Join Date: Apr-2004
Location: Clinton Township, MI
Country: USA
Posts: 4,227
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by EarthgirlOK
Restoration Question: I bought a nursery stock Japanese Maple with about an inch and a half sized trunk. It’s grafted, and the graft isn’t pretty-the root structure stinks as well. When I brought it home (this was during my very uneducated, highly eager period of bonsai “artist” development), I hacked away at it. I let its sprouted branches grow without rubbing off any of them. It is horrendous. But It’s a Japanese Maple, right(?) so I’m not going to trash it.
My question; should I layer for a new nebari above the graft? And should I perform a more educated trunk chop at the top and hope for an amended appearance? Can both of these things be done in the same growing season, or a year apart from each other?
I realize a picture might be helpful, but really what I’m hoping for is general input, not just for this specific tree.
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If this were my tree I would go about it in a two stage process. Let me first say that all the branches coming off the trunk could be a good thing if you allow them to grow out as sacrifice branches. They will serve the purpose of thickening the trunk.
I would plant the tree into the ground in the spring before the buds enlarge,without touching the roots at all. Then once the leaves have burst forth, I would ground layer the tree above the graft. Once the new roots have formed I would cut the old portion off, replant the tree into the ground on top of a tile or other flat object to encourage root spread outward. Now let it grow.
The following year or the year after is when I would perform the trunk chop, depending on trunk width.
my 1/2 cents worth,
Will |