Help with japanese maples

Forum for discussion of Deciduous bonsai – Maples, Crabapple, Hornbeam, Elm species etc.
bazron
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Re: Help with japanese maples

Post by bazron »

shibui wrote:All the tree I planted with Cds just smashed the cds. Power of roots is quite amazing. I use plates made from sheet metal with holes drilled in to plant through. The roots have bent a couple but have not managed to break them yet - I plant 20-30 of these each year for the past 10 years.
If you can get lateral roots to dominate when the tree is young you will get strong basal taper. Layering after will give some basal swelling but nowhere near as much as starting from young.
I have some scrap sheet metal laying around too. After reading the fourms and googling abit ive found its kind of each to thier own. Some people prefer tiles others use metal washer, cds or what ever is at hand really. After moving some of the soil around in the pot it looks like im better off starting the root systems all over again.
bazron
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Joined: October 9th, 2012, 11:36 am
Favorite Species: trident maples
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Location: VIC Seymour

Re: Help with japanese maples

Post by bazron »

When i plant them into to the ground should i cut all the side branches off and just leave them too grow high till they produce more side branches then leave them to grow too?
shibui
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Re: Help with japanese maples

Post by shibui »

I have found it is best to encourage lots of side branches or trunks while the trees are growing in the ground. Lots of smaller branches = similar thickening to a single trunk but when you cut back there are smaller wounds that will heal quicker. Also having plenty of branches and trunks allows you to selectively prune to get a good bendy trunk. A single straight trunk before pruning will still be a single straight trunk after pruning - just shorter with a great big scar at the top.

That probably does not make a lot of sense until you have seen or done it but I certainly prune all my ground growing trees to encourage lots of branches and lots of leaders because I get far better results.
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