acer palmatum ''sango kaku'' advice needed

[simonm]

hey guys,
i got this tree yesterday from quite an amazing nursery,
it is an acer palmatum ''sango-kaku'', coral bark maple, i was told.
it is quite tall, 45 cm in height, trunk width of less then a cm. and after accidently knocking a few branhes off, between getting it home and untangling leaves, i am unsure on what to do.

simons pics 037.JPG

simons pics 035.JPG

as you can see, it is quite bunched up, due to tangled leaves and branches

simons pics 038.JPG

i have now cut off all the larger leaves, some of which were up to 5 cm long,

simons pics 040.JPG

i am planning an air layer to dramatically reduce the height, in this pic there is one branch, very middle, above or below the branch for the air layer though?
any idea's?

[Dumper]

sango kaku is grafted on to normal palmatum

sango kaku seedling (ungrafted) doesn't keep it's red bark. it will turn to a gray colour.

my best advice for u is to grow it on the ground for 2 to 4 yrs.

they can grow really fast on the ground.

[simonm]

I was told this tree was grown from seed, are you saying that its going to look like a normal Japanese maple in time?

[Dumper]

well. if it is grown by seeds. yeah it will look similar to a normal Japanese maple.
the foliage is different colour than a normal Japanese maple. new branches will be red and will turn gray in a few yrs.

check if there's graft union on it. sometimes it is burried in the soil.

john

[Mojo Moyogi]

Simon,
By the time Sango Kaku grown from seed drops its leaves in winter it will only have the red stems on the previous years growth. The autumn colour is orange or orange red and is quite beautiful, different from the seedling palmatum foliage that is almost always red. I agree with Dumper's suggestion to plant the tree in the ground for a few seasons to put some weight into the trunk, you could expect that if grown in the ground, fed and watered well this tree could have a 1.5"-2" trunk in 3-4 years.

Good luck.
Mojo

[GavinG]

Possibly chop to the lowest branch, and plant in the ground at an angle. Get some trunk action happening! I've got a couple of these seedling Sango Kaku myself. I thought that stems were only red on last year's growth on the grafted ones as well - they certainly are on one in my garden. Like scarlet fingernail polish at the tips - can be charming.

Gavin

[Dumper]

here is my sango kaku seeding(ungrafted)

here u can see that the trunk is not red in colour now. but the branches are still kinda red. will turn to pale red or orangeish colour soon.

[craigw60]

Hi Simon, When sango kaku is grown from seed a percentage of the seedlings will come true the rest will revert to normal palmatum. This is a Japanese cultivar but is seldom seen as a bonsai in Japan, I think the reason they don't use this cultivar is because it is very difficult to get short internode spacing with it. I have a couple of mature trees of it in the garden and have been battling with one as a bonsai for some years.
Craigw

[Joel]

Hi Simon, When sango kaku is grown from seed a percentage of the seedlings will come true the rest will revert to normal palmatum. This is a Japanese cultivar but is seldom seen as a bonsai in Japan, I think the reason they don't use this cultivar is because it is very difficult to get short internode spacing with it. I have a couple of mature trees of it in the garden and have been battling with one as a bonsai for some years.
Craigw

This is true. I believe the ratio is one third sango kaku to 2/3 normal Acer palmatum. Its an example of mendels ratio. Its quite interesting. You can read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_ ... _Law.22.29

Joel