A. palmatum deshojo

Hello all!!

This is my first (seriuos) try on making a bonsai. The tree was bought last year in August (and i think it is above 5 years old). I show you some pictures:



August 2008




October 2008



November 2008



March 2009 (after pruning and repotting - after that i cutted the branchs to above half the size shown in the picture, and i'm thinking in to go up the soil and cover the roots)

So, what do you think? Should i let the tree rest and grow up the rest of the year ou should i do metsumi as soon as it show activity and foliage??

P.S.: sorry my poor english (not my native language , hope you be ok with that)

An update of the central trunk:







The trunk now have 31 mm of diameter (in march it had only 20 mm). Some new branches appeared at the bottom and the "future kabudashi" starts to get form. It don't have yet the Autumn's clothes but it will get it soon since the temperatures are falling to less than 20 ºC.

Bye...

Looks like the base is fattening up nicely. Probably due to the low branches. The roots in the earlier picture dont look very good at all. Maybe if you put on an air layer around the top of the roots next spring, and then let it grow wild for 3 months, you might get a better root spread. I say 3 months as ive done that in England and youve much better growing conditions in Portugal.

New update:









So waht now? Another year of free growth? One of the big fat branches is curving into the others surrouding him. Should i let it grow or cut it?

Thanx

Looks to me like you have a few spots where you have several branches coming out of the same place. What I would do is cut those out so you only have 1 branch so you can avoid reverse taper. After that let it grow out again.

It looks like you are trying to ground layer the tree or that just might be you trying to cover up the roots in which case you might want to try a ground layer. I'd cut back on the big leaders to let the smaller braches below them get stronger. Brent Watson said to take care of the trunk development before the top so unless you are fine with the trunk size now, you dont have to necessary remove any of the leader, just make sure the smaller braches on the bottom are not being suck dried of nutrients.

hi!

I'm thinking in reducing the two fat branches to anchieve two goals: initiate some coning in these branches and to give some more nutrition to the lower branches. What do you think??

this is what i'm thinking:

well.... it's xmas time .... just some help here... cut or don't cut??

I would say not yet. You could cut back all the longer whippy growths, to the first pair of buds. Cutting larger trunks is better done just as it is repotted in spring.

but what about the line of the cut?

The line is more difficult without a true 3D view of the tree. I think it needs to be cut back to the main trunk with some taper, but perhaps not a secondary trunk too high up.

First of all, you have to reduce the tree to one trunk. As it is, it's a big mess. Judging from your photos, you can either go for the fairly straight extension on the right, or the more abrupt change in direction of the extension on the left. In that case, you would have to change the angle of planting a little to the right

I would probably opt for the left extension, it seems to offer better opportunities for future budding.

reduce to one trunk

but i want to create something like this:

http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/images/maples/e010_acer_palmatum.jpg

so... reduce or not reduce to make something like this??

Walter may chime in, (that's his tree) but I'd guess that you'd need at least 20 years to create a bonsai like that out of the material that you are starting with. Ten years skilfully thickening it in the ground, with regular attention to point it in the direction you are aiming at, and then another ten of refinement in a pot.

Though your ambitions are admirable, asking us how to create a masterpiece out of a bit of nursery stock is a tall order. You should spend a few years reading up and practising the skills required.

Your efforts with this one should be directed at learning and aiming at a much smaller "finished" tree. I would certainly reduce to one or two trunks, later, but for now it just needs a basic haircut!

If you want a tree like Walter's, you should do what Walter did: buy one. [img]https://2img.net/i/fa/i/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Hello everybody!

So almost one years has passed and here I am to show you the grow of these tree during these year. It seems to me that the trunck is getting very good. However the branches are getting a real messy. I'm planning to cut all the big branches and let only one branch per spot in a total of a 5/6 branches.

Some pictures:

















So what do you think? If the tree were yours would you do another kind of work?

Thanx

Hi!!

I decided to cut most of its branchs. Now I hope it react well.







What do you think??

Thanx...

Hi capo regime, first I don't live in your country, so I don't know your climate at all or what season you are in.
Second I have only read your posts today, after all this time I hope you have joined a club in or near your area, professionals in Bonsai face to face can help more than anyone on an internet forum.
Now I've said that, if that is the trunk you want and it is the correct season I would cut all branches right back to the trunk, and use a cut paste straight away.
Then you must let it grow again for a couple more seasons to get the correct branch thickness, but put some movement in the branches using wire, not that far-out system you had with twine and a rock in your first picture.
That's my 2bobs worth.

Best of luck, Mick.

Hello all!

Just want to actualize this project...

Because I was a bit dissapointed with this project I decided to cut all of its branches and only keep the trunk. The remaining trunk has many imperfections like nodules but maybe I could correct them by creating some uros, what do you think?

For know I will let it grow freely for the next year...







Have a nice new year

that was brave !

now you have a better start for the clump design, choose 5 trunks and train them up from an early age when they are thin. Always remove all other buds from the base. If you hollow the large cuts a small amount and let the 5 trunks grow tall the cuts will heal over.

Let the 5 trunks grow to about 1 meter then prune down to about 15 cm, do this a few times ant the 5 trunks will get taller and also taper, it will be lots of work but a tree to be proud of eventually

cheers Marcus

Hello capo_regime,

I am only now starting to learn techniques of growing bonsai and I do not have any advice on your tree but recently I bought a book which I think you will benefit from. The book is "Bonsai with Japanese maples" by Peter Adams. This book gives many examples of different ways of cultivating these maples into beautiful bonsai. It costs on ebay something similar to one small nursery maple but is valuable more than that with its advice. You can scan the book with OCR and get the text then use a translator on the internet to get it into your language if you do not get some words. If you understand all the words please forgive me for assuming. Thank you.

Attwass

attwass wrote:
"Bonsai with Japanese maples" by Peter Adams.

That book changed the way I grow Bonsai.
-Jay