AusBonsai

This is another large maple i ripped out of the garden yesterday .Lacking a good Narebri i again root grafted a few whips onto the base ,2 dozen palmatum seedlings were used .Still has a lot of reduction to be done however i will let it rage for a year or 2 then reduce it to a managable height .It should make for a nice wind swept Maple .

Originally the tree was about 3.5 high however the borers ring barked the main trunk so i removed it and used the bottom branch as the new leader .It stands about 1.3 m high and has a base of 130mm at soil level .Cheers Alpineart

Very nice, extremely jealous, , is it not too early to graft yet, especially down your way ??, and dare I ask where the Gap Filler goes ??
James

Hi James , the gap filla is acrylic so i guess it would work as a sealing agent , but alas i didn't think of that until now "Good Idea" I must test drive it and see how it goes .I used my little blokes playdoe ,don't tell the world or the secret will be out .A member from elsewhere has been using it for quite a while so i thought i would test it out . No failures only lessons learnt . Its actually the 50mm tube for size comparison i was thinking of .Cheers Alpine

Hi Alpine, you must have a garden full of maples as they seem to keep rolling out, are you going to leave any behind ? Your atro will be superb once you develop a canopy of twigs.
Craig

Hi Alpine, you must have a garden full of maples as they seem to keep rolling out, are you going to leave any behind ? Your atro will be superb once you develop a canopy of twigs.
Craig

Hi Craig , still got a couple in the ground however they too will come out before the borers kill them off .I did a Acer Campestre Feild Maple/Hedge Maple this afternoon ,used trident whips as i didnt have any palmatums suitable . Again it will work or it won't .It should look quite interesting with some ramification on board .Cheers Alpine

Hi Alpine, I will be very interested to see how the field maples progress. I have had a couple of them self seed in my garden I have no idea where they came from as there are no trees in the immediate area. Is the atro grafted or on its own roots, I could see no evidence of a graft ?
Craig

Hi Craig both trees are grafted "exceptional grafts at that" .I hand picked these 12 years ago if you look real close you can see a rough patch/ring in the bark .The Acer Japonicum has a slight reverse taper where the graft is .Somewhere in my minds eye i must have thought of using these as Bonsai ,guess the borers made up my mind in the end .

I have a large Japanese Maple that has been attacked by the grubs i lost the right side trunk last year , it too has to be removed . I plan to layer 20 apexes off before removing .I have trimmed the branches into trainers in readness for layering .I have to butcher another Campestre today and probably thread graft it as well .No rest for the wicked .Cheers Alpine

This is an update on the tree. While the shoots have remained over winter the root grafts didn't take/fuse to the old base .Not wanting to loose this tree i decided to inarch graft 24 Trident whips onto the lower section to create a completely new root mass . Using an angle grinder with a blade attached i simply cut 2 dozen 2mm slits into the trunk and inserted the 3mm selected whips . As the whips are inserted the bark is damaged slightly on the whips hopefully speeding up the fusing process . Now with the whips in place , grafting tape is wound around the base to secure them in place and the whole tree is potted up and back to the bench for another season . Cheers Alpineart

The angle grinder with the guard and handle removed for the pic.ALL SAFETY EQUIPMNT IS USED WITH A WEAPON LIKE THIS .Ineeded a little helping hand after yesterdays effort , saves the back for another day .Cheers Alpineart

very nice mate !

I look forward to seeing you develop this one, the base has a good start, and windswept is a harder style to create but I have faith in your abilities

Hi Jamie , i'm hoping for an informal upright for this tree .It hasn't the foliage or branches on one side , but the future is looking bright ,Hopefully with the extra root power something will happen on the other side .Cheers Alpine

what an awesome idea, such a wealth of information on here, I'm gonna find it hard to get away from the computer and outside amongst my trees. what is more important? theory or practical?

Any updates for these trees alpine?

Would love to know how they're coming along.

Cheers,

Ces.

Hi Ces , mate this one and many others died shortly after my bike accident back in 2011 . I was i hospital and the following weeks i was unable to get reliable help to water, Wifey done the best she could , but it wasn't enough for a lot of big material .

Cheers Alpine