Acer Palmatum, what to do with it?

Hey Guys.
I bought this Acer at a local garden centre. Here in Holland it really is worthwhile to go browsing once in a while in the garden centres. With a bit of luck you'll find something that wil cost at least double at a bonsai nursery. I liked this one immediately because of the "big tree" feel it had. Problem is that the branch structure is far from bonsai ready, and if I cut out branches there will be little left of it. It's such a shame the first two branches grow from the same point like that. I couldn't resist it anyways.


I cut out some big old leaves and cut back all the spring growth to the first internode for some ramification. For now I think I'll let it grow and defoliate halfway the summer to see how the leaves reduce.

What would you do with it?

hi,

I would build the tree from the bottom up to turn if from garden material into bonsai - i'd chop off all the trunk above the pair of level branches, slant the trunk a little and use one of those branches as new leader and one as the first branch. This gets rid of the 'problem' level bar branches, gets rid of the long section of trunk with no taper and will give you the pleasure of truely making the bonsai and getting the branches in the right places. In the long term you will have a much better tree than just wiring or pruning everything you have on this material atm.

But my advice is for a patient person i guess , so the choice is entirely yours

cheers Marcus

marcus watts wrote:I would build the tree from the bottom up to turn if from garden material into bonsai - i'd chop off all the trunk above the pair of level branches, slant the trunk a little and use one of those branches as new leader and one as the first branch.

Being a very impatient person by nature bonsai really teaches me to be so.
Normally I would do exactly that, but with this one I find it hard to cut the trunk. But you're right, no taper and the level bottom branches don't look right, that's why I'm struggling with it. Cutting one of the bottom branches wont work, if I do that then your plan is much better. Maybe I should grow it one more level higher, with a bit of taper, and fatten up the trunk?

You could always air layer off the top and have two trees

you would then be able to develop nice nebari on the top section as this can be challenging w/ nursery material sometimes.

I would get it in the ground or a larger pot and work on developing the trunk.

have fun!