Red Maple advice

isospin

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum (and to bonsai) and could use some advice in planning the future of my first real tree.

I recently bought the Acer Rubrum shown below from a local bonsai nursery. Sorry about all of the clutter included in the photo! I hope to style the tree as a formal upright and plan to wait for a 2-2.5" trunk before transitioning to a bonsai pot. The trunk currently measures 1" at the base and tapers to 0.5" at branch B. Branch A begins 5" from the base of the trunk and B starts about 4" above A. I'd appreciate some guidance on the following:

1) I'm thinking of removing branch C and using B as the apex, ala Will Heath's "Trunk Chop Thoughts" thread. It seems this technique could provide for nice gradual taper, avoiding the curve that would be introduced by a flat chop. I haven't seen any posts regarding the result of Will's experiments. Any news?

2) My impression is that Branch A is well positioned with respect to the base and I'd like to keep it. Should I begin pruning it this spring to keep it from growing much thicker?

I am very much open to suggestions. Please let me know if you feel a different design or approach would better suit the tree.

Thanks,
kristian

Attached Images

acer-rubrum.jpg (43.1 KB, 124 views)

Advertisement

spoonman

im a bit of a noob, but id say cut off the entire c branch, and let it grow.

__________________
"Little laurel trees, your roots can find
No mountain, yet your leaves extend
Beyond your own world into mine
Perennial wands, unfolding in my thought
The budding evergreen of time."
-Kathleen Raine, The Trees in Tubs

Adam_MA

First off I would say if you want to double the size of the trunk on this tree you will need to do one of the following.
A. Plant the tree in the ground for a couple of years.
B. Plant the tree in a MUCH larger container.
Both of the above should only be done at the appropriate time for your climate. You are in the same zone as me with similar weather conditions, so that would be early spring just before bud break.
Now some personal thoughts.... I don't really feel that a formal upright will suit a maple very well, and you may want to start thinking about building your trunk with a series of trunk chops (again beginning at the appropriate time for your climate) and this tree could make a nice informal upright some day. If you don't want to start chopping the trunk, and start a 10 or so year project, you could think about a broom style that would suit the very straight trunk you already have well.

Just my .02
Adam

FredL

Hi Kristian,

Well, I second (or 3rd or 4th - whatever it is by now) the advice that formal upright is probably just not going to work for a Red Maple. And, for Maples generally, straight lengths of trunk, rather than having the whole trunk curvy (given "movement") is always going to detract seriously from the beauty or impact of the tree. Bad news, indeed, for this tree!

But, there is good news, too! With Maples, from what I've seen, mighty fine trees can be developed with trunks of much smaller girth than with many other sorts of trees. So, growing this tree out to respectable size should not take the decades that are pretty much required for, say, a pine. OK, I'm exaggerating.

But, not much.

Anyway, call me a fool, but I think the time developing the current trunk has been pretty much misspent and I'd take this tree WAY back, probably back to a couple of inches AND, I'd keep the little sprout at the base, thinking that it MIGHT actually become the main trunk at some point. I would then work with whatever emerges, introducing curves throughout the length of the main trunk as it develops. I'd develop it by alternating it between a growbed and a large pot or a growbox for the next 4 to 6 years. Attila says one year in the growbox; two in the growbed, which just shows Attila doesn't know everything after all. The RIGHT way to do it, at least the first two or three years is one year at a time for each (Just kidding; Attila's a pretty smart fella and the "right" way to do it is to pay attention to how the tree is growing and decide what to do by how it's responding.). At that point, I'd see what I had and determine whether it was ready for initial styling or whether it needed more time to develop the trunk and nebari.

Now, do I know whatI'm talking about?

Absolutely no! Remember, it is YOUR tree and you are its caretaker and absolutely responsible for every decision that affects its well being. I'm just furnishing some thoughts that you must weigh against what makes sense to YOU before you take any action!

Best regards, Fred

isospin

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice!

Re: growing. I agree. I was planning on repotting this spring to a 1 or 5 gallon container since I only have a 2ft. wide balcony to grow on.

Re: styling. I think I may have misclassfied the style I wanted for the tree. I really like the shape of a particular palmatum in Reiner Goebel's online gallery (here's the link: www.rgbonsai.com/katsurasequ1.htm). It didn't look like a broom to me and the trunk seemed too straight to be an informal upright. How would you classify the style?

Fred, thanks for the honest comments! What about the trunk bothers you? Is it the lack of "movement"? Why are straight trunks always bad for maples?

-- kristian

FredL

Kristian, please take a look at the "Autumn Maple" thread. I'm going to post my reply there.

Fred

FredL

Kristian, let me make one other comment that I didn't make on the other thread.

From what I have seen in order to work, a tree should be soft and curvey or stark and jagged, with straight segments of trunk and jagged, angular changes of direction and branches. Combining these two "looks" in the same tree does not work well. Most all of the Maples I've seen (until lately!) generally seem to have the first "look"; fruit trees generally have the second.

That was why I was suggesting taking the tree WAY back. A straight lower trunk would not go well with lots of movement higher up.

Fred

Will_Heath

isospin,

Good luck.

I have performed a couple trunk chops as I described in the thread you mentioned. Everything has worked perfectly so far. I will be posting pics this spring when I take the wrapping off. As I expected, I have no bent or curved trunk at the chop point and the tree responded quite well.

I have ten other trees marked for this technique, I will do these this spring before bud break and keep you posted.

I also have not seen many maples in the formal upright style, however straight trunks are not always a bad thing, a lot depends on how it is presented.

Will Heath