AusBonsai

Hi all,

First of all I'm new here so hello everyone and thanks for all the great info on the forum.

I am looking at getting a Japanese maple as a starter bonsai. My mother passed away last month and she loved red maples and bonsais. So I thought I would combine both interests and create a living memory of her.

I know that the maples are difficult to train as a bonsai. But are there any recommendations of what subspecies to get?

Also any tips to go with that species? In living in Sydney.

I might buy 2 or three starters at the same time so increase my chances or success. I was also thinking of getting a different type of bonsai starter that would be easy to grow in this climate. Any other suggestions?


Thanks guys



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How much are you willing to spend?

Trident maples are pretty hardy and forgiving!

Hi Homer911
Mate living in Sydney I would suggest you look up Bonsai south on the net and head off that way , Leong will help you out and you will be hard pressed to beat the stock he has there . Anyway welcome to ausbonsai you'll find it's a great forum to belong to . Sorry to hear about your mom mate been there and it's a sad time . Great idea to keep her memory going with a thing that brings you joy
kind regards
peterb

Daluke wrote:How much are you willing to spend?

Trident maples are pretty hardy and forgiving!

Not sure really. As a beginner I have no idea how much they cost. I would like a starter that is established enough to be taken care of easily.

What kind of price am I looking at?

Yeah, seen photos of tridents. Look nice.


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peterb wrote:Hi Homer911
Mate living in Sydney I would suggest you look up Bonsai south on the net and head off that way , Leong will help you out and you will be hard pressed to beat the stock he has there . Anyway welcome to ausbonsai you'll find it's a great forum to belong to . Sorry to hear about your mom mate been there and it's a sad time . Great idea to keep her memory going with a thing that brings you joy
kind regards
peterb

Cheers peterb, appreciate it. I did notice bonsai south on the net. May well drop in.


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I have many trees from leong at bonsai south. For about 100 you will get a great tree worthy of the cause. You can always buy smaller trees for as little as 10 but these need a bit of time to develop. I suggest spend about 100 and be proud to show it off immediately.

Check out the wiki as there is a list of good starter trees there
In sydney most maples are easy and tridents particularly so.
Bonsai south is OK if on that side of the city, else Megumi or Rays

Ken

Give Ray Nesci a try, his got plenty of tridents and starter stock that he keeps in his greenhouse and at the back of the nursery.
Bought a Sparky that he cultivated and its a starter for $12. He also has 2 other specie which are Acer buergeranium ‘Nesci Gold’ and Acer buergeranium ‘Nescii’ which are also tridents that are cultivated by himself.

Also depends how far you want to travel and where you are located in Sydney.
Megumi Bonsai Art is located at Belrose inside Hidden Orient and Ray Nesci is located in Dural close to Castle Hills or Bonsai South in Caringbah.

I would like to visit a nursery with the largest stock so I have a good choice. I am in Lugano, so south bonsai would be the closest. Would Ray have the largest stock? I don't mind travelling.


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Hi Homer911,

First of all welcome to the forum and there is absolutely no doubt you will learn heaps here. Secondly sorry to hear about your mum. Being in the medical profession myself I know how difficult it is to deal with difficult time like this. You trying to grow a Japanese Maple Bonsai simply tell me that your mum must have been a great mother for you to do something like this. I am sure she will be proud of you.

Now to the bonsai part. Each and everyone of here on this forum have 1 or 2 nurseries where we buy our stocks, starter plants, tools, wires etc..and that always depends on distance we have to travel, and most important the customer service and availability of material and stocks. I would suggest that since you are in Sydney, you visit all three nurseries - Bonsai South, Orient Bonsai and Rays Nesci, and then you yourself can decide which one you would like to visit more often and why.

All the best

Jay

I agree with Jay, visit all 3. Make a day (or weekend) out of it) and travel to them. I guess you could call them the holy trinity of Sydney bonsai.

Also, I would buy some more advanced trees for you to muck around with.

There is a buy, swap, sell section of the forums here that you should have a peruse through too.

To get red maples bonsai, you need to use red leaved Japanese maples ( Acer palmatum). These will grow fine in Sydney. Use ungrafted trees. Atrourpureum is a very common red leaved cultivar.

Homer911 wrote:Hi all,

First of all I'm new here so hello everyone and thanks for all the great info on the forum.

I am looking at getting a Japanese maple as a starter bonsai. My mother passed away last month and she loved red maples and bonsais. So I thought I would combine both interests and create a living memory of her.

I know that the maples are difficult to train as a bonsai. But are there any recommendations of what subspecies to get?

Also any tips to go with that species? In living in Sydney.

I might buy 2 or three starters at the same time so increase my chances or success. I was also thinking of getting a different type of bonsai starter that would be easy to grow in this climate. Any other suggestions?


Thanks guys



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I'll try to make this short and sweet so as not to bombard you with the already listed information.

Red Japanese Maples are harder to grow than a normal green leafed Japanese Maple. They are much more susceptible to root rot. Ray Nesci will tell you this, and so too will Megumi and Terry from Bonsai Art.

If you a beginner, you probably only want to spend max of $20 or $30 on a tree, as they do require a lot of knowledge to grow them successfully. If your mother loved specifically Red Japanese Maples, then you can start out with ordinary Japanese Maples, and move up to the Red variety once you get a grip on maples in general.

All 3 nurseries are good, and it is irrelevant which one you visit. Join a bonsai club, and learn how to grow bonsai properly so they don't all die on you. Proper watering is the most vital thing you need to know when trying to grow maples, and when NOT to repot them. Maples need at the very least half-day sun and don't like having their roots constantly wet. Leong/Ray/Megumi will not be able to demonstrate everything you will need to know, and neither will this forum. Join a club and ask there, you will find people more than willing to show you the "what to / how to / when to".

Cheers for the info mate. Appreciate it. I went down to south bonsai today and picked up a trident and a juniper. Looking forward to getting stuck into it.


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OK. So here is my Trident maple.

I looking at styling/training it. Any suggestions? I have marked in blue where I think I should keep. And the rest would go. I am a total beginner so any advice would be appreciated.

I have read that I should prune/cut back just after the leaves fall. Is this right?

The small branch on the left I want to thicken up a lot. Unfortunately the fresh leaves were eaten by our resident possums.