AusBonsai

I've read about this in books, but never in such detail, thanks for the effort of documenting it for others to learn from. keep up the great work

Hi all,

We have decided on a departure from our standard proceedure of the last few years and will defoliate the japanese maples in the collection twice this year; early November and late December.

We have however left the thread branch un defoliated this year. It hasn't thickened a lot yet so it will be interesting to see it in 6 or 7 weeks time when we do the next defoliation.

The Japanese maple group in the background was defoliated yesterday.
I am leaving many unnecessary buds and small branches at the moment as we will remove those after the second defoliation in December. This helps difuse the new growth and not thicken any branch too much.

Grant

Hi all,

The tree is now mostly back in leaf though still at the red soft stage.

We had a close look at the thread graft and it is quite swollen now so we cut off one of the thickeners. We will now monitor the tree but the thread branch may be able to be removed even earlier than I thought. We don't want the new branch to get too thick.

Grant

Hi all,

I have never seen a Japanese maple come back as strongly and evenly as this one did after the first defoliation on the 8th of November and the new thread graft just continues to look great.

So we are set to do a second defoliation of this tree this coming Saturday afternoon, check out the new thread graft up close and decide on when to sever the donor branch plus start thinning out a lot of the new twigs that have merged this year and some from last year. Really get it into top show condition. I will post photos mid next week.

The new potting mix seems to be keeping all the trees supremely healthy as well.

Grant

Good to hear it is doing so well Grant, I look forward to the pics and decisions that are made re pruning donor branch and thining out twigs after defoliation etc.
Cheers Dario.

After looking closely at the new branch it seems to have grafted very thoroughly. It is thicker on the new side than the old donor branch and the swelling at the base of the new branch could get larger so
Notice the donor branch had filled the drilled hole completely.

We sealed all the cuts front and back and photographed.
Grant

Nice work Grant and co
Cheers, Dario.

Hi all,

Here is a sequence of photos showing the branch by branch selection and removal of excess growth. Now we wait and see how the new branch comes back into growth after the defoliation and separation.

Grant

Here was the new branch soon after defoliation and separation.

Grant

And here is the new growth as of today. The new branch seems to be growing at much the same rate as the rest of the tree.
So all in all the operation was a success and the patient survived.

We will now pinch the new elongating growth back as we would in spring.

Grant

Here is the tree 16 days after the defoliation and separation of the donor branch.

We will now concentrate on getting more and more growth tips out to the edge of the silhouette, rather than having strictly defined pads.

We will not do any more thread grafting on this tree at least for a couple of years if at all. We will get and keep the tree in show condition and from now on it will be back on display to the public.
I find defoliation a very useful tool with Japanese maple especially. It allows me to really inspect the tree during the growing season and do any corrections needed on the run; rahter than having to wait till winter and possibly have branches over thicken etc.

Grant

That was a very detailed and helpful process Gant, thanks!
Good to see the new branch growing well, and look forward to viewing the tree in the near future!
Cheers, Dario.

Hi all,

It is now 23 days since the second defoliation (and final) for the year and the separation of the donor branch.

The weather has been very cool and cloudy for a summer and so I think it has been a bit slower in coming back into leaf but the leaves are quite small and even.
In the picture below you can see that I could have cut/pinched one leaf set earlier but as this new branchlet is on the bottom of the existing pad I have allowed it to elongate past the ones above and then pinched out.

I can always cut back in autumn winter any shoots that are too long.

Grant

Todays photo of tree out in the full sun.
The new branch is doing nicely.

The moss on some of the trees has been going beserk with the cool and damp weather so we have decided to do without it on some trees, this maple for one. You get to see more of the root system.

It will be interesting to see it in its winter silhouette in a few months time.


Grant

Hi Grant,

What a few weeks can do to a tree !!

The maple looks so much different now it is in full leaf, rather than when I saw it Christmas eve-eve.

I was fortunate enough to be at the collection late in the afternoon to see the graft being removed.

I think I have a few pics I took with you and the guys working on it while I was there.

Would it be ok If I posted them ?

Look forward seeing the collection again in a few days time.

Regards,


Paul C.