Mame - Acer platanoides (Norway maple) attempt

[Per PF]

Got a hold of this mame-pot and by chance stumbled upon a bunch of wild maple-seedlings that I thought went well with the color. (We have spring/early summer here.)
Planted in a bit of the original soil + pumice. The moss on top is mostly for the aesthetic. (Ignore the makeshift stand..)

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Comments/critique/opinions = welcome! And any advice on how to actually sustain it would be nice The mame-size feels a bit daunting.

[rodm]

Very nice and cute
Cheers RodM

[shibui]

The smaller they are the more difficult.
More difficult to keep watered.
More difficult to style.
More difficult to keep alive.

Most of us have found that initial attempts at tiny trees fail but after practicing and honing skills with larger trees for many years it becomes possible to return and succeed with the little ones.
Small pots seem to do far better if repotted every year. Roots will fill small pots very quick so the following summer there's no room left for water and the trees just get sick and die.
Not sure about the species for really small bonsai. Those leaves won't reduce much so will always look a bit odd.
good luck with your tiny trees.

[Per PF]

Thanks for the comments! I'll enjoy it while it lasts and hopefully learn a bunch. I know the species is far from ideal when it comes to reduction.
I have an indoor willow leaf ficus which has great reduction capacity and has survived so far (got it in January) as a mame - but it's up for a second root prune already due to loss of percolation...

[Per PF]

I made a bench!

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Veeeery basic but it does its job.

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As long as no one checks underneath...

[greg27]

Love your work mate, keep the updates coming!

[Per PF]

Thanks a lot! Sharing it here is a way to keep a record for myself as well.

[tinto]

love the trunk, next year try to reduce the leaves a bit

[Per PF]

A late summer update:
I neglected it for a couple of days (it stood on a tray of water but that wasn't enough...), when I was away, and the bigger leaves turned brown. The largest leaf (and two smaller) eventually fell off.

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Besides that it seems to be doing okay. There's a small bud next to the large remaining leaf.

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And the moss is doing surprisingly well!

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@tinto Thanks! Yeah a reduction would be great. I'll see what happens next spring and go from there.

[austindrake]

How's this tree coming along? I'm interested in doing a crimson king norway maple, and I'm curious how it's looking

[Per PF]

Thanks for asking! The taller did not bud out this year, I suspect I bent it too much. But the little one leafed out fine. It was kept in a dark cold shed during winter (20-21) which seemed to work but the moss suffered.

This winter (21-22) I semi-buried all my outdoor mames in a garden bed for winter protection - so come spring I'll find out if it worked. ATM it's covered in snow...

I took some pictures in late summer but unfortunately my hard drive (4T!) crashed in december and I lost my bonsai photo documentation (I might have it in my phone - but I'll have to do some searching). If I find some phots I'll post them here.
/Per

[Per PF]

Summer update!

@austindrake

I'm off work for the summer so I finally dug up the mames.

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The leaves have come out twice as big this year and the trunk has thickened nicely. I don't know how/what I'm going to do with it, but I still like it a lot

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I'm trying out a humidity tray for my mames to hopefully save some watering hassle.

[thoglette]

Small pots seem to do far better if repotted every year. ...

Agree on every point and this one particularly. Don't worry too much about the rules, just concentrate on keeping it alive.

Well done in getting this far !