Japanese Maple #1 [Truth]

[Truth]

G'day guys!

Been a while since I was last here. So why not kick off my first progress thread with something promising. This was a generic Japanese Maple bought from Ray Nesci about 3-4 years or so ago. The trunk was maybe 2.5cm wide at best so I immediately stuck it into the ground without too much thought to get some girth on it.

Today is the day where it finally gets it's first trunk chop. At 5cm wide, it's now got the foundation to be a pleasing trunk on a small-medium sized tree. Yes it has some scarring from failed thread grafts and some negative taper from those thick callouses, but nothing a bit of time and deliberate carving can't improve.

I left the first branch as a potential new leader. The internode length is quite long so I'm hoping I get some back budding around the base to use as an alternative leader, but I left it there to give me options. Now all I can do is leave it for a grow season and see what it gives me this time next year!

[Truth]

To any new players in the same, this is what ~3 years of growth on a healthy and happy Japanese maple looks like. About 2.5m tall and 5cm wide at the base.

PS: If anyone knows how to upload and embed photos directly on this site, please help. Can't seem to work it out...

[shibui]

To attach photos scroll down to 'Options' and "attachments' buttons, just below the save, preview an submit buttons. Click attachments then click 'add files' should open a window to your storage.
Files must be under 1mb so you may need to compress or resize some files for the site to accept them.

[Truth]

Thanks Shibui! Issue was the photos were too large to post initially!