AusBonsai

Hello,

Here are a few young maples I have on the go at the moment.

[img]seansMaples.jpg[/img]

A couple of these have been air-layered off each other and are doing good, but... I'm unsure of the best way to fatten these guys up and really kick-start their trunks.

I am aiming for an eventual Maple bonsai forest scene as I gradually collect smaller and larger trees (for playing with perspective).

If I'm moving house in 6 months or so, should I bother planting in ground? Or just keep in their pots.

Also, what fertilizers should I use for pumping up these bad boys??

Keen and eager,
Sean

If you are moving in 6 months there is no point in putting them in the ground. The only way to thicken them up is by letting the branches grow. A branch will only thicken the section of the trunk below that branch so if you let the branches run at the top of the tree you will not get good taper, what your trees really need is some low branching. When I am growing maple trunks I usually build one section at a time starting from the root base and working up the trunk over a number of years.
Having said all of that if you intend to use them for a group then taper is not such an issue just a variation in trunk thickness and height. You need to select one for the main tree and let it grow like crazy for a couple of years so its head and shoulders above the rest.
No point in feeding them right now as they are dormant but come spring you can start feeding with DL or blood and bone or seasol power feed or any other ferts you like.
Craigw

If you wish to thicken up the base of a trunk I let one branch grow long in season one and then thread graft it through the base of the trunk.

In some cases I might use four or five Each graft will form a new sacrifice branch. The trunk then thickens around the point where the branch exits the trunk.

I don't have any photos of a "finished" one on my phone sorry

That's great advice.
The trunks on mine are still quite skinny, so I don't know how I'd go drilling tiny holes to thread the branches through.

I actually just bought a much thicker / bigger maple to add to this collection for the maple forest.

This plant was $49.95 from a nursery. It's about 4.5 feet high and nearly an inch thick at the trunk. At this point, it's in the lead for the center tree in my forest.

It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but there are about 5 smaller tree's which I could air-layer from this, and still be left with a thick main trunk that will be a nice hefty one for a main trunk in the forest.

When should I begin air-layering? The start of spring? Middle? End?
Do you think pure sphagnum moss is the best option? Or mix with some soil too? Then gladwrap them up.

Also... how many should I air-layer at once? If a tree has 5 air-layers, is that going to be problematic?

With your new tree & the ones you already have you are well on your way to a forest planting.
As long as each section you want to layer has some leaves you can set as many as you like in one go. Start the layers once spring growth has hardened off and removed once they have enough roots. Pure sphagnum will be fine for them.

That looks like a coral bark.

Damian Bee wrote:That looks like a coral bark.

Yes it is, but the other ones are different also. It looks like a couple of coral barks and a couple of standard palmatums

Excellent! Yeah the coral bark ones look very pretty with pink trunks and very bright green leaves.
The standard palmatum has been air-layered in half. If I end up with 7 smaller trees from my new plant, that'll take me up to 12 in total! Exciting times.
But yes, can't get too excited just yet... need to get them a bit chunkier.
I saw a cool video by Linsay Faar where he makes a maple forest, looks great, but he did them with rather hefty trees, mine won't be like that for ages:
http://vimeo.com/3332472
Good video though.
I think I might needs some shorter tree's in the mix too, to help add a sense of scale.