Giant Japanese maple project

nice

Hey Kohaku, can I ask why you put the zip ties and those tiny wooden pieces on the tree?
I like it much, nice tree!

The zip ties and wooden pieces hold the graftings on place..... with this method they can't move and will grow together with the trunk very well.

Ahh, now I see, thanks!

Spring 2017  unchecked growt to thicken the branches

Coming nice. Very strong potential

Boy'o....that's really time warping!! It's really starting to look sensational......

Not quite Greg van Avermaet great, but he didn't start out "fully developed"


Really nicely done and a very good job of continuing forwards with a vision. Some real nice horticulture.

Very impressive...

Very nice tree, looking forward to seeing it when the branches grow to be of an appropriate proportion to the trunk, it will look even better.

Thx for your Nice comments.

beautiful...

at this point do you expect the newly placed branches to eventually thicken to be in proportion to the trunk ?
i have heard this can be difficult with maples... ?

do you regret not keeping some of the initial branches to which you could have approach grafted side branches etc ?

Kevin,

At this point ....a small rootsystem has to devolep on the heavy wooden parts under the soil surface wich i worked on with a chainsaw last year before i planted it in the undeep pot. (also treated this parts with hormone powder and spaghnum )



The way to to this is let it grow without cutting the long branches for a while so the tree can become stronger and the base of the sidebranches will thicken as wel.

One of the following years i'll have to cut back deep on the branches before start refining the whole thing.

First 2 steps are done....
1-.the trunk (and believe me there is a trunk ;-))
2- .placing side branches.
Next steps
3- devolep of a better rootsystem and thicken the branches.
4- refine the whole thing and make it a nice bonsai some day...


The thickening of side branches takes some time.....but we know for sure....they wil thicken.
Why should it be more difficult with a J. maple?

Never regret cutting the big branches....they had to go  :-)

In my opinion...the existing side branches that i cut after digging up were not usefull in the tree that i have in mind. The placement was not good for my vision, branches were to thick and only 2 could could stay when i wanted. (wich i think they will never could be a part of the future tree as i see it)

As we all know.....bonsai takes  time .......but is worth every minute  ;-)

Magnificent tree and a really interesting progression thread (not least because I also have a very large Japanese Maple recently collected) but I have one question.

Why transfer it into such a small/shallow pot at this stage in development?

Surely this will restrict the root growth and in turn limit the vigour of the tree. Wouldn't a more generously sized pot increase the growth rate and speed up the development of the primary branches?

Regards

Richard

thanks for the further info on your plan and vision...
i have only heard from a maple grower that they can be difficult to thicken,
but perhaps by "difficult" he only meant it takes longer than some species... ?

regardless, your plan looks like it is solidly taking shape.

Richard,

First of all...the tree looks better in a small pot        

I know....normally they plant a tree like this in a very large  wooden box or pot...or back into the garden for some years.


I don't....backyard time is over for this fellow. (could do his thing there for more then 20 years   )


My experience with the oversized pots is that even after 3 years the roots don't fill the whole pot. (they grow long arround the side walls of it  but don't fill the soil in the middle)
Some roots devolep very strong and others weak and when planted in the large pots i think repotting the A.Palm. is not necessary for a year or 4  to see the benefits of this large pots.


4 years is to long to leave the tree in akadama (wich i always use) because this soil can fall apart in smaller pieces when its freezing in winter and the maple can suffer the tight soil.

I think it's better to repot every 2 or 3 years to refresh the soil and correct the roots in time. (eliminate the stong roots) instead of a longer period in a large pot.

After all the used pot is not so small..as it looks on the pic..roots have plenty of space for the next 2 years.
Also the undeep pot restricts roots from growing downwards and roots will spread arround the base.


Its only my opinion.....maybe slower but will make nice roots.
Good feeding and root refining gives (if you ask me) very good results.....also in a smaller pot.

I'm very interested to see your maple Richard....do you have some pics?

grtz

Thanks for the explanation. It may not be conventional wisdom but I understand your point. Good luck and thanks for keeping us updated on progress.

Regarding my tree, here is a photo of it's collection (last autumn).



The tree was reduced somewhat more after collection and is now in a large container. I have left it rather tall because I hope to air-layer the two sub trunks before finally reducing the remainder to a single trunk line at some point in the future.

Regards

Richard

Nice tree,

Looks like the leaves are quit tall...is it osakazuki?

MaYbe it was better to first airlayer the 2 trunks before collecting. But i'm quit shore it will work in the pot to (I also did it with a Koto no ito maple)

Succes and keep updating.

A very powerful looking maple with good movement and balance. like that a lot

Shows a good work. Is gonna be outstanding tree. Thanks for sharing

Impressive.

Have you noticed any difference of a success rate of approach grafts  based on their direction ie parallel or penpendicular to the axis of live veins?

Most succesfull graftings are those that are drlled trough the trunk or trough a part of the trunk...they seem to always fuse easy.

The approuch graftings were you first cut a piece out of the trunk with a knife are more difficult because the risk of accidental touching the grafts is always there.
I also think they take a longer time to fuse together then the drilled ones.
On this maple i grafted a few at the edges of the healing wounds were the sapstream is high....they fused very well.
I don't know if the direction of the approuch grafts gives different results...

So .... try to drill them ;-)

Thank you, Kohaku.

I do prefer the thread grafts.

Excellent! Some serious bondage work here! BRAVO!

Wow that's a beauty.

Have you tried gently exposing the cambium around the inner ring of the trunk scar? If it is scraped until you see about 1-2mm of green I wonder if it might keep rolling and cover the scar?