japanese maple i want to train into a bonsai

in next spring i'm going to trimm this tree (it's a japenese maple). i want to train it into a (small) bonsai. where should i cut it? any other advice?

is that one of those aquatic plant baskets?

asuc wrote:in next spring i'm going to trimm this tree (it's a japenese maple). i want to train it into a (small) bonsai. where should i cut it? any other advice?

You ask a very broad question. Stating up front that you're going to trim the tree next spring indicates you may be getting ahead of yourself. If you cut the tree to one of the two lowest shoots emerging from near the base of the trunk, then you're left with a stick in a pot. Your next step would be to allow the tree to grow untrimmed for some time, in order to build trunk size, and repeat the process of grow and chop for perhaps a couple more years. Then you'd have a trunk base to begin the actual work of developing branch structure. If you choose this path, your pot size is too small so it would benefit you to either plant in the ground or in a much larger nursery pot for development.

You can develop something presentable in three or four years, but you don't yet have enough to work with.

Good luck with your project!

Zach

I can't tell from the uh angle of the photo but this looks like it could be grafted onto different rootstock.
With this planting angle it looks like you are shooting for cascade style.

Well i dont want it to grow big. I wanr small bonsai. So it i cut it above first two brancher will it die?

asuc, what Zach means is that to get a bonsai to have a good image - for most of us that means it looks like an old tree - you need a thick trunk. It doesn't matter what height you want your eventual tree to be - you need a thicker trunk than the one you currently have.

The way you get a thick trunk is to grow the tree in the open ground or an outsize pot so that it can put on its annual growth. Remember every year trees grow out the way (what we call annual rings) as well as up. It is this outward growth that makes the tree "thicken" up to give the impression of an older tree. This takes time. If you go ahead with too much now, all you will get is a skinny tree.

Then you can start thinking about reducing to final height and styling, although as Zach says, you can do a little bit of pruning as you go along the process of thickening the trunk.


Sorry if that sounded condescending.

Thanks, i understand what you meant to tell me. Well i now the trunk has to be thick and tree has to look like old tree, but i'd like to have small, skinny one. So where do i cut it?

asuc wrote:Thanks, i understand what you meant to tell me. Well i now the trunk has to be thick and tree has to look like old tree, but i'd like to have small, skinny one. So where do i cut it?

Cut to one of the two lowest shoots, then work to develop sufficient budding so that you have a set of branches to wire into position. Most trees, maples included, will extend their shoots as they work to get taller and bigger, and these shoots can often grow so fast that the distance between the sets of leaves makes them unsuited to bonsai training. The internodal length is too big. So you'll need to pinch out the growing tips to prevent this from happening, then wait for new buds to emerge from the leaf axils and repeat that process. While you're doing this development work, keep the tree in its nursery container. In year two, you may be able to go to a bonsai pot. J. maples grow slower than some other species, so you may have to wait a couple of years for this. So in a few years you should have a presentable small, skinny bonsai.

Zach

So i cut it abowe lowest two branches?

asuc wrote:So i cut it abowe lowest two branches?

Yes. You can keep both and wire one as a branch while allowing the other to serve as your new leader.

Thanks for help.