Japanese Maple

joshw · Post by **joshw** » September 13th, 2014, 12:35 am

Hi everyone,

I have had this tree for the best part of a year and still have no idea what to do with it.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Josh

Phoenix238 · Post by **Phoenix238** » September 13th, 2014, 6:20 am

I'd do something like this, but wait for one of the more experienced members to comment first as I haven't worked with Japanese Maples before. The branches need to be chopped back hard to build some taper, then select one of the leaders up top to keep and remove the rest

JapMapleJoshw.jpg

JaseH · Post by **JaseH** » September 13th, 2014, 8:56 am

How about something like this for the trunk line?

JM.jpg

EdwardH · Post by **EdwardH** » September 13th, 2014, 10:08 am

Good idea Jase. Puts some movement in the trunk and from there rebuild the branches.

Post by **Bougy Fan** » September 13th, 2014, 10:18 am

Did you do some root work this winter ? That big root at the back needs some work. I would remove everything except that branch at the top front which would become the new leader. It should go into a bigger pot to help it grow on for a bit. If you leave it in that bonsai pot it will be very slow to develop.

Post by **kcpoole** » September 13th, 2014, 11:41 am

I like the Peonix Virt myself.
Leave the branch stubs to give new shoots rather than taking them right off. I think Alpine described the reason why not so long ago?

I woud like to see other pics from each side.
the front you have seems to move away from the viewer. What is the other side like?

Ken

Post by **Bougy Fan** » September 13th, 2014, 11:50 am

OK Ken I am dying to know what a Peonix Virt is ?

gerald randall · Post by **gerald randall** » September 13th, 2014, 4:26 pm

I like the third photo.

I have a maple. All the branches where cut off totally, no stubs. I am re growing all the branches at the moment. It will
take a few years, but they will be in proportion to the trunk. The tree was grown in the ground and the branches were too thick and hard to do anything with. The trunk in my opinion is the most critical part. Good trunk, strong roots and the branches take care of themselves.

I tried to post a pic of the bare trunk, but my photos are all larger than 1mb. I see a lot of work for me to take new photos, or load from my laptop instead of my tablet.

Bush bunny · Post by **Bush bunny** » September 13th, 2014, 4:39 pm

boogy , I think he means a photo shopped image. I think?

Post by **kcpoole** » September 13th, 2014, 5:25 pm

Bougy Fan wrote:OK Ken I am dying to know what a Peonix Virt is ?

Hah smarty!!

this post from a few above from Phoenix238
Re: Japanese Maple
Postby Phoenix238 » Today, 06:20

Ken

Andrew Legg · Post by **Andrew Legg** » September 13th, 2014, 8:32 pm

kcpoole wrote:I like the Peonix Virt myself.
Leave the branch stubs to give new shoots rather than taking them right off. I think Alpine described the reason why not so long ago?

Ken

Ken,

If memory serves, if you chop a maple it will die back. The point of leaving the stub is to give the latent buds time to develop before the sapflow is lost in that area.

Cheers

alpineart · Post by **alpineart** » September 13th, 2014, 9:45 pm

Hi joshw , mate tridents heal probable 4 times quicker than any Japanese Maple I have cut . The scars are very slow to heal even with many sacrafice branches . I have a dozen here purpose grown plaited , cut and re-grown , pinch and grow trunks and all are fairly naked as far as branches go but plenty of shoots around the severed branches . My idea is to grow various trunks using different tactics but they are now ugly trunks full on scars or unhealed chops .

All of these have been ground grown for 5 years taken real care to minimise scars and are as ugly as sin . Serverely chopping your trunk may take 5-10 years to heal in a pot , possible a minimum of 5 in the ground . Can you post some pic's from the rear and sides , there may be other options with less scars or vertually none .

Cheers . Alpineart

Post by **kcpoole** » September 13th, 2014, 10:15 pm

Thanks Andrew and yes something like that.
We all know to leave a Stub on maples so it dies back to the next node itself, but the comment i was referring to was leaving a collar around the tree to shoot from, Rather than cutting it all off flush and maybe concave to have a smaller wound

Like Alpine says, i would like to see other views before deciding.
Ken

Brad75 · Post by **Brad75** » September 16th, 2014, 6:49 am

Hi there,

What to do?...FEED, FEED, FEED, FEED and FEED again! Grow stacks of branches and twigs on then you'll have a better Idea of what to cut off. In my experience Japanese maples need to maintain foliage so don't be too keen to cut back hard; they don't grow like chinese elms so be careful.

Cheers,

Brad75.