Acer Campestre Progress Diary

[eplov90]

I am starting this thread to keep track of the Acer Campestre I bought back in April. According to the vendor, it had recently been either ground or air layered the previous year and has a decent root spread but I have not verified this. It arrived just as it was leafing out:



I left it mostly untouched throughout the summer to let it grow and it filled out quite well with leaves but didn't grow vigorously. Leaves just dropped recently and I'm trying to get a plan in place for the future. This is what it looks like right now:



I know I'll need to work on healing the cuts -- my plan for that is to scrape around them and apply cut paste to get the callous rolling.
In terms of visual goals, I am thinking of using the third pic as the front and going for something like this:

Open questions:
Should I be wiring out some of the primary branches right now to ensure the right direction once things start growing in the spring or wait until just before bud break?
Should I repot before bud break to check on roots and/or give it more growing room to pick up vigor? Or, since it didn't grow too much last summer, just let it be for another year?

 

[parhamr]

It’s a good trunk!

Does this receive full sun in your yard? Is it away from buildings’ shadows? That pot is small but I’m a bit surprised by how little growth you saw.

Yes, it would benefit from a larger pot, but I’m not sure that’s the only restriction. I suspect there’s some horticultural issue. Is the tree remaining water logged? Is the soil too dense?

In our climates, shortly after leaf drop (within a few weeks) is a great time to carefully wire for movement.

 

[discusmike]

Nice trunk line, I’m surprised he sold it being just layered last year, if it were mine I would let it grow for a season before any kind of serious work, I’ve lost layers the season after removal, take it slow

 

[Colorado]

Nice trunk! Love the graceful movement.

 

[leatherback]

These are bullet proof. Repot in spring. Decide upon direction then.

I would recommend trimming the branches to the frame you like, and wiring out the young as they grow.

As for bullet proof roots.. did not miss a beat:

 

[parhamr]

These are bullet proof. Repot in spring. Decide upon direction then.

I would recommend trimming the branches to the frame you like, and wiring out the young as they grow.

As for bullet proof roots.. did not miss a beat:

View attachment 410426View attachment 410427View attachment 410428

But the important details are this tree received freely draining soil in an appropriate pot size and its spot in your yard receives full sun for most of the growing day, right? (Looks awesome! I am just hoping you’ll vouch for the important, fundamental details that are required for this success.)

 

[leatherback]

freely draining soil

yes

receives full sun for most of the growing day

yes

Just to make the story complete.. Summer:

 

[eplov90]

Thanks for the responses.

@parhamr you are right, it probably wasn't as vigorous as it should be last year. I'm chalking that up to the fact it was recovering from being potted up into what I think it too small a pot after being airlayered and less than ideal sunlight. I had to temporarily move out from Feb-Oct for construction work and the temp rental only had a north-facing space with gentle sunlight for most of the day. My A.Palmatum loved it but this one not so much. The soil hasn't been touched

It is covered in buds so hopefully it comes out strong in the coming spring. Would you recommend putting it into a bigger pot before bud break to give it more growing room in 2022?

Also, from your comments @leatherback it sounds like there shouldn't be any issues with light wiring/trimming throughout winter?

 

[parhamr]

@eplov90 gotcha — that makes sense.

Yes, a pot about 50 percent wider diameter would be good for this tree. Oval or rectangle shape would look good. The depth of this pot looks right — try to find something close to what is has now.

 

[eplov90]

I got around to repotting this tree over the weekend and was surprised to find what I looks like a pretty good root system with radial spread and mostly fine roots. There was on small spot on the trunk that didn't have roots so I scraped away the bark/cambium and buried it so I hope to get more roots emerging there.

I probably could have been more aggressive and made the root base shallower but since the tree didn't grow that much last year, I decided to play it safe.



Looking forward to getting some growth on it this spring.

 

[AnutterBonsai]

very nice tree! jealous. Wishing you and your tree a successful 2022! watching thread for future updates.

 

[ERClover]

I got around to repotting this tree over the weekend and was surprised to find what I looks like a pretty good root system with radial spread and mostly fine roots. There was on small spot on the trunk that didn't have roots so I scraped away the bark/cambium and buried it so I hope to get more roots emerging there.

I probably could have been more aggressive and made the root base shallower but since the tree didn't grow that much last year, I decided to play it safe.

View attachment 421613View attachment 421614View attachment 421615View attachment 421617View attachment 421618

Looking forward to getting some growth on it this spring.

This guy wind up getting any better growth over the last couple years?

 

[eplov90]

@ERClover its gotten better but it’s still not a vigorous grower compared to my JMs and Trident Maples, which is odd. I’ll post some pictures after leaf drop but this is what it looked like a few weeks ago.

 

[ERClover]

@ERClover its gotten better but it’s still not a vigorous grower compared to my JMs and Trident Maples, which is odd. I’ll post some pictures after leaf drop but this is what it looked like a few weeks ago.

Looking healthy! Thanks for obliging with the update.