Maples, Maples All Over the Place

lehket

Being new to this forum and still in the novice stage where bonsai is concerned, I need an excuse to post something, so here it is.

I seem to have Japanese maples popping up all over my yard of late. I already have two that I've transplanted to a pre-bonsai bed along with a few other volunteer trees I've selected. One is about three years old, the other only one year old. Since then, I've discovered one more that I will transplant in the Spring.

I did some pruning of the older one earlier this year, but I feel it needs more by now. Two questions arise:

1. How much does one usually work on healthy young trees in the ground, as opposed to just letting them grow? (Feel free to answer either generically or with reference to Japanese maples. I have a few other species in the ground as well.) In terms of styling, do you treat them more or less like you would a tree in the pot?

2. Given that it somewhat depends on one's plans for a tree, what is the minimum thickness you'd want it to attain before potting it?

Thanks!

__________________
--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

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chansen

I can't really answer your first question since I've never put a tree in the ground before. I don't have any ground of my own yet, but that's hopefully going to change soon.

However there are a few things to think about before potting the tree. Most trees won't get much thicker once they're in a bonsai pot, so wait until you've got the trunk the size you want before you pot it.


Hopefully someone with more experience with home-grown stuff will chime in.

Good luck

Christian

Ralph

In answer to question 1, specifically to Japanese maples, you will not want to perform any work on this tree while growing it out. Any work done, will only slow it's growth down, and lengthen the time you need to grow it to desired size.
You can work on branches and leaf size once you have the desired trunk caliper and shape. Maples are easy to grow new branches, and heal scars quickly.

In answer to question 2, it is a matter of personal taste as to the size you will want to grow out your maple. With that said, there are some considerations, firstly is taper. Many young trees don't exhibit taper, but rather look like seedlings with pencil thin straight trunks. As such they won't make believable bonsai in a pot. Japanese maples that have that gradual trunk taper into the canopy give a better illusion of a mature tree. Additionally, different varieties of maple leafs reduce to different sizes, so you will want to work that consideration into your equation for trunk size. Lastly, do your plans call for a mame, shohin, or standard size bonsai? The actual height desired should be considered when growing out your tree. While it is not a hard and fast rule, many refernces on bonsai design state that you should start with a 6:1 ratio of trunk height to caliper.
Hope this helps!

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

soonami

Many people keep seedlings in pots that are 4-6 inches for the first few years. This is because it is easier to promote better surface root growth using a shallower pot vs. growing in the ground and also for easy in root pruning. Growing in the ground often comes later after good radial roots have started to grow in the pot and now need to thicken along with the trunk.

Trees that are left growing in the ground when young ofter have one or a few very strong roots as opposed to the thick full nebari we want in finished bonsai. Growing in pots helps control roots in the earlier stages which makes for a better finished product. Correcting poor rootage can be done later, but is difficult and time consuming.

But while the tree is in the ground, you should just chop down to get taper and movement. http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/articles.htm has some helpful articles on japanese maples and getting taper

The simple answer as to when you should repot the tree is that you should do this when the tree achieved the trunk thickness desired in the final tree. So that like 2 inches in a shohin, 3-4 in medium size trees, and 5+ in larger size trees

soonami

You have to chop it down and regrow a new leader constantly or else you tree will have no taper and huge heavy branches that when pruned will leave huge scars. By pruning, you can force branching low on the tree which will thicken the lower part of the tree more quickly than just growing outright.

Maples also don't grow new branches easily where there isn't a node. If you aren't careful in selecting branches and controlling growth you will have certain sections of the tree where you will not get branches unless you graft.

In my limited experience, I have not found japanese maples to heal scars quickly, idk if that is a function of climate or technique, but any time I cut into hardwood it takes a while to scar up.

Ralph

I am sorry, but I have to strongly differ with this advice. Perhaps others that grow maples will also chime in with their experiences here.
My experience has been to grow the trunk to almost the desired caliper, and make your cut, usually at the first branch but definitely at a node, because as Soonami stated, this is where your branching grows. Taper is achieved, because the branch will become your new leader. You will continue to grow out after the first chop, making sucessive chops, only after each section of the trunk almost reaches the desired caliper. In any result by the time you have grown your trunk and achieved your taper, your branches may well be out of scale with the rest of the tree, and you may need to grow new branches. Once again, we have a difference here, that I hope others can clear up. I don't know what the expected time frame is, but in my experience Japanese maples heal from cuts rather quickly (a few years), especially, if the cut is made at the node, where new branches are grown.

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

lehket

Thank you everyone for your replies. It sounds like there is some disagreement here, but in my reading I've discovered that that seems to be the case on a lot of points.

Since I have three of these trees to play with, I may do some experimenting on the oldest one and let the younger two go for awhile. I haven't yet decided on size for any of them, but at the moment most of my potted trees have trunks in the one-inch range, so I think I would like to work on something larger.

The advice on pot-growing first to develop the rootage is interesting. I don't think I've seen that before. I did see some advice in one book to place a tile slab underneath the bed when transplanting collected trees in order to begin training roots to a pot-like environment. I don't know how this would affect growth rates, though.

__________________
--Dale
----------
Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

Marie1uk

Hi Dale,

The tile technique works very well - I have a maple i started 10 years ago in a growing bed that has a very nice Nebari. My advice to you if you are going on the growbed path is to retain sacrifice branches low down on the trunk and let them grow wild (if possible keep these branches at the back of your tree) so that the base of the tree fattens up.

Plant the young seedling at a gentle angle if you are going down the informal upright style and keep the shape fairly feminine as this style mirrors the leaves and trunk of this species. Select a new bud / branch to form a new leader and train it up (be very careful if you use wire as it will bite in much quicker than if in a pot!). Use full strength fertiliser (a balanced one like Miracle-gro or the excellent Seaweed extract organic plant growth stimulant by Maxicrop) every 2 weeks.

Good luck - if you want advice trimming your baby trees take a snap and post it here.