Acer palmatum Shishigashira

D3rutat

i've got a new tree today. This guy has excellent foliage, i mean, i have never seen a maple with so short internodes and such small foliage. Has anybody of you practiced on it? i am interested in pruning and wiring and sun position. Thnx

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Carl_Bergstrom

This is a very nice cultivar, commonly used for bonsai in Japan. It is a bit tricky to work with in that it is relatively brittle, with a tendency for strong upward growth - and so wiring can be difficult. The twigs are stocky relative to regular palmatum, but the internodes are short. The spring green of this cultivar blows my mind, and fall color is a wonderful patchwork.

I've attached a picture of the leaves so that others can see the growth habit.

Best regards,
Carl

Attached Images

2004_04_leaves_smaller.jpg (45.5 KB, 244 views)

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D3rutat

i will post a photo of the tree this weekend i think bcos i am kinda busy with my exams this week. Thanx a lot Carl

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TreeBay

With dwarf cultivars like this, the usual "problem" of trying to get backbudding is reversed, and you have to work instead to thin some of the congestion - otherwise you'll have too many twigs and ultimately, branches, at one point which makes the growth coarse.

Carl's right about the brittle character of the branches. They snap like carrots so there is a lot of clip & grow.

Bonsaicam #2 was a Shishigashira repot
http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthr...=&threadid=5809

Regards,

Matt

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jeremy_norbury

I totally agree. I bought one last year and found it to be exactly as you described. You just have to brush past the damn thing and branches break off left and right.

Give me a Larch anyday.

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painted_treeman

hi ,yes this cultivar is very interesting.
Here is a project Ive been working on for the last two years .

A twin trunk that I chopped last year from a tree nearly 7ft tall

Hight now 28inches,
I am trying to get a real good bell shaped crown now ,should be easy with its tight gowth habbit .
However I have noticed that it seems very slow growing and it seems to grow in spurts then have long dormant periods.
It will take a long ,long, time to grow a good branch structure but worth it ,have you ever seen one with a trunk 6 inches across at the base and a root flare like this one ....... can I now get the canopy to flare out wide to compliment that trunk .??
only time will tell.
good luck with yours <i think they are a very underrated species/

Attached Images

acer shic.jpg (66.1 KB, 128 views)

painted_treeman

here is a pic of the base of trunk ,yes it has a shari of sorts but that wasent me ,it was there when I got it ........I like it though

Attached Images

acer shic flare.jpg (46.2 KB, 125 views)

Carl_Bergstrom

Treeman,

Sorry to bear bad news, but my personal feeling is that the scar on the front is a defect that you are unlikely to be able to overcome. You don't see deciduous trees with serious shari per se; the ones you do see are typically hollowed out to have that old-rotton-oak look, and those can be difficult to deal with to say the least.

What happens if you turn the tree around and use the other side for the front?

-Carl

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painted_treeman

Thanks carl.

Yes i could use the back ,however it has a rather a large scar half way up and another at the top where I chopped it .
Its all swings and roundabouts in thiswonderfull pastime,how many times do we compramise with a trees design?
I remember when i bought the tree from a normal garden centre that It was real shame about that ugly scar. You cant have it all I supose.
Thanks for that advice though ,I will cetainly bear that in mind with its development,
Colin