NEWBIE - Japanese Maple

[dutchcakes]

In my opinion this maple is not a good starter tree. The dead wood at the graft will not heal over and more times than not, the graft join will be noticle for life. You would be far better off sticking the tree in the ground and forgetting about it as a Bonsai. In my opinion, you would get a faster result and a better tree starting with a 2yo cutting and starting from scratch.
I think you'll spend a lot of time on something that will always be ordinary with an unacceptable defect.
Having said that, plenty of people have made the same choices. Some people learn from them and end up with good trees.
A local Bonsai Group would be a good start if you're looking for help.

I disagree Maple. Reason is, I don't think that's a graft at all. I think it's a big wound. The foliage on the top part of the tree and the branch growing from below the wound is identical. So, I think the route for this tree is to air layer off the very top part of the main trunk (somewhere round the red line) and then once the layer is removed, cut it right down to the first branch for a much smaller tree with great taper (somewhere near the yellow line). In time you can reduce the height of the remaining piece down to somewhere near the green line.

tree.jpg

Cheers,

Andrew

Hey Andrew, awesome advice. I'm also not sure about this bad boy on the smaller trunk... the green line should remove this though.

I doubt Very much it is grafted, just a large trunk chop that has not been cleaned out. That in itself is not a large issue either.

If you ignore the long lanky top, then there can be a nice tree in the base of it. I would love to see the nebari though. You shodu remove the Moss from the trunk as soon as you can, it will keep the bark wet and prone to rot.

There is at least 2 -3 other trees in this one, and before that lower trunk with the Uro is removed, I would like to see a picture from the left hand side please.
From that side it may well give very nice movement from the base up thru the bend and than regrow a new top above it. Need to see the Nebbari as well so get rid of the moss


Large Scars and wounds are call "Uro", and although not traditionally made on Deciduous stock, many people are now realising that in nature, the decid trees actually have deadwood, scars and other damage, so why not include them in our Bonsai?

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/articles/ad ... dent-maple
http://bonsaibark.com/wp-content/upload ... h-uro2.jpg

Lots of other examples around the web too than just these 2 links.

Ken

Hi Ken!

Really appreciate the time you took to have a look and give advice.

LHS views...




Also without moss (this has me worried haha)



The longer section in that last photo looks like a smaller branch that has been cut and it now growing smaller roots.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice!

I'll have a look for local groups

[Andrew Legg]

Dutchcakes,

As you go up the trunk, the length between bends typically reduces, so that second scar should not be a problem as you are likely to cut below it for new buds. That said, once you've taken off the main trunk, I'd give the second branch a few years to grow out to thicken up. You are looking for taper in your trunk, but not too much.

Cheers,

Andrew

[dutchcakes]

Dutchcakes,

As you go up the trunk, the length between bends typically reduces, so that second scar should not be a problem as you are likely to cut below it for new buds. That said, once you've taken off the main trunk, I'd give the second branch a few years to grow out to thicken up. You are looking for taper in your trunk, but not too much.

Cheers,

Andrew

Cheers Andrew,

I like your recommendation quite a lot. At least it gives me practice in a few different techniques also. I'll most likely take it to m nearest bonsai club and see what they say as well

Casey.

P.s. Cape Town? My gf is from there

[kcpoole]

Well the base is better than i feared.
Thanks for the updates and new pics. definitely you should put several layers on the tree, next spring, and the base offers 2 possibilities.
Andrew prefers to use the smaller branch as the basis for the new tree, Cut it back hard below your wound, Cut the larger trunk off competely and Regrow the the apex with new growth.
The other possibility is to keep the Larger trunk, and remove the low branch completely, cut the main trunk back hard and then grow a new apex completely utilizing what lower movement you canto give interest there.

Plenty of time to consider what to do while you put on a few layers, and seeing the tree in person might sway the decision either way for me.

Ken