Acer Palmarum Aka shigitatsu sawa

[bodhidharma]

I would do it a little differently by layering off the upper larger branches and select the first right hand secondary branch and turn it into the new leader. It would create a little bit of movement in the trunk and give you a new beginning.

[treeman]

Kev if you layer there you will end up with the same thing but with a shorter trunk.
Maybe think about layering further up?

alm.JPG

[Kev0312]

Just an update.

Been cutting shaping and I've also been root purning.

[Kev0312]

Just finish finish work on this maple, now it's time to sit back and let it grow.
I'm planning to remove all the wire at the start it spring.



Cheers

[treeman]

You realise the trunk has a big dead strip all the way down to the roots right?

[Kev0312]

You realise the trunk has a big dead strip all the way down to the roots right?

Yes, I can see it but don't know what is it?
Is it good or bad? I'm thinking bad.

Is there anything I should do?

[treeman]

You realise the trunk has a big dead strip all the way down to the roots right?

Yes, I can see it but don't know what is it?
Is it good or bad? I'm thinking bad.

Is there anything I should do?

It means the cambium under that bark is long dead. If you strip away that bark you'll find bare wood. I suspect that there are many dead roots also. The only thing to do is to lift all the dead bark off and clean it to allow it to dry properly.
This tree is in desperate need of a thorough repot which means washing all the soil from the roots and cutting away any dead area and pruning the roots properly. You might end up with a mess of tree but that's what you need to do to see. The tree will continue to grow once it has been worked on but you might not like what you find. There may be many live roots missing from one side (the front?) for example. This kind of thing can happen when the tree is cut heavily without root pruning and cleaning.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Kev,
Let's cut the rot!
Google "Hollow trunked bonsai" for pics of what your tree is now suggesting to you.
Best get the power tools warmed up & have some (more) fun.