Fixing scars

[Mitch_28]

Can anyone offer up some advice to best deal with the 2 yr old pruning scar on the main trunk?
(The short stub will probably go soon, just removed an air layer)

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[melbrackstone]

I'm not sure that can be fixed. I'd cut just below the scar and develop the short stub as the new leader if it has any latent buds in it. Leave the stub from under the scar to die back to create a collar, then you can see where to cut it back to. That should allow the trunk to heal much better.

[Ryceman3]

I agree with Mel. Although I think you can heal that scar out in the long term, I think the best bonsai move regardless is ...

966A8FF4-25B5-4DAE-8FD8-B4D0CA1004B8.jpeg

Cut at the red line, look to the green line for movement and hope some stuff happens like the yellow line. I think it should... although I should ask...
“What kind of tree is this?”

[TimS]

Yep +1 to the cut back option as per Ryceman's photo.

Japanese Maple have thin bark, so any ugly wounds will heal over ugly and just look ugly generally for an exceptionally long time. When you have young material like this the best bet is to cut it off leaving a little stub to die back naturally and then once it has died off you can flush cut it for it to heal over smoothly. There are many decades ahead for this to become a bonsai, so you may as well start off on right foot rather than having to cut it back later down the track anyway.

[Mitch_28]

I agree with Mel. Although I think you can heal that scar out in the long term, I think the best bonsai move regardless is ...

966A8FF4-25B5-4DAE-8FD8-B4D0CA1004B8.jpeg

Cut at the red line, look to the green line for movement and hope some stuff happens like the yellow line.

“What kind of tree is this?”

Yeah I thought this might be the case. It's a young maple. I had pruned it back to that point a couple of years ago but obviously didn't do the best job.

Thanks for giving me some direction

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[Mitch_28]

Japanese Maple have thin bark, so any ugly wounds will heal over ugly and just look ugly generally for an exceptionally long time.

Yeah I can see that now after not doing it properly originally

When you have young material like this the best bet is to cut it off leaving a little stub to die back naturally and then once it has died off you can flush cut it for it to heal over smoothly.

So once it has stopped its die back and i cut it flush it won't try and die back further?? Then do I do a slight concave finish to improve the roll over growth??

Is this the case for most deciduous species?? Eg wisteria and elms etc

There are many decades ahead for this to become a bonsai, so you may as well start off on right foot rather than having to cut it back later down the track anyway.

My thoughts exactly, thanks for your input
Cheers Mitch


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[melbrackstone]

Thanks for the acknowledgement Ryceman.

[TimS]

When you have young material like this the best bet is to cut it off leaving a little stub to die back naturally and then once it has died off you can flush cut it for it to heal over smoothly.

So once it has stopped its die back and i cut it flush it won't try and die back further?? Then do I do a slight concave finish to improve the roll over growth??


Cheers Mitch


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If you let the stub die back naturally, it will compartmentalise at the next branch or bud below the cut and you should not get any further die back after removing the stub. If you flush cut back straight away, there is a possibility that the compartmentalising will happen at a bud or branch further back than the branch you wanted. Hence best to leave the stub and let it die back to the branch naturally.

I have a shishigashira young air layer that did exactly that, i cut back too close to the branch i wanted, and it has died back below it to a new bud on the trunk. Now i have to grow the bud out to be a branch rather than using the branch that was already there.

[Ryceman3]

So once it has stopped its die back and i cut it flush it won't try and die back further?? Then do I do a slight concave finish to improve the roll over growth??

The die back will be to the next junction between trunk and branch (sometimes referred to as the “collar”). Once it occurs you can concave cut at that point the following year. All things being equal it won’t continue to die back from that point.
As for other deciduous, elms can be treated the same ... I don’t own Wisteria so can’t say definitively, but I imagine so.

[Mitch_28]

Thanks all for the wisdom, much appreciated

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