This week i took this tree and a black pine i recently acquired to a 1 on 1 workshop with Scott Martin of Bonsai Matsu.
It has been on my mind more over the last 12 months that it really is time to make some big decisions about how to set this tree up for future greatness. With my own trees I tend to sit and look for years before finally actually making the decision that should have been made all along, so i bit the bullet and ponied up for some expert guidance.
No work was actually done on this tree (the black pine got a full restyle) which might seem mad after paying for a workshop, but a fantastic discussion was had that really gave me the confidence that I'm heading in the right direction with the tree and that i am right it is time for some big steps to be made now the tree is healthy.
First point of discussion what what the front of the tree actually is. For the few years that i've been fortunate to caretake this tree i have never actually had a front for this tree. There were flaws and problems and a massive gaping lack of branches one side that all added up to never committing to where the tree should be viewed from.
Scott quite quickly settled on the view with the lack of branches as the future front for the tree for several reasons:
A) It gave by far the best view of the nebari and really showed off the 'melting' look of the aged bark.
B) it hides the lowest primary branch that comes dead straight out of the trunk
C) There are few scars from this view though not none
D) There is a good opportunity for the new apex
Front decided on
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View of the aged nebari from this angle
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This is the void in the nebari, now to the rear. There are 3 established old roots on that side, though not sufficient to have the even flare occur on that side of the tree. I am reluctant to scar up the trunk doing grafts with young whips, if this were a 20 year old tree i would 100% do it, but i cannot bring myself to scar the bark anymore than i already have (next up why and how i did that!)
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In the post previous to this you saw me remove a crossing root on the nebari. This is one of those 'look at it for 3 years before doing what i always should have done' type decisions. It had not fused but it was very, very close to doing so. If i didn't remove it now i would be creating a massive scar across the nebari, so off it came. It has left a recess in the root, but i'd much prefer that to a massive scar across a root base that will be visible for the next 60 years. There is a small scar covered by the putty that is less than a 5 cent piece big, but i'm happy to trade that.
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Most of my photos i have previously posted of this tree have focused on the other side of the tree with the flat primary branch prominently on show, whereas that branch now with the new long-term front is now perfectly behind the trunk. This fits in with what I had been thinking for a long time, and Scott quickly agreed with, that the time has come (in fact was probably a good decade ago!) for the lowest primary branch to be removed.
To quote Macho Man Randy Savage "Wow! Man! Freak out!!" To consider removing a branch that would be in excess of 50 years old is hard to wrap your head around, hell it's been nothing more than an idea in my head, but logically it doesn't gel with the future of this tree. It's now very low on the trunk and almost perfectly flat which detracts from the overall aspect of a mature tree in nature. Rather than just hacking it off and wasting a piece of material with such age i of course will be doing an air layering so as to try not to just waste 50+ years of bark development. The added benefit being that since it is now perfectly heading to the back the scar on the trunk will not be visible, and in fact the first photo with the new front shows the effect of removing it perfectly!
The primary in question
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From here the next step is thread grafting. Again something i kind of knew and had accepted without ever committing to actually do it. Scott was kind enough to show me some of his thread grafting projects he has on the go to give me some ideas, as well as some phenomenal trees of course, and explain the process and the timing. The remaining old primary branches will be thread grafted next year, so for now it's pretty much the opposite of what i would normally be doing with an old maple and that is; feed the bejesus out of it and let the shoots run as long as possible for the rest of the season!
Here are a couple of examples of the primary branches that will be thread grafted next year to build taper back into them.
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Finally the apex and one of 2 main questions i had for him that prompted doing the workshop in the first place (the other being the potential removal of the lowest primary branch). It has a very stretched neck, and I was thinking I'd actually have to remove the entire top and regrow it from the next branch below. None the less I had done some basic guy wires of the stretched neck section to set up 3 shoots to begin the spreading apex were it to be kept even though i hadn't settled on a front at that stage. Scott and i ended up agreeing that I probably needed the length of the neck as the 'final' height for the tree should be even taller than it is now, so it stays.
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So future apex here. The red will be pulled/ wired/ directionally pruned to head to the right of screen which will give directional flow of the tree that way along with a slight angle change at repotting time in the same direction. The yellow arrow will be filled in in the general area there to possibly hide some of the neck. the rear branch to the left is for some depth.
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Also i will be doing a bit of wiring to start moving some of the younger shoots down more, I don't necessarily want them perfectly horizontal, but they don't need to be growing up at 45 degree angles either. So a bit of wiring to be done next.
Finally because i already uploaded it, here is a gratuitious photo of 60+ year old maple bark
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