Maple styling advice

[nick-laing]

Hi All,

I purchased these maples around 6 months ago and have not touched it since purchase.

Normally I would have gone straight at it but I exercised restraint and waited for winter.

So what are your thoughts? Each tree and some really nice movement and the base is pretty much fused.

Should I exercise more restraint or is it time to style?

Cheers Nick

IMG_2474.jpg

[Bougy Fan]

I would plant them in the ground or a grow box and grow them on and chop them a few times.


Tony

[Damian Bee]

Hi Nick,

Check this thread out.

viewtopic.php?f=129&t=8369

[kcpoole]

Hi Nick
As the others alluded to, the trunk needs to be thicker and have definite taper between each section.
The only way to achieve this is grow in the ground or large pot, and trunk chop several times over several years.
As was said in the linked thread. Grow, Chop, Grow, Chop etc

See this tutorial on Trunk chopping from Steven
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8312

Ken

[NathanM]

I agree with above advice. It will need to put on some size.
But there are some REALLY nice example of triple trunk Palmatums in Japan, so it definitely has potential

[alpineart]

Hi nick-laing , i would be utilising the tripple trunks for sure . Building on the ramification and thickening of the trunks can be done in a large tray or pot .Ground growing will also thicken the trunks .Personally i would put it into a large pot/tray so it could be rotated for even growth .Cheers Alpineart

[shibui]

Japanese maples look really great with multiple trunks so I'd keep the 3 trunks. Remember tallest trunk looks best when it is thickest so you need to encourage the middle(in your pic) trunk to thicken while holding back the smaller trunks a bit.
Japanese maples are a bit harder to grow on in the ground. I have ruined more than I have improved so be careful with quick growing methods. Fast growing produces very long internodes and there is a tendency to thicken as much at the top as the base so taper is easily lost. Though it takes longer the best Japanese maples are developed slowly in my opinion.

[nick-laing]

thanks guys,

I am in the long haul with these trees anyway so time is not an issue.

Have moved to a smaller place for 6 months so not allot of outdoor space for all my trees to be in grow boxes so it may need to stay in a small size pot for now.

Should I leave the long growth that extends out or will it help to build strength and thicken the trunks?

Nick

[PaulC]

Hi Nick,

an interesting question regarding whether to let the branches grow in order to thicken the trunks.

Some would say yes, others, Im sure, will say no.

I line of thought suggests why go the extent of getting these branches to grow, just in order to remove them later, when the energy and growth, (as well as time), may be used to help the tree in other directions.

Maples do have a tendency to have some long lead growth, and while this may be advantagous for the bulking up of the tree, I would keep an eye on the length of the growth, as the internode ( space between the leaves and growth) can become very long.

This may result in a large space between future branches, and make for a more open tree, thus requiring more time in order to produce finer branches ( ramification ), as well as some scar area that will need to be grown over.

Just some food for thought.



Regards,


Paul

[nick-laing]

Some of the lead growth is out to about two foot. I left it all on from when i purchased it in summer so I could re assess in winter.

My was that it should come off to put further strength directly into the trunks rather than it been drawn away.

[PaulC]

Nick,

seems you may have already answered your own question !!


I would be starting to bring everything back into shape if it were my tree.

Just remember not to cut back the branches to where you want them, but to allow an area of `die back ` when you do prune.

Nice start to what we all hope will be a great triple trunk.

Well done, and happy growing.



regards,


Paul