Japanese Maple

krunch

You do not choose what the tree will look like, the tree chooses.

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ripsgreentree

Crunch: Your comment is only correct in that trees have characteristics that we will work within, but the artist shapes the tree. The tree does not shape the artist.

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

krunch

Each tree gives something back to you, therefore it is shaping you.

ripsgreentree

Krunch: If you mean that bonsai makes me crazy, then I will give you that point. To explain, Bonsai is how I make my living. But not in the normal ways that you would think. I do not sell or teach, which is the normal ways that a person tries to gain an income from bonsai. I am a caretaker. I have my trees that I care for, and then I have my boss's trees. His collection is huge.

So I do bonsai 24-7 with barely time out for church. The commercial buy-and-die, or a cutting in a pot, makes me feel way to cheap: a prostituting of the art of bonsai for money. On your end is bonsai for pure art's sake. If You are dealing with one to twenty trees, you can be a purist. In my case, I am dealing with thousands of trees. None of the trees in my care will ever reach its artistic zenith and be best of the show. But many of the trees in my care will be taken by a artist like yourself and attain that zenith because of the foundation that we give each tree that we own.

This will help you to understand where I am coming from. I try to achieve a measure of balance between being a prostitute or a purist.

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

GraemeK

Hi,

I agree with the other posts relating to growing it in the ground for a few years to thicken the trunk. also consider growing the lower branches to form a triangular appearance...rather than a box on a stick like it appears at present.

but yeah the trees got potential.

Graeme...

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Reiner_Goebel

I agree that the maple has a certain charm, and I would not return it to the ground to fatten up the trunk. I would prune the top a little harder to let the bottom grow out. I think the pot is not quite wide enough, and could be not quite as deep. I think a wider and shallower pot would visually be a better match for the slender trunk. Also, I think the stand should be wider and not the same height as the pot. Maybe it isn't, but it sort of looks like it is on the picture.

I like growing my trees in pots. To return this tree to the ground for three or four years would ruin all the fine branching. A fat trunk isn't everything. However, if this tree was not as developed as it is, I might think differently.

Here is a maple of mine (A. palmatum 'Katsura'), that I bought as a cutting (about 5 years old at the time) in 1980 and have grown in a bonsai pot ever since. It is now about 80 cm tall with a trunk 8 cm wide at the base.

Reiner

Reiner_Goebel

And here is what the tree looked like about 17, 18 years ago.

Reiner

shaun22

I think it's beautiful.

kind regards,
shaun22

Bob_O

Hi guys, I am in agreement with Matt & Reiner on this tree. This tree is beautiful but does need some refinement in the canopy shape. It is growing as a natural maple, with the charicteristic upswept branches, and just needs to be more rounded.
If it was grown in a sharp triangle, with branches at right angles to the trunk it would not carry such a graceful & natural appearance. IMHO

Bob O