Acer Negunda in need of a style

[Petra]

Hi guys,
This tree was taken out of the ground a few years back.Was growing under a congrete path. All i managed to do for it was keep it alive and growing.
Now i feel it is in need of some direction now the leaves are all gone. I just dont know where to go with it.But i do know it will need some serious carving to get it to look like something. Im asking you for some guidance and any ideas,please.

Ace Nugunda1.jpg

Ace Nugunda2.jpg

Ace Nugunda3.jpg

Ace Nugunda4.jpg

Ace Nugunda5.jpg

Ace Nugunda6.jpg

[Petra]

bump

[Tony Bebb]

Hi Petra

You will need the arbortech for sure. You could take the taper down the trunk a bit, but don't do too much around the base of the new leader yet.

I would be potting it up to let it grow for a year or 2 and get some strength and thickness to the leader as most of the branching would probably come from it. Prune the branches to have one at each point. There doesn't appear to be a lot going on with the roots either, so you might want to consider doing a layer just above ground level to get new roots and grow them. You could do the layer a little higher to where the bark textures change as there is nicer bark above the grey layer.

Tony

[Petra]

Thanks tony,
beleive it or not but there is a lot of root mass there. i just took it out of a great big deep pot so as to play with the branches and bend them out instead of growing straight up. it would of had many more branching only i rubed them off to get more light in on the branches.

i just need a virt for the carving, Anyone else game?

[Tony Bebb]

Hi Petra

Sorry, what I meant by the roots was the surface roots, the Nebari that would be displayed on the soil surface, not the actual mass. Only meant to do the layer if the surface roots are poor. Not gunna do a virt of the carving for you cause I don't want you to carve it yet

Tony

[Petra]

Ohh, o.k
this is interesting. So where would you take the taper down to? Then which branches would you remove? I appreciate this Tony thanks.

[Pat093]

have u ever thought about a v cut in the trunk straight down?
then wrapping the trunk with plastic in attempt to force growth out around the v cut area?
i have seen it donw once before in a book of mine.
opinions?