AusBonsai

This is one of the numerous Japanese Maples that were removed from my garden in Winter 2008. They were chop topped and potted having naked trunks apart from one which i used a saved branch as a new leader All in all i'm very happy with the progress . Cheers Alpine

great progression alpine'

i have a few of these starter trunks in pots but no idea what to do with them- now i do!

thanks for sharing

dregs24 wrote:great progression alpine'

i have a few of these starter trunks in pots but no idea what to do with them- now i do!

thanks for sharing

yea put some coloured pegs on em and you will get some nice shape

really though you have done great in a two year period Ian!! i am amazed at 9 defoliations over that time. great stuff!

thats some nice maples hrmmmzzz "PEGS... the new wire" lol

going to go try it too and see if its good

I love the idea of pegs to weigh down the shoots and get them growing where you want them. Great innovation! You should market them as expensive "Bonsai training clips" or something!

Glenda

Nice progression with the maples in two years, it looks like the pegs have been inspiration to a few people. I also will give this ago on my maples as it seems to have worked for you

Thanks for the tips Alpineart.

All good results with pegs , need more weight just clip on another peg . Rarely do i use wire on Maple trainers , i'm too lazy and the shoots are too soft . Be very careful in windy weather have had a few problems over the years .Yes pegs are quicker than wire, easy to adjust . Clip a leaf and shoot together so the peg doesn't slide down and snap the shoot off. In excellent growing conditions a peg a day may be required .Don't tell your mates ,if you do tell them there hippy trees . Cheers Alpine

This is today effort on my Japanese Maple .Tip pruned every set of leaves for the last 2 months ,now time to do the first of several defoliation for the season and sort the branchlets and shoots out .The height was also reduced by 100mm

Thanks for that alpineart, it's great to see what can be achieved in a couple of years. I'm certainly going to apply some of this knowledge to my 3 decent sized maples, once the air layer comes off of course.

Cheers,
Matti

Hi Birchman , it is more than possible to get 3-4-5 times the ramification growth out of a Maples in 1 year as long as you have the roots to feed it . I have been doing this for 12-15 years timing is essentual , and each area/climate will be different . Its all trial and error until you get a happy medium for your area . Cheers Alpine

These are the sister tree's in the ground for root works , they have had whips thread grafted into the base and allowed to grow on .Defoliated today ,they certainly are performing better than expected .Cheers Alpineart

alpineart wrote:These are the sister tree's in the ground for root works ,

100_6725.jpg

they have had whips thread grafted into the base and allowed to grow on .

100_6727.jpg

Defoliated today ,they certainly are performing better than expected .Cheers Alpineart

Great article, I am just starting out with maples and I appreciate your efforts in passing on knowledge.

Could you please explain "they have had whips thread grafted into the base and allowed to grow on"

Thanks

Hi Dutchie thread grafting is a method used to increase or improve the root-mass , side grafting can also be used .Whips are 1-2 year old seedlings thin as a match to about 6-8 mm .A hole is drilled into the base or thick root slightly larger than the base of the whip , through which you slide a whip into until it is snug .Do this in the area requiring the roots then pot up or place in the ground and grow on .Over a season the whip will fuse into the hole and the top of the whip can be removed .There you have it , new roots on and existing tree . If you type in "thread grafting" into the search box i'm sure there will be a topic including pics in this forum .Cheers Alpineart