Refining another Japanese maple

[Gerard]

It was a coincidence that I took these photos as I worked last Sunday with many similarities to another post.

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I have had this tree for nearly 2 years. The apex had died, so I selected a new apex which is starting to take shape. The roots however are another problem! There have been a few posts recently which have stressed the importance of good root preparation.
With this tree, the evidence suggests that instead of cutting long roots it has been the practice to simply roll them underneath and hope that they would form into a nice root spread on the opposite side of the trunk.

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After root pruning the problems are more obvious, there are 4 main roots and not much else, it is no surprise that the tree was weak.

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This is another tree which looked very similar 2 years ago.

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[Quanye-san]

Gerard,
Thanks for detailed pics and posting on your maple. Excellent work.

Are people in Melbourne and sydney beginning to root prune and repot their maples now? My maple's buds don't seem to have begun to swell and it's still cold here (at least at night) in sydney.

[kcpoole]

I will be stating mine this weekend.
I have already done some elms and will hopefully complete them all as well.

it is cold at the moment, but but think that within 2 - 3 weeks we will be startimg to warm up here and then they will all start to explode

Ken

[Scott Roxburgh]

Nice white bark on this old tree, its even starting to get the vertical lines that scream age. Do you have any history on it?

Good to see it in capable hands, bringing it back to full health.

So what are you plans for it now?

Will it be fertilized, if so how much?

Will you allow it to grow out or will it be clipped back during the season?

Full sun/partial shade/full shade?

[treeman]

Nice old tree Gerard. I also love the old bark on this one. Just one observstion which you may want to consider. The extention of the branch profile has reached about as far as it can for the size of the tree. So with this in mind, there is really nowhere to go from here but back.
In other words, I believe you can only achieve a good ramification by cutting back hard and begining your branching from further back into the tree. If you don't do this you could end up with lots of fine branching only on the tips of the branches with the inside bare. You can see this starting to happen already. Its a very common problem with this species and the only real way to avoid it is to build a well branched foundation of secondary ramification quite soon after the primary and same with the tertiery off the secondary. Put really basically, we need to cut back very hard early on to make good branches.
Obviously of course, it was the previous owner on this tree who missed doing this.
I hope you don't mind me pointing this out but I thought it was important when looking to the next 10 or 20 years.

[Gerard]

Sorry Scott, I do not have as much history as I should, I might make an effort to learn more. After changing the front completely and creating a new apex it might not be recognised so now is the time to find out. I do know that I am at least the third owner. I will not allow it to grow out too much monthly fertilizer should adequate, I feel if I push the growth too hard I will have to prune too hard it is a time for patience.
I have been repotting my deciduous trees for more than a month. (too many to leave till last minute) elms first, maples are now done next week or two all the other deciduous trees.
I know it is early but there is little or no frost so they do not miss a beat. I am more particular with the timing of the pine re-potting (another month or so).

[Gerard]

Nice old tree Gerard. I also love the old bark on this one. Just one observstion which you may want to consider. The extention of the branch profile has reached about as far as it can for the size of the tree. So with this in mind, there is really nowhere to go from here but back.
In other words, I believe you can only achieve a good ramification by cutting back hard and begining your branching from further back into the tree. If you don't do this you could end up with lots of fine branching only on the tips of the branches with the inside bare. You can see this starting to happen already. Its a very common problem with this species and the only real way to avoid it is to build a well branched foundation of secondary ramification quite soon after the primary and same with the tertiery off the secondary. Put really basically, we need to cut back very hard early on to make good branches.
Obviously of course, it was the previous owner on this tree who missed doing this.
I hope you don't mind me pointing this out but I thought it was important when looking to the next 10 or 20 years.

Thanks Treeman, already cut back after the photos were taken but perhaps could have been harder I will have another look with this in mind

[Scott Roxburgh]

update?

[xIIRevoEvoS]

Nice Japanese Maple Gerard, hope to get Taiwan, Deshojo, Japanese Maple and several of my trident starters to something like yours.
With the pins on two "seedlings", will that fuse into the trunk or leave a slight gap as they mature or its there to further develop a new nebari?

Did you also defoliate the leaf or it naturally fell off?

[Gerard]

Nice Japanese Maple Gerard, hope to get Taiwan, Deshojo, Japanese Maple and several of my trident starters to something like yours.
With the pins on two "seedlings", will that fuse into the trunk or leave a slight gap as they mature or its there to further develop a new nebari?

Did you also defoliate the leaf or it naturally fell off?

Leaves fell naturally but I do defoliate during the growing season
Will try to get some update photos

[Gerard]

update?

The tree is a little stronger this year, root grafts look like they will succeed but I will wait until after the spring growth before I sever them. This means no re-pot this year so probably no opportunity to place more grafts (perhaps I will still manage to do them)

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[MoGanic]

Hey mate,

Great work, this will be a stellar tree with further ramification.

IMO though the root grafts should stay on another season. Perhaps wrap some grafting tape around them too, the pins will likely pop out once the thickness of the scion increases.

Entirely up to your judgement though, as I'm just looking at two photos not the actual tree in the flesh.

Cheers,
Mo


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xIIRevoEvoS]

update?

The tree is a little stronger this year, root grafts look like they will succeed but I will wait until after the spring growth before I sever them. This means no re-pot this year so probably no opportunity to place more grafts (perhaps I will still manage to do them)

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Is the purpose of having two cuttings/seedlings on both sides, is there to further develop the nebari?

[Gerard]

Once the seedling has fused to the trunk it will be cut off leaving a small round scar. The roots will remain as new roots on the larger tree in a position where they were missing previously.