Snippets #2 from Peter Adams Talks at Ideas Summit 2009

[MelaQuin]

BARK – you can’t hurry the formation of bark. You can use lots of techniques to make a tree look older but you cannot create old bark until the tree itself has aged enough to start barking up. In Japanese maples this can take 30 years. Bark will develop when the time is right for the specific tree and nothing you can do will hurry it along.

STRUCTURE – if you want good structure don’t throw nitrogen at the tree. Use organic food – fish emulsion and seaweed [SeaSol]. A mate of Peter’s uses a fertiliser that is 0-10-10 and gets amazing ramification. Control intermodal length by finger pinching larger leaves. Rather than defoliation, simply remove larger leaves as they form and the tree will counter by producing smaller leaves.

When extending maples do it slowly – say over three years. You need to develop character in the branchlets/branches and you do this by clip and grow, getting major changes of direction in the branches. Alternate this with gentle wiring so the branch movement is pleasing and natural. For variety, branches need the sharp change of direction that only clip and grow can achieve to get angles more acute than with wiring. If you extend branches faster you will not get the ramification and character.

Take time to study how you can cut/prune to get character into the branches. Wire helps to get gentle movement but the tree also needs sharp angles for interest. It’s a combination of soft and angular growth that develops character.

Another tool to shaping is regrowth. Once the tree settles after pruning you will get a different density which will bring new concepts to the tree as you adjust foliage pads and the tree continues to develop.

When you are styling a tree a moment comes when you have to trust how you feel about something and do it.

REPOTTING can spark a growth surge and you have to be ready to counter it. Nip all leaves that are too large to encourage smaller leaves to develop.

ROOT RUN - It is important when potting maples that you allow sufficient pot room for their root run. Maple roots need to spread. If the tree was in a large pot and you bring it in to a smaller one the tree will not be happy. Your maple pot should be shallow and stretched providing room for the roots to run to keep the tree in good health. The tree wants front and back room as well so the roots can expand. An oval pot or a soft cornered rectangle is good for maples as these shapes allow for more soil.

FRIED FOLIAGE – if the top of your maple is fried during heat waves you are dead in the water. You have to build the tree up before you can expect anything from it. Maples appreciate aluminium wire because it is gentle on the tree. Copper wire can heat up so high in the heat of summer that it can burn the living tissues thus scarring the tree.

STYLING – WORKING a tree. Do more than one tree when you are styling. Go back and forth between the two trees, working on each. If you stay focused on one tree you hit the stage where you can no longer see it. When you switch back and forth your eye always stays fresh and you can see what you are doing and where you are going in a clearer way.

REGROWTH – when you are doing initial styling you are working for regrowth and your styling must keep in mind the way the new growth will come on.