Alpineart's Blog

I have here a Mountain Maple {Acer Palmatum} that i picked up at a market for $3.00 it has been broken many times at the ends of the branches , but it does have an interesting upper trunk due mainly to the damage it has endured . Possibly a 4-5 year old neglected seedling .

I removed it from the pot to discover the trunk has a severe 90 degree bend with a poor quality forked root ball that has obviously dried out and recovered numerous times . I trimmed the old hard roots x 3 without damaging the fibre roots as it is the wrong time to root prune , and placed it into a deeper the usual pot to assist in improving the root mass . I will at a later date place a wire tourniquet around the base to stimulate and grow a new root ball . With the tree potted , i simply removed the downward facing branches and removed the unwanted shoots to produce the desired Slanting Style .

Minimal wiring will be required to stimulate the design as the branching is random along the trunk and with the zig-zag already in the upper trunk , i think i will just semi defoliate and see what happens over the next few weeks . I sure this simple trainer will make a quality Bonsai .

This has been a dream to transform from a ordinary roadside chop-top pine to a very good informal upright in training. Ifirst removed the unwanted stub which was the original leader until the council attempted to kill a few self sown wildlings , they miss by that much . With pines if you dont cut below the bottom branch they will re-shoot quite aggressively as in this case . The 3rd branch from the top had become the new leader so less work for me . Removing the stub and the upper branches except for the one on the original trunk which i will use to balance the tree . Using a coping saw i removed a large ‘ V” from between the new leader and the upper branch on the main trunk , making sure the ” V” would match both sides to ensure a good graft . I then contoured 2 10x3mm aluminium splints to suit the trunk and gently clasped them with vice grips to hold firm while i set about fastening cable ties round the splints and trunk . Removing the pliers i then applied the wire x3 to the trunk , inserting 2 solid brass screws into the trunk to secure the graft together for extra security as the cable ties will be remove in a year or two , the screws will remain hence only” solid brass” or” stainless “screws should be used . Coated screws leech and kill most host trees . With the trunk graft secure i set about bending the trunk into the desired shape and “hey presto” one excellent quality bonsai trainer,i will allow it to grow on until winter when i will look at fine tuning the branch stucture