing this when Its naked, but then It puts on leaves and you've lost what you were doing!

While working on it, I found what will become a very nice, 'New Front' for the tree. What do you think? (Rest Of Pics)

-Matt-

JTGJr25 · 05-01-2008, 05:19 PM

I like this tree a lot very nice. What is the nebari like? This will be an awesome tree in the future. It already looks like a very old tree but with ramified branches it will knock 'em dead

. Great job!

Tom

Mattbonsai · 05-01-2008, 05:23 PM

Cheers Tom,

She's got a really good nebari, I part buried it when repotting because I want a few fine roots between the mature ones, here's a pic of her nebari 2 years ago.

-Matt-

JTGJr25 · 05-01-2008, 05:25 PM

Wow you are very lucky to have this tree. Where did you get it? Was this the fruits of your labor? It's awesome and it can only get better.

Tom

Mattbonsai · 05-01-2008, 05:38 PM

I bought it 2 years ago at the RHS Tatton Park Flower show for £30 ( I think), It had a Nice shape, but a lot of dead wood, twisted twigs, and just nastyness inside, so I had to remove most of the branches to start from scratch. Heres a pic of when I got it, and the spring after its first winter with me.

-Matt-

Ravenna · 05-02-2008, 02:15 PM

Hi Matt,

looks like that maple is slowly improving. What bothers me still is that the two trunks after splitting both go up fairly straight without any taper. I wonder whether may be with time you can reduce them some more and build new apices with more taper. I would make the front very much dependent on the nebari. I think it can turn into something really nice. Btw. the proper time for pruning larger branches with maples is before they leaf out. Not saying that I have never done that myself or in courses but it costs them a lot of energy if you prune them after they have leafed out and it is also easier for you to see where you want to prune whole branches if you do that earlier.

Mattbonsai · 05-02-2008, 04:08 PM

I agree, it will be alot of work ahead to get some taper in the trunks, but I have a few techniques I'm going to put into practice to help that a bit.

I've read and been told that Autumn just after leaf fall is the best time, and thats when I normally do branch work before it goes into storage, but this year because I put it into a new compost and a larger pot its thrown out so much growth I decided to pinch out, I really only wanted to pinch out the new growth to get it to bush a bit, but as most of you know about me I get carried away very easily

.

-Matt-

Ravenna · 05-02-2008, 04:18 PM

No problem... I had just been wondering...

05-01-2008, 05:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
JTGJr25 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Jersey Posts: 230	I like this tree a lot very nice. What is the nebari like? This will be an awesome tree in the future. It already looks like a very old tree but with ramified branches it will knock 'em dead. Great job! Tom

05-02-2008, 04:08 PM	#7 (permalink)
Mattbonsai Tree Hugger In Training Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cheshire, GB Posts: 810	I agree, it will be alot of work ahead to get some taper in the trunks, but I have a few techniques I'm going to put into practice to help that a bit. I've read and been told that Autumn just after leaf fall is the best time, and thats when I normally do branch work before it goes into storage, but this year because I put it into a new compost and a larger pot its thrown out so much growth I decided to pinch out, I really only wanted to pinch out the new growth to get it to bush a bit, but as most of you know about me I get carried away very easily . -Matt- __________________ -Matt- http://www.cheshirebonsaisociety.org.uk/index.html R.I.P Our Great Friend - Prowler, 24th November 2008

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05-01-2008, 05:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
JTGJr25 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Jersey Posts: 230	Wow you are very lucky to have this tree. Where did you get it? Was this the fruits of your labor? It's awesome and it can only get better. Tom

05-02-2008, 02:15 PM	#6 (permalink)
Ravenna Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Switzerland Posts: 204	Hi Matt, looks like that maple is slowly improving. What bothers me still is that the two trunks after splitting both go up fairly straight without any taper. I wonder whether may be with time you can reduce them some more and build new apices with more taper. I would make the front very much dependent on the nebari. I think it can turn into something really nice. Btw. the proper time for pruning larger branches with maples is before they leaf out. Not saying that I have never done that myself or in courses but it costs them a lot of energy if you prune them after they have leafed out and it is also easier for you to see where you want to prune whole branches if you do that earlier.

05-02-2008, 04:18 PM	#8 (permalink)
Ravenna Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Switzerland Posts: 204	No problem... I had just been wondering...

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