7 years work on a acer palmatum obtained from a garden center

thanks for sharing some glimpses of the pond. nice size on your Koi. Am thoroughly enjoying this thread

THX Dick..

Most of the koi are over 10 years young.
most are abouth 60cm but some are over 70cm..

Another hobby that combines bonsai and japanese inspired garden..

hy, good progression for me,

may be you could try to play with the potting angle, bring it more straight up, and keep going doing the branches.. maybe by letting on the top right of the tree a branch getting strong, you make more balance.

but you may know in fotos it's impossible to get a real view of the possibilities (maybe i should wright "almost"impossible) maybe bring it at bauwens's and have a look with him.

for me one of problems on foto seems to be the trunk coming and turning in the front.

you can also try to SLIGHTLY work your tree (no major change i mean) on an other view, so you keep improving every side of it and when you comme back on your original front you have further possibilities (and perhaps more problems i agree..hihihi)

regards

kohaku wrote:Ok yves. thx for your opinion.

Problem is i don't want to chop the tree as low as you describe...don't want to lose those years and want to think abouth other options to improve this tree....Every drastic chop brings also a risk of die back on the trunk of an acer palmatum even when there are branches at top and bottem of the wounds.

Today i made some pics of slightly different angles....maybe i can improve the tree a little bij rotating it a little ?
I'll also ad some pics from the healing wound (first chop)

I also could not resist to lower the top a little today

Well, offcourse you have the right to decide what you do with your tree; the issue of losing some years again i mentioned too so if you would rather not choose that, thats fine with me.
About the dieback, well i dont know about that high a risk ;-) its more about carving/cutting good and about the proper aftercare (and winter protection), and lets face it, the tree certainly looks healthey enough and has enough strong branching there.

about the angle, yes the balance is better if the tree is leaning more to the right! BUT i would not do that because virtually it then looks like the weight balance is totally wrong then and like the tree will fall down. Also it does not match the pot anymore then. So i would then leave it as it is, maybe only look if you can balance it more by turning it clockwise or counterclockwise, whaterver looks best.

Have fun developing it further

THX yves

Changes the angle of the tree to the right side would sure not be an improvement...as you say this would be an unstable look.

I think turning it a little bit counterclockwise, like you can see on the last pics , would improve it a little.

Looking at the tree, here at home gives another impression as looking at it on the pics (i'm not a good photographer). I can't seem to get the tree on pic's as it really is

I didn't say there's a high risk for chopping this , but a risk is always present...i don't think the risk is worth it.

Do you have bonsai maples? If so i really would like to see them...( can't find any on the blogsite)


thx for the reply's

kohaku wrote:THX yves

Changes the angle of the tree to the right side would sure not be an improvement...as you say this would be an unstable look.

I think turning it a little bit counterclockwise, like you can see on the last pics , would improve it a little.

Looking at the tree, here at home gives another impression as looking at it on the pics (i'm not a good photographer). I can't seem to get the tree on pic's as it really is

I didn't say there's a high risk for chopping this , but a risk is always present...i don't think the risk is worth it.

Do you have bonsai maples? If so i really would like to see them...( can't find any on the blogsite)


thx for the reply's

currently only working on a quite small Acer Campestre, its posted here in a topic in 'discussion', i must look for it, its been a week or 2 i think. Its developing, i almost totally rebuilt it except i had a start with a little bit of trunk but then i replanted it in full ground, and the branches are now starting up. Still in training pot.

I probably will have a bit heaver raw material in a few weeks, and if i have good fortune (depending on others) i maybe will have older stumps from yamadori (forest or nature).

In the past i had 2 (jap)maples, but they were owned by my father, so i only styled em, left them to him when I moved house, and that is long ago, no pictures and my folks dont live near. He also did not care for em all these years, like I used to do sadly. The size and quality was similar to your tree.

But you dont need a Kokufu Ten tree to give advice do you ;-)

ps: search on my blog 'veldesdoorn', and look here in the topics

oh, here you go

https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t11784-little-acer-campestre-goes-nuts?highlight=acer+campestre

kohaku wrote:

IMHO you should wait. Open the callous tissue on this wound, put some cut paste (if you want to) and give the area above and around this wound complete free reign next year. Personally, I would try to close this wound completely first.

I like this angle, but maybe planted a bit more upright while still leaning slightly to the right. I can't do virtuals, sorry.

You've done a great job, though. You've got some healthy interior buds you can cut back to anytime you wish. Look for a post from me here shortly (maybe this weekend) on a clump maple I recently picked up. Keep us posted.

Have a great weekend!!!
Sam

Hi Sam, thx for the reply

In the past i cut a few times with a knife at the inside callous of the wound (where it touches the wood)..can i do it on another way instead of using a knife?
I'll sure watch the posting you'll make...

I made the virtual for you....the left one is a little more upright compared to the original tree on the right.
Better?? more upright could give some troubble with the nebari i think.

Hello, the second position is better, but the head off the tree is on the back side, virtual possibility.
I Understand That is very difficulty to cut a branch that we put a lot of time to create, but the growth of the new head will help the healing of the big wound [img][/img]

I prefer the virtual with the tree slightly more upright, as it appeared in previous images. Great tree and thread!

Very nice find 7 yrs ago.

And wonderful work on it.

I would plant it more upright and lower the top too.