The Warm Canuck
Shohin
In the Fall of 2021, I bought this Amur Maple from a local nursery. For the size of the stock Amurs are pretty cheap here. I just burried in the ground and than reduced the roots and stuck in a large pond basket and planted it in a grow bed. Once the leaves hardened off, I air layered it (which was a great success): You can also see the original tree here:
www.bonsainut.com
I got it out of the pond basket and did it's first root prune and WOW, what a mess! In hind sight, I should have done the root work last spring but I hadn't worked with the species and sided on staying conservative. I've been told about their vigorousness but had to witness it for myself. It was littered with thick roots and I had to reduce the root ball massively. This species is also known for unpredictable die back, but I was lucky with air layer stub, as it did die back a bit into the trunk, but I don't think it's going to be an issue. I wish I took a picture of the root ball, but I was so busy with it, that I never did. If it was another species, I wouldn't have cut the other trunk after such invasive root work but, after seeing how robust the species is, I'm hoping it will be fine. However, in hindsight, I wish I cut the stubs higher, I forgot about the dieback issue.
The trunk is still a lot more straight than I would like but it is what it is.
Amur Maple Air Layer Seperation progression w/pics
So here's my first successful air layer this season. (well partially I guess, we'll see if it survives). I only started this layer about 5 weeks ago, I'm astounded at the amount of vigour this species displayed. The rootball was tight and compact. The piece of wood is screwed to the bottom of...
I got it out of the pond basket and did it's first root prune and WOW, what a mess! In hind sight, I should have done the root work last spring but I hadn't worked with the species and sided on staying conservative. I've been told about their vigorousness but had to witness it for myself. It was littered with thick roots and I had to reduce the root ball massively. This species is also known for unpredictable die back, but I was lucky with air layer stub, as it did die back a bit into the trunk, but I don't think it's going to be an issue. I wish I took a picture of the root ball, but I was so busy with it, that I never did. If it was another species, I wouldn't have cut the other trunk after such invasive root work but, after seeing how robust the species is, I'm hoping it will be fine. However, in hindsight, I wish I cut the stubs higher, I forgot about the dieback issue.
The trunk is still a lot more straight than I would like but it is what it is.
