Refining a Japanese Maple

[treeman]

This tree may appear fairly advanced but if we take a closer look we can see much work needs to be done!
It is a layering of the variety Akaji Nishiki (bonfire) which has the most iridescent pinkish, reddish, orange...ish leaves in spring which slowly turn green over summer. Layering was done some 15? years ago.

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Above - before the work started. (Front). (but after a graft, sorry only pic I have)

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Left upper side. Branches need arranging with wire and long internodes must be shortened as much as possible

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Left side

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Apex. Here we have to much strength compared to the rest of the tree.
I will need to select one apex and remove or drastically reduce the others!

I will post a progression of the work....more later

[kez]

Regardless of whether there's work to be done this is a fantastic tree! I love conifers, but there's nothing quite like a quality maple!

Looking forward to the coming posts

Kerrin

[treeman]

So here are some pics of the wiring and trimmed branches

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Above. The left of the tree with long internodes cut back and branches arranged

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Upper left

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Apex. As you can see I really went to town up there but if you want the tree to keep improving you cannot avoid doing this until the tree is older and more settled. Every two or three years at the moment.

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The whole tree trimed and wired. It took quite a while. And this time no crossed wires at at all. Definitly a first for me!!

Next the graft and work on the roots!

[Scott Roxburgh]

Nice old tree, and really clean work Treeman. Good wiring technique too.

Just to confirm your trimming technique, it looks like you:
+ Cut branches back to two branches per division;
+ Removed thick branches in the apex;
+ Took out all long internodes (greater than 2-3cm); and
+ Cut back to a general profile.

Are there any other points that should be mentioned?

It seems like you took out quite a bit of the branching in the apex. Is this primarily to slow the apex thickening?

Why did you remove the following:

Acer Palmatum apex cuts.jpg

My thoughts are:
A - Branch too thick for the apex
B - A smaller thinner branch was available to replace it
C - Three branches at that division. Hard to see in the pics

Thanks for posting, this is a great learning opportunity.

[treeman]

Thanks Scott. Correct on all counts I'm not quite happy with the apex but I have found that the simple act of wiring will slow the thickening on the branch by weakening it.
More buds will show themselves at ''C'' and probably at other cuts which will allow me to use them to replace other thicker apex branches.

[Guy]

the trunk is very straight until the kink---do you have a solid bender that could give the trunk a little movement to the left between the second and third major branches?

[kcpoole]

the trunk is very straight until the kink---do you have a solid bender that could give the trunk a little movement to the left between the second and third major branches?

I would be scared to try that if it was mine.
I had a small Japanese maple I tried to put movement in a the slightest bend that would stay in, cracked the trunk and then caused severe die back

maybe tilt the tree to the left slightly to give movement out of the ground.

Lovely tree Treeman
Ken

[treeman]

the trunk is very straight until the kink---do you have a solid bender that could give the trunk a little movement to the left between the second and third major branches?

Bending the trunk is totally out of the question however I the think the tree will gain enough dignity in the coming years as it is. Well it better because branch work is really all I can do with it at this stage.

[treeman]

The tree really needed a back branch. I have been eyeing it for a few years wondering if I should bother, and finally decided that I should.

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Above. This is the exact spot where I wanted the branch. I would have loved to be able to thread graft one but that was not an option as I had no branch long and flexible enough on the tree and no other material of this variety.
My one and only option was to approach graft a branch. And that was quite difficult too as the line between bending and breaking was VERY fine here.
This illustrates the importance of planing! I could have left a branch grow specifically for this job last year. Oh well...

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A small notch cut into the bark at the right agle to accept the branch.

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Some cambium exposed from the donor.

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fixed and waxed.

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Another view. The small wired twig will hopefully become the future branch. The rest will be cut off if and when a strong union if formed...Probably 2 years from now.

[kcpoole]

clever idea to use the twig off the main donor branch
no need to bend the thicker one

Ken

[treeman]

So to the roots.

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Above. Soil removed and roots washed

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I removed all the downward pointing roots and cut into some of the heavy ones as much as I could considering the safety of the tree. (It's my precious ) You can see that the layer original cut has completely healed over.

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Ok so here we have a big problem! When the tree was layered, roots did not appear on this side (front of course..where else?) So I will need to graft some on.

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Three holes were drilled though the nebari and seedlings inserted with their roots in line with the existing ones.
Important when drilling the holes not to intersect them or it won't work. So you are limited on the with the drilling angle.
After they were inserted, I left it to surface dry for 1 hour so I could properly seal around the holes with grafting wax. (the best product for this kind of job)

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Here is the other side. Also sealed with wax

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The bottom. (bad pic) but you can see the gap in the nebari is now taken up.

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Potted into a large growing container where it stay for 2 years....maybe
Very course mix to allow rapid healing. And buried nice and deep. This is important so the seedlings' roots are completely covered and remain moist.

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Surfaced with a good layer of chopped moss. Not sure what spp. it is but better than sphag for this purpose as it doesn't cake and dosen't become water repelent. You can find it in forest areas all over the place during winter. Excellent stuff!

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Watered in and done

[dansai]

Great post with great detail and very informative. Thank you for this and for all your very informative posts. It is wonderful to have members here who share their experience with us that have still a lot to learn. This is a wonderful site that I'm sure will go far in helping Australia's bonsai progress in the years to come.

[Naimul]

couldn't you have used some of the roots that you cut off to graft into the base instead of using the seedlings?

[Boics]

Epic thread Treeman!

Thanks for the effort here it is much appreciated.

Just to be clear re. the root grafts.
1. You have drilled horizontally right through the trunk with the exit holes targeted where you want more roots.
2. Inserted your whips into the holes with roots at the appropriate location.
3. Sealed the exit points.

I believe this is what I see and you have shown but it did admittedly take me a while.

[kcpoole]

Epic thread Treeman!

Thanks for the effort here it is much appreciated.

Just to be clear re. the root grafts.
1. You have drilled horizontally right through the trunk with the exit holes targeted where you want more roots.
2. Inserted your whips into the holes with roots at the appropriate location.
3. Sealed the exit points.

I believe this is what I see and you have shown but it did admittedly take me a while.

that is the method I have used on Tridents as well. Ony thing is the holes are drilled lees then horizontal so the exit hole is a little higher than the entry.

Ken