AusBonsai

Decided to defoliate this trident maple today. Too longer than I thought but thankfully had a shady spot to do it in.

Have no idea where this triple trunk is going and to be honest I'm not sure I even like it.

So after the defoliation I did some thinning and a very basic wire. There is more tree in the bucket than there is left on tree!

Comments and feedback are very welcome. Be nice, be brutal. Honesty is what makes us better!

Before the defoliation


After the defoliation


After some basic thinning and wiring





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I like it a lot
After seeing the second pic i was going to say they top needs shortening and a bit more movement, and then saw the last photo.
Just what i would have done

Ken

can you show the other side with the large wounds ?

I trimmed my maples last week.
I think it's a good idea to reduce the leaf surface area before the hot weather, to reduce water lose and stress.

I leave the first pair of leaves on the to feed the of buds at their base in the hope it helps.

Here is the back. It's clearly no good from here!


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I would have let the leaders grow until they are at least 1/2 - 3/4 the thickness of the lower trunk and then chop as you have. Then grow again and repeat. This will produce better taper in the long run as well as helping with the healing of those large wounds. As it stands now, you have a very impressive base with a shohin on top which isn't a good look in my book.

Hi guys,
I'm just wondering what you guys advise for one's prebonsai's . I have one in a polybox I'm trying to thicken up. Would you recommend removing the leaves to cope with this hot weather?
Cheers
Michelle

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If your plan is to thicken it up, I wouldn't defoliate. Lots of feeding and keep the water up to it in this hot weather.

If you want to seriously thicken it up like the one I have here, grow it in the ground for a while. You will notice from the back of the tree that this was drastically chopped after some time in the ground.

Hope this helps.


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I second that Michelle. More leaves = more growth so if you want growth leave it to grow. Leaf pruning is for refinement, not development.
Feed and water is good for getting plants to grow. Try to keep the water up to it during hot weather but if some leaves burn don't worry. The tree can work out which ones it needs and will drop badly burnt ones and grow new ones if it needs. Partly burnt leaves look a bit unsightly but are still useful.

I like the side with the scars better I must admit. So all the above advice above will also help to heal the scars and give you an alternate front.

Grant

mushishi wrote:Hi guys,
I'm just wondering what you guys advise for one's prebonsai's . I have one in a polybox I'm trying to thicken up. Would you recommend removing the leaves to cope with this hot weather?
Cheers
Michelle

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If you want thickness --> grow more leaves. The reason is plants need leaves for photosynthesis and respiration. The more leaves, the more chlorophylls will be available for photosynthesis, which is the process to produce energy for growth. However, sometimes it's important to have the first trim of long thin branches to facilitate lateral growth of more branches and leaves a little later.

Final words, to thicken the plants, trim the long thin branches to encourage lateral growth of more foliage but keep the leaves for photosynthesis.
Cheers
DK

Grant Bowie wrote:I like the side with the scars better I must admit. So all the above advice above will also help to heal the scars and give you an alternate front.

Grant

I tend towards Grant's view, with a slightly different angle.
However, I'd remove the small trunk (too straight) or chop it about 1/2 way and regrow it, rechop the main trunk with a neater chop for better healing, put it in the ground and grow a new apex.

Thanks for advice guys. Yep I am feeding half blood and bone half dynamic lifter monthly. And watering daily. Unfortunately being in a rental I can't plant in the ground as I risk having to dig it up at the wrong time. Hence the polybox and growing it over a dinner plate my only viable option with this tree.
I'm keeping it filter sunlight so it's coping OK so far but a long summer ahead. Got heaps of new growth over last few months so I'm pleased.
Thanks again.


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kvan64 wrote:

mushishi wrote:Hi guys,
I'm just wondering what you guys advise for one's prebonsai's . I have one in a polybox I'm trying to thicken up. Would you recommend removing the leaves to cope with this hot weather?
Cheers
Michelle

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If you want thickness --> grow more leaves. The reason is plants need leaves for photosynthesis and respiration. The more leaves, the more chlorophylls will be available for photosynthesis, which is the process to produce energy for growth. However, sometimes it's important to have the first trim of long thin branches to facilitate lateral growth of more branches and leaves a little later.

Final words, to thicken the plants, trim the long thin branches to encourage lateral growth of more foliage but keep the leaves for photosynthesis.
Cheers
DK

Thank you for suggestion of taking out weaker branches instead of foliage. Sounds like a good idea.

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With a trunk like that, whatever you do, you need to stick this in the ground for 5 years to thicken above any chop.