Refining a Japanese Maple

[toshtony]

Awesome post treeman and what a beautiful tree. Lol surprised no one asked you to post a picture with leaves on it. 1st thing I did when I read this post was scroll down and look for a picture of it with leaves. And what a nice surprise a beautiful picture at the end.

Thanks treeman

[treeman]

I will continue to post updates on this thread for anyone interested.
The tree has been pinched of new growth once and the leaves are now mature. I believe it's strong enough to tolerate a complete defoliation at this time.

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After defoliation and old wire removal.....the easy part!

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After defoliation, very often you'll find certain stems which are stronger than others and were the internode is too long in relation to the rest of the branching.
These are useless and the only thing you can do is cut them right back again. Although you may not see buds at their bases, they are there and you can be 90% sure they will shoot.(sometimes with too many shoots which will need to thinned to 1 or 2)

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As I mentioned at the start of this thread, the apex was too strong but my last effort to replace it has not been very successful.
In particular the completely awful and ungraceful section marked ''2'' Too heavy and bad movement.
The point marked ''1'' was the last cut.

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Now way around it. It had to go....And you can see the improvement already!
I left a small stub. I will probably get a bud shooting here.

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The second (or is it third) new apex wired and moved as far as it would go. Any more and snap.

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And of course that meant wiring the whole tree again.
It's getting better...slowly. No short cuts with Acer palmatum and the cultivars are even more problematic. But worth it..

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[Boics]

Hello Mike.
I continue to thank you for this fantastic educational thread on JM.
My latest question is around the 2nd from bottom first thin branch on the LHS.
I would have thought you might leave all the foliage on this branch encourage growth vigour and thickening?

[shibui]

After defoliation, very often you'll find certain stems which are stronger than others and were the internode is too long in relation to the rest of the branching.
These are useless and the only thing you can do is cut them right back again. Although you may not see buds at their bases, they are there and you can be 90% sure they will shoot.(sometimes with too many shoots which will need to thinned to 1 or 2)

I have found the same over years of frustrating palmatum development. Growers must be prepared to go backwards to get improvement no matter how counterproductive that may seem. Remove long internodes wherever they occur because you'll regret it later if they are left on.

No short cuts with Acer palmatum and the cultivars are even more problematic. But worth it..

This is also very true. Everyone seems to want a Japanese Maple bonsai but the reality is they are not particularly suitable for beginners. Your pruning and development skills need to be more than adequate to produce a good bonsai from A. palmatum. I always advise starting with tridents which are far more forgiving then progressing to palmatum after honing your skills.

Now way around it. It had to go....And you can see the improvement already!
I left a small stub. I will probably get a bud shooting here.

If my experience is anything to go by you're more likely to get a whole bunch of new shoots around the stub Mike As you know that will mean rubbing most of them off before they start to get too big and cause the area to swell.

Well done on this thread too. It is bringing together so many of the subtleties that one needs to be aware of when developing this species as bonsai

[treeman]

Hello Mike.
I continue to thank you for this fantastic educational thread on JM.
My latest question is around the 2nd from bottom first thin branch on the LHS.
I would have thought you might leave all the foliage on this branch encourage growth vigour and thickening?

A good question Boics. I forgot to mention this! You will notice that after defoliation there are still a few leaves here and there. On the weak branches, I removed one leaf completely and cut the other in half or even a bit more. I have found that if you leave both leaves untouched, there sometimes is no budding and they just sit there getting weaker while the strong one power on. so I'm trying this technique to have a bit both ways: To retain some vigor by not removing all the leaves but to take off enough to stimulate re-budding. We will soon see if it worked. If they re-shoot, the plan is to let them grow without pinching until they stop on their own. The strongest branches will be pinched immediately and perhaps the bracts will also be removed from these. I will post the pinching process and bract removal technique later. With the left hand thin branch, I should have left more, I agree, but sometimes in the rush to remove the leaves as fast as possible you cut before you think and then you can't go back! I'm still not sure what will happed to this branch but for now I'll keep it going.

[treeman]

After defoliation, very often you'll find certain stems which are stronger than others and were the internode is too long in relation to the rest of the branching.
These are useless and the only thing you can do is cut them right back again. Although you may not see buds at their bases, they are there and you can be 90% sure they will shoot.(sometimes with too many shoots which will need to thinned to 1 or 2)

I have found the same over years of frustrating palmatum development. Growers must be prepared to go backwards to get improvement no matter how counterproductive that may seem. Remove long internodes wherever they occur because you'll regret it later if they are left on.

No short cuts with Acer palmatum and the cultivars are even more problematic. But worth it..

This is also very true. Everyone seems to want a Japanese Maple bonsai but the reality is they are not particularly suitable for beginners. Your pruning and development skills need to be more than adequate to produce a good bonsai from A. palmatum. I always advise starting with tridents which are far more forgiving then progressing to palmatum after honing your skills.

Now way around it. It had to go....And you can see the improvement already!
I left a small stub. I will probably get a bud shooting here.

If my experience is anything to go by you're more likely to get a whole bunch of new shoots around the stub Mike As you know that will mean rubbing most of them off before they start to get too big and cause the area to swell.

Well done on this thread too. It is bringing together so many of the subtleties that one needs to be aware of when developing this species as bonsai

Thanks Shibui. I agree with everything you say. With regard to the budding around the stub, it's true that for the normal species you will likely get many buds but this one is definitely less vigorous (maybe 50%) so it's much less likely. I hope it does though! It's always better to have too many than not enough.

[treeman]

Winter 2018. Progress is slow but steady.
After a trim and re-wire....You can just see the grafted back branch beginning to show itself from the front. It will add much need depth soon.

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[benbonsai]

cool thread and cool tree, Treeman.
Lots of work has gone into it and its paying off.

[TimS]

Looking sensational, giving me motivation for one of my Japanese Maples that has a long long way to go in development

[Matthew]

fantastic tree Mike, You really have to be vigilent and selective with pruning Japanese maples otherwise long internodes and a reluctance to not always bud back makes these trees not recommended for beginners and even frustrate guys who been doing this awhile . They can be well worth it though and your tree is no exception .

[Rory]

That's going to look lovely in many years to come.

Nice development in the mean time Mike.

[melbrackstone]

Colour me impressed!

[treeman]

Just another point...Pruning Japanese Maples in Melbourne is now already too late. They should have been pruned before the last few leaves have fallen. If your tree still has a few leaves you are ok to prune. Mine have now lost all their leaves and some will already begin to bleed if pruned. Winter pruning is no good! If you must prune from now on, repot or somehow cut some roots to stop bleeding. The bleeding can sometimes be severe enough to kill the branch!

[melbrackstone]

Just another point...Pruning Japanese Maples in Melbourne is now already too late. They should have been pruned before the last few leaves have fallen. If your tree still has a few leaves you are ok to prune. Mine have now lost all their leaves and some will already begin to bleed if pruned. Winter pruning is no good! If you must prune from now on, repot or somehow cut some roots to stop bleeding. The bleeding can sometimes be severe enough to kill the branch!

Crikey, I had no idea, thought it was a definite Winter thing. Thanks for that...I'm off out to look at my JMs...

Cheers

[dansai]

Have yours even dropped leaves mel? I have a few and all got scorched in summer winds. One put out some fresh leaves late
Summer that are still lush and green. A friend who has one in his garden has only started to change colour in the last 2 weeks.