New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

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Brownthumb
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New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Post by Brownthumb »

m_Japanese maple .jpg
m_Japanese maple1 .jpg
I was given this Japanese Maple about 3 months ago, it was just sticks, I wired the branches to position as I want to make it a Broom style Bonsai. I would appreciate any suggestions on the care, pruning and shaping of this as I have never had one before. I Seasol every week and Powerfeed it every second week and water regularly, nearly everyday at the moment. I read somewhere that you could pinch out some of the old leaves and this will give a flush of new leaves, if this correct when should I do this? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
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Re: New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Post by shibui »

Bloodgood seems to have large leaves and long internodes so you may battle to keep it looking really neat.

It looks like you are happy having a small thin bonsai. In that case just allow new shoots to grow to 3-4 pairs of new leaves then cut back to 1 or 2 pairs. You'll need to do that whenever it is growing.
Some growers just cut off any larger leaves as they appear, others do a full defoliation - cut off all leaves except for very thin, weaker shoots which are often inside or near the bottom. Full defoliation should only be done once or at most twice a year and only if the tree is healthy. You can cut leaves any time after they have matured which will depend where you are - usually November or December. Taking off leaves will usually result in more shoots and smaller leaves but it also stresses the tree and will definitely slow down growth. Personally I think this tree is still in its developing phase and you should pass on defoliation until it has grown and matured a bit more.

Many other growers would allow this tree to grow a lot (in a larger pot or in the garden) so the trunk gets thicker and looks more like a tree. You are the one to decide which way you want to take this tree.
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bodhidharma
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Re: New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Post by bodhidharma »

Even as a mature Bonsai they produce large leaves and i spent quite a few years developing one without success. I think Shibui has given sound advice about growing it on and i would develop it as a large tree to carry the large leaf. Mine was a shohin and i was never happy with it.
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Brownthumb
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Re: New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Post by Brownthumb »

Thanks Shibui and Bodhidharma, I will find one of my big black pots and repot into there for a couple of years and look at it again in 2019. I will use the pot for some other bonsai. Should I put a tile underneath it so the main roots spread instead of going deep?
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Re: New Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Post by shibui »

Proper root pruning will be far better than any tiles. Just prune all downward growing roots every 2 years or so and you will have great nebari, possibly better than tiles.
Don't get discouraged. Everyone needs a bonsai in a pot and this may be yours but we also find that we need some trees that will become really great bonsai as well and little sticks in bonsai pots take forever to achieve that status. I'm happy for you to retain this tree in the pot now and learn about keeping it alive and pruning, pinching and maintaining bonsai but it will take forever for it to get to the stage of those trees we all drool over. Keep some sticks in pots and have some developing in larger non bonsai containers or have none in bonsai pots but all developing into better trees: Your choice.
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