Acer Deshojo

since this summer i have this Acer Deshoyo in training


after pruning


fall colour


next spring he'll go into a larger pot to train the base of the tree

i'm also considdering grafting a new branch into the gap on the center left..
in the lower right side i have a long pulling branch i can use for that

does anyone have any experience with grafting by drilling a hole?
when will the best be carried out? can this be done now, now that the tree has lost it's leafs? or is it best to wait until spring/summer when there's max growth?

Dear Cronic

I'm always envious when I see maples with autumn colour. They just don't do good here, always look burned from the heat. The only one that I can grow is the trident maple. But even trident look terrible in late summer...February.

Seeing that you are not going to cut the grafted branch, I'm sure that it will be OK to do it now already, so when summer hits you are already half way. But it would be better with maximum sap flow, which is summer.

I do think that from the first bend in the trunk to the top, it is to straight. What about bending the trunk some more?

Love and light

Lovely colour and lice base, but for the me the top section is far too straight and no taper. I would cut it back to at least 1/2 of the way up; that section and then regrowing a new apex.

Ken

I agree that it would be a good idea to cut the top back dramatically. Perhaps even so the top straight portion is shorter than the middle section that moves to the left.

I have had good luck with thread grafts on maples done in early spring. Drill the hole just larger than the last buds you will insert through the hole. Carefully wrap the buds with cellophane (scotch) tape to protect them when you insert them in the hole and form a taper down to the main stem. You normally want the last buds that go through the hole to be horizontal. Peg the thread graft in the hole along the top surface so it is pressed against the bottom of the hole. Seal both ends of the hole. Remove the tape after everything is sealed up. Allow the the new branch to grow freely. It will generally take 1 to 2 growing seasons for the thread graft to bond. If the outlet hole is no longer visible and the outlet stem is much larger in diameter than the inlet stem it has probably fused and you can start to cut off the inlet stem - 1/2 of the diameter and then the rest of it a month or two later if the outlet continues to thrive.

If it was my tree : i cut here and i build a new tree with beautifull curves on the trunk
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thanks for the input guys

for now i'm leaving it as it is.. i'm taking this tree to Danny Use for a workshop next spring where we will do the thread graft and repot into a bigger pot and discuss the future of the tree so we can make a maximum out of it (style, size, root-grafting,...)

just need to protect it a bit since it's starting to freeze here at night and i want this to survive..

abcd wrote:If it was my tree : i cut here and i build a new tree with beautifull curves on the trunk
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ok, i'm going for this

but.. when is the best time to do this?

also: will the tree create new growth on the lower/older part of the trunk where the bark is different/older?
otherwise i'll have to graft all the new branches...
maybe grafting all the branches is the best way to go since that way i have controll over the placement and certitude of the new branches, no?

Late winter is when I do my heavy cuts and root work on Deciduous trees.

Cutting back hard will encourage adventitious buds to shoot down low, just whether they will be in the correct places or not is the mystery. Wait untill you get buds and if tey are useful then keep them. or lease graft in new branches where you need in Spring when the new grath is taking off.

Ken

Hi Andre

It is a little cooler here in Cape Town granted but I have had no leaf burn on my maples (trident or Japanese), for the last couple of years since I started an additional daily watering at midday - and they see about 80% full-sun.

Give it a try.

Instead of chopping on the line, rather air layer it there and make two trees...  

Justin Hervey wrote:Hi Andre

It is a little cooler here in Cape Town granted but I have had no leaf burn on my maples (trident or Japanese), for the last couple of years since I started an additional daily watering at midday - and they see about 80% full-sun.

Give it a try.

You probably live behind the mountain, in Newlands or Bishops Court, Constantia?

Maybe I should say, Here in the Swartland. Which you are right, is very different from Cape Town. You lucky bastard for being able to grow maples. It would be interesting to know how good Maples are doing in Gauteng. Lennard are you listening? Im sure Neli in Zambia will have no problem, shes almost tropical

I do water twice daily in summer.

Cronic looking forward with you update after you Spring workshop. But you still have to wait a while, cause Im gonna hold onto summer a little longer. hihihihi

Love and light

I would perform the trunk chop in June or July after the spring growth. Your climate is similar to the U.K. and maples will bleed heavily from large cuts made in late winter or spring. Discuss this with Danny Use at your spring workshop.
Regards,
Andy.

bit of an update

winter 2014-2015 i did a thread graft
here's the tree in spring 2015


als the top has been shortened and the graft had taken very fast (summer 2015)


2 shoots have been left to grow in order to graft branches during winter 2016


next step will be to shorten the tree even more, about the height that was suggested in previous replies