AusBonsai

Hi all first time poster here,

Here is a few pics of my Japanese maple prebonsai.

It's spent the past two growing seasons in this poly box fattening up a bit. I've put a tourniquet on the trunk just above the old root base as the nebari needed to start from scratch again.

Plan for this one is to repot it into a flat shallow container after cutting off the old roots below the wire tourniquet, to start proper work on the roots.

Also thinking of chopping it back as per the red lines in the photos.

Any advice you all could give this newb would be much appreciated!

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R,

You have to cut deeper for a quality tree. I have put arrows on the branches which I believe are good ones to look at. This is assuming you are ready to start the post thickening development. If you want to keep thickening, you can lightly prune and do your root work.

I second Treeman's ideas.
Japanese maples are not easy as bonsai. They tend to get thickened lumps wherever you leave large branches or multiple shoots so they must be pruned rigorously.
Even if you want the tree to keep thickening I would remove all the thickest branches so the wounds can start to heal. Let new ones take off next year to continue thickening the trunk.

If you are happy with the trunk as it is prune for taper as per Treeman's pictures because those thick branches are far too big for that tree. Start developing branches from any suitable smaller branches and any new shoots that sprout next spring.

Thanks for the tips guys, will definitely be doing a hard prune.

Most of the branches will be cut I reckon in accordance with Treemans pics, however I was thinking of leaving the apex a little taller then the cut suggested, though.

I'll try and thin out some of the branches coming from the same spots as well.

Would winter be the best tome to prune maples in Melbourne or did I miss the boat of Autumn?

Thanks heaps again!

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ramathaham wrote:Thanks for the tips guys, will definitely be doing a hard prune.

Most of the branches will be cut I reckon in accordance with Treemans pics, however I was thinking of leaving the apex a little taller then the cut suggested, though.

I'll try and thin out some of the branches coming from the same spots as well.

Would winter be the best tome to prune maples in Melbourne or did I miss the boat of Autumn?

Thanks heaps again!

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Right now is the BEST time to prune Japanese maples in Melbourne. If you leave it till say late June they will start bleeding already by then. I suggest you prune to where I marked as above that point, the trunk is too thick. When you prune there, it's ok to leave a stub of 20mm or so and go back next year to remove it and clean up. That way you will get less swelling/callusing and it will heal more neatly. This has the makings of a good tree but you need to plan every step and make the tree do what YOU want it to.

Cheers mate, I'll prune it on the weekend and post the results!

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So I took the plunge and made the cuts! Hope it survives lol, always nerve racking. Leaving the leader long to help the growth and start on the apex.

Left a few branch options open too.

Thoughts from the experts?

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Good start. Good that you have taken the advice offered. I,d get a bit of wire onto that new leader and get a bit of movement into it before it thickens up too much.

Nice work and good to see you take the harder options to get a better tree long term

Ken

Good job

Thanks all for the great feedback! I have wired up the leader and a few of the larger branches to get a start on branch movement.

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2017/2018 summer update!

So after repotting into a colander and doing some root work, the tree bounced back pretty well in spring, and is looking healthy enough as at 1st of January.

Lost the top of the tree that I had wired as the new leader though as heavy winds broke the branch.

Worked out in my favour because three new leadershave sprouted out of a better spot just next to the trunk chop site which will hopefully help me add some more movement in the future

Sorry for the average photos below lol

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Be very wary of multiple strong shoots growing close together, especially with Japanese Maple. Several shoots growing close together can very quickly cause the trunk to thicken in that area and you will have reverse taper. Very difficult to reverse and very obvious when the tree loses leaves in winter.
I would select one of those apical shoots for the new leader and another for a branch then remove the rest as soon as possible.

Shibui is right (as always).
I'll also take Mike's advise in the future regarding JM Pruning and leave a little stub.
I've noted some less than ideal bumps on some of the more closely cut chops that I have done in the past.

So did some work on this over the past few weeks. Repotted into a large training pot. I found that the colander kept it too dry over the summer so moved to a traditional pot to help with water retention.

Did some light pruning to help get the bones set so will probably let it grow out over summer and look at it again next winter.

That being said, any thoughts on where I should go next with it would be much appreciated, particularly with regards to the apex!

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