Acer Palmatum "Deshojo" suggestions/comments

Aaron_K

LOL poor Tucker!!

You need to get creative. Ask the seller to label the box "Car Parts" or something similar.. she'll never suspect

Carl, that article looks really good in issue number 39. I'm definately on the look out for it!

All the best,

Aaron

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tuckerg

you should off seen me try and sneak this in

Attached Images

maplepine 013.jpg (71.2 KB, 213 views)

ROBOKU

Thats a prety awsome trunk
Very hard to find trees like that in australia

Cheers

Rob

Aaron_K

Hi all,

Just a quick update with some pictures of the maple now that it is out of leaf. I'm still not 100% on which side will be the front, but here they are anyway. Comments, suggestion and critiques all welcomed and appreciated.

All the best,

Aaron

Attached Images

	front2.jpg (69.3 KB, 164 views)
	Above.jpg (71.5 KB, 59 views)
	rear.jpg (67.7 KB, 139 views)
	Rear-apex.jpg (69.7 KB, 88 views)

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mistermoyogi

Very nice find, Aaron...good luck with it and keep us in the loop.

Regards,
Tom Simonyi

rockm

Looks like you have some bar branches. You should probably get rid of some of them, especially one near the apex. Leaving two parallel branches up there will create an ugly swelling.

There are some others further down, but it's hard to tell if it's the angle of the photo.

shibu

What we wouldn't give, in Australia... quarantine laws mean that importing trees from Japan/China/elsewhere is impossible. Hell, Customs even killed 20 trees that were a gift from the Chinese government to the Australian people, in 1988, for our bicentenary.

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John Dixon

30817 seems to be the better front (due to the lean of the tree), although the base can be improved. I suspect you will have a decent nebari just under the soil that will need to be raised above the soil line. It flares nicely, but is sort of an oak buttress with no visible rootage. The exposed roots (meaning raised to soil level) will greatly increase the visual impact of the nebari.

I highly recommend you "flatten" the apex. It looks like it will be somewhat pointy and could benefit from some rounding off. Instead of having one leader going straight up as an apex, consider using two or more at slight angles away from one another. This flattens and broadens the crown...much more convincing on a maple. A couple of branches need to be removed as they look like "un-necessary bar branching". I say unnecessary because I am convinced that Walter Pall is correct in teaching bar branching is not a 100% no-no. Sometimes it is the best way, but on this specific tree there are plenty of branches available in good positions, so bar branching can be avoided. Whenever you decide on a front, I do believe you need to induce some budding on the back for future branches. It is a little lacking in that regard for now.

If you cut back too early in winter, you will likely experience some twig die back. In my area, I have come to expect die-back to at least two sets of buds on the twig when I trim back in early winter. When I wait until February, I usually have little or no die-back. This is in a cold frame with my area's climate. Don't be afraid to shorten branches considerably, since I feel that forking nearer the trunkline is much more visually pleasing than a long single branch.

A trick I have learned with palmatums is how to let the wire ever so slightly scar the branch. It's tricky and a risk, but a slight scar helps the (gray) bark to form, instead of that juvenile looking green color. Watch it very carefully if you attempt it. I do believe you need to wire the branching down a tad near the bottom and as you go up, make the middle branches close to horizontal, and the upper branching slightly upright. This translates to age definition in the tree and I think is especially convincing in bonsai. My deshojo respond wonderfully to summer defoliation. I would highly recommend that as well. Since you are not going to be attempting MAJOR changes on this material, this spring when the buds swell, I would at least lift it from the pot and check out the roots. Have another pot available if you wish to change it, and re-pot if it needs it. If not, just replace it in the pot and let it grow for another year. I do not think it needs a growing container. This material is ready for a finished pot and ramification work.

I'm sure you know a lot of that, but I thought I'd share it nonetheless. It looks like very good material with excellent possibilities. As far as age - although a complete guess - I suspect this material was grown in the ground to fatten the trunk like that. I would figure it to be roughly the same age as the other bonsai you mentioned, maybe even a little younger.

Good luck with it.

Warmest regards,

John

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John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

TimZ8

Awesome tree! I would love to own a deshojo even half that size. Great find!