A Japanese maple

Beautiful tree!
Did you ever find a source for long strand sphagnum? (I'm in Michigan too, just on the other side of the state.)
 
Not really. I was able to buy
Beautiful tree!
Did you ever find a source for long strand sphagnum? (I'm in Michigan too, just on the other side of the state.)
a small brick of sphag moss through Amazon... had always purchased bales directly from nurseries in GA but nobody has them or can order them now, it seems.
 
@Dav4 @queenofsheba52
I can get these at my local lowes here for $5 and some change. I can ship some if y’all need some.
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That one looks better than the majority of s.moss I have found at Lowes or Home Depot. But from that pic I can tell you that the quality of the Besgrow brand seems better. They have a new package look, I thought it was a different quality, but it contains the same 70% of 100mm strands in the bale as the classic one.



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That one looks better than the majority of s.moss I have found at Lowes or Home Depot. But from that pic I can tell you that the quality of the Besgrow brand seems better. They have a new package look, I thought it was a different quality, but it contains the same 70% of 100mm strands in the bale as the classic one.



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It’s good enough for my needs and it’s easy to get more of when I run out. The besgrow does seem to be a little better but for twice the price I’ll stick to the cheap stuff 😉
 
IMG_8669.jpegIMG_8670.jpegIMG_8671.jpegIMG_8675.jpegIMG_8672.jpegIMG_8673.jpegIMG_8676.jpegOne of the styling struggles I’ve faced here is trying to induce movement in some of the older branches. Difficult by not impossible with maples, and it usually involves guy wires. I have such a wire, attached to the bottom of the pot, pulling the main left branch down, and I recently added another to pull outer branch up to deal with the straight section. That obviously wasn’t going to work with the upcoming repotting. A steel screw at the base did the trick.
 
It’s 71° here today, and I have the day off… Boom!
Repotting this tree is a bear. Start to finish, it easily took me over three hours. Properly caring for this tree is going to probably shorten my life, but I think it’s worth it😎.
The short version of the repot… Several root grafts were placed, and I’ve raised the nebari up a bit… Time to show it off a little :).

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I did cover the shallow roots with milk, Spagna Moss after watering.
 
It’s 71° here today, and I have the day off… Boom!
Repotting this tree is a bear. Start to finish, it easily took me over three hours. Properly caring for this tree is going to probably shorten my life, but I think it’s worth it😎.
The short version of the repot… Several root grafts were placed, and I’ve raised the nebari up a bit… Time to show it off a little :).

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I did cover the shallow roots with milk, Spagna Moss after watering.
Milk??
 
So, this portion of the roots spread has been bothering me since my repot a few weeks ago. Truthfully, I kind of rushed through the repot because it was very warm, breezy and dry, and the roots seem to be drying out faster than I could keep them wet. Poor excuse, but there it is. Anyway, after staring at certain portions of the base for the last few weeks, I was contemplating, adding a few root grafts here, but realized that the answer was to cut away the higher and straight roots in favor of the smaller, lower roots. Just like pruning the canopy back to improve taper and ramification, we should be striving to do the same with the roots and I dropped the ball a few weeks ago, but I’m glad I got to it today. I did add a few root grafts as well.
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stunning tree and such a beautiful progression to share with us as a resource and as art. thank you so much, went through the thread for the first time a few weeks ago and it is captivating to see the great transformation that occurs over time as well as all the thoughtful individual decisions that create a tree both very prosaically and as if by magic
 
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