wabashene

Hi Stephen,

Yes it does and at some point you will have to re-chop to a side branch or chop to start a new leader and induce taper artificially.

The chop sites will always stay at the height they were made at -they don't move up the tree as it grows taller.

Here's a sequence of an Acer Arakawa over 4 years, purchased as a pre-bonsai. I allowed it to grow while I was learning and then chopped it back in Jan 2006 - changing the planting angle at the same time. The chop point is marked with a red arrow on the 2004 pic.

The trunk has been thickening up all the time and I've marked branches 1 & 2 as well as the proposed new leader (L) along with a sacrifice leader/sap drawer (S) to keep the proposed new leader growing and healthy.

Its going to end a bit "acer as pinus" but "does my face look bothered!"

:-)

timR

Attached Images

arakawa 4 yrs seq.jpg (58.2 KB, 70 views)

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