just got a lace leaf Japanese maple scared to do anything to it

[coldpressedmonkey]

I'm new to gardening let alone bonsai, just decided yesterday to give it a go. I've already got some spargham(sp?) peat moss and some perlite for a miracle fruit tree, can i use them for a laceleaf maple? Is there anything else i should use for soil?
I heard there's proper bonsai soil but the nursery didn't have any.

The tree is from a nursery and it's over a meter tall with very short branches and a small crown on top. From what i've read i have to cut it in half and plant it in the ground or a big pot to develop the trunk that is less than a cm thick but i'm afraid to do anything incase it's the wrong time of year to chop it and/or repot it, I've been all over the net trying to piece it together and got alot of seeming contradiction and a throbbing headache. Can anyone help me decide what to do and when?

Also if i cut the top off can i maybe try some cuttings from what i chop off? If so is there any advice about how to do that when the time comes?

[craigw60]

Hi, Coldpresed, it sounds to me like you have bought a disectum maple, these plants are usually grafted on to straight palmatum and the graft is at the top of the plant, if you cut it down low you will end up with a japanese maple and the dissectum will be in the bin. Sometimes disectum can be found low grafted but not very often. I think it would help if you showed us a picture.
Craigw

[coldpressedmonkey]

In reply to craigw,
I couldn't find a graft anywhere high or low and i expect even a whip graft would be slightly noticable so I just looked up lace leaf images and it's not a lace leaf despite what i was led to believe . I don't really care too much if it's a fancy tree though, it was pretty cheap and it's a learners tree anyway. I'll probably end up killing it as is the concensus of the people who know me and are shocked that i'm growing a plant at all since gardening hasn't been my thing in the past, but i saw some beautiful bonsai and had to try learning how to make my own. So I expect it's just a plain acer palmatum (still an attractive tree to me) and I'll be chopping it at some stage, when i know it's not going to kill it. (I'm determined to prove my critics wrong )

Here's a pic anyway, the crown isn't really that big it's just leaning toward the camera it was the only way to fit it all in and stay relatively close. There's about a cm height of woody trunk then it's green til halfway up it turns red if that helps explain the age.

[alpineart]

Hi Coldpressedmonkey , your tree is a Japanese Maple ,Acer Palmatum , sometimes referred to as a Mountain Maple .These are the standard/common garden maples used in most gardens .If you type in Maple in the search box i'm sure you will find plenty of info to browse .Cheers Alpineart

[craigw60]

Yep its palmatum probably a seedling, I would cut it back to that clump of foliage down low and feed it up. Root pruning on deciduous trees is done in the late winter early spring.
Craigw

[coldpressedmonkey]

Thanks alpineart I've just learnt alot from searching maple and following links for the last 3 hrs or so.

Thanks for the advice craigw should i field grow it til next winter and chop it then at the same time as the root pruning, to get a thicker trunk or chop it now? the trunk is very thin. (not that i really know how thick it should be)

[Guy]

I can't remember ever seeing a literati maple ---but then Ive had a couple of wines--are there any good ones?

[coldpressedmonkey]

I can't remember ever seeing a literati maple ---but then Ive had a couple of wines--are there any good ones?

I've never seen a literati maple either but then even if i had i might not have known it. I googled literati and saw what they are i don't know if maple are suited to the style or not but as far as my extremely limited understanding goes i don't see why not, but that's not my current "picture in mind for this maple. I want a upright style i think, similar to the pic below i don't know for sure what style it is, but i'm not worrying about shape yet. I think i'll just grow it over something flat and hard in the yard to promote a better nebari and a thicker trunk then chop it back severely, branch and root then stick it in a little pot and go from there. I have some red maple seeds in the mail but i guess it's too late/early to soak and fridge them now and I'll have to wait till the last 100 days of next winter so I might try to find a young bonsai that's already a bonsai at a nursery to practise training.