Baby japanese maple

[MattA]

I spent the weekend in Sydney staying with friends and as good friends are wont to do, they had to take me for a walk round the block to look at some maples. So off we went with the cockatoo's for their afternoon walk, I nearly fell over when I saw the first of the 3 maples on this development site. No chance I could get it out without mechanical assistance to dig or lift it. The next was a bit smaller but still a wee bit tooo big.

Then I saw this little baby...off I went to get my tools out the back of the ute & got stuck in, 30 mins later it was sitting in the back of my ute ready to go. It has had a good soak for 24hrs & I have just finished potting it up.

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It is in a 50cm pot & stands approx 90cm tall. Will let it be for a year or 2 then start layering off the unwanted bits. The trunk is oval & approx 20cm x 14cm above the nebari. It will need a whole new root system & nebari grown over time as well but I felt it was well worth the effort for all its shortcomings.

Matt

[nealweb]

wow, great pick up!!! well worth the effort for sure

[Jarrod]

Pity your in sydney, I would ask where the other two are!

Awesome tree mate. Great find and I hope it pulls through!

[aussie4bonsai]

+It’s a nice baby, to big for me but it still turning my eyes green.
Barry

[archie1979]

Hiya Matt,
Wow nice score I need to keep my eyes peeled next time I am out and about. Seems you find all the great ones. Chat soon mate.

Archie

[MattA]

I had my friends do some asking around & one of the old locals has told them the factory complex was built between 1965-70 & the maples were part of the orig landscape.

Jarrod, get in line bud, I am seriously considering going down again this w/e for the other 2. They would just be stumps but you dont often find maples this thick so its worth the long haul to grow branches on them and lots of layers in the process. I also hope it pulls thru, no matter how often you have done something you can never guarantee anything in this game.

Barry, what is too big? There is no such thing, as they get bigger you just need more good mates to help move/work them. I have always loved BIG bonsai and am slowly starting to get a collection of them together, all long term projects but thats half the fun, I may not see them finished but getting them started is the first step, without it they would never exist. I will get round to taking some clear pics of the Magnolia in the tub behind this maple.. another biggun!

Archie, I dont find them, they find me, its amazing when you share your passion, people offer you things. Keep your eyes out for development application notices on fences & in the paper, can point you in the right direction for a few choice bits once your up & digging again

Matt

[Jake]

nice score matt! its going to turn out good it looks huge

[alpineart]

Now thats a good find for sure ,Like you said NEVER too big , after all you can cut them down to a more manageable size if required .Look forward to its progression .Cheers Alpine

[MattA]

Just a quick update, this baby has been pumping out buds from everywhere and the first of them has started to open out to leaves. I have been trying to get a decent pic of some of the buds but my new camera is being stubborn & not wanting to focus for macro's.

Exposure to sunlight will help to encourage buds to form, this can be used to advantage if you only want buds on one side but is a major nuisance if you are wanting a design in the round. As such this tree has been turned 90deg every day, the results are great with fantastic even budding on all sides of branchs & trunk.

I have been giving a bit of time to the study of this tree and can see about 8-9 layers that will come off it before I even start on the final tree. Still early days to resolve which trunk line to follow but soo much potential & so many ways to make use of it! Which ever way I go there will be atleast 1 and possibly 2 major layers to do once the smaller stuff has been done.

Matt

[archie1979]

youre gunna have some fun with that one

[Istari]

wow nice one mate, whats this about it being a baby?

Look forward to seeing how you style it mate.

[MattA]

Well I finally got round to getting this out from the back of the shade house to get some photos... This baby thumped away really quickly & hasnt looked back. New growth stalled in early december but once it went under shade It romped away again. The pot is crammed with roots, even poking out the drainage holes, so I am happy to start working on it. I have a rough image in my head that i would like to try and achieve for it.

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For those with a need for dimensions it is 140cm x 70 x 90cm with a trunk of 20x14cm... I am in the process of working out what branches I need to remove, they will all be layered off (too thick to waste). Then the real fun can begin...

I will be setting layers over the coming weeks & months with a view to maybe removing them come spring or when ready (if they dont have enough root by spring). Unlike other layers these ones wont be rushed as my own past experience with maples is a need for a fairly good rootsystem on layers to have success.

As always comments, critiques, suggestions more than welcome. I would particularly like to hear what others think of removing all the lower branchs so that the base & 2 main trunklines become the real focus with an elongated round canopy over.

Matt

[Andrew F]

Look forward to seeing this tree in person!!!

[Rintar]

Weres the up date how did the layers go?

[Barry1]

This tree has responded incredibly well to it's new environment Matt ! I hope you also take us through the air layering when you do it

Cheers
Barry