Amur maple from H.D Give me some guidance on what to do next

[Elyah]

What do you think does this amur maple have potential! I plan on planting ingrown. My question is coming spring .Do l trunk chip and rooot work and where would you chop .Could you give me some steps to the process.If this were Yours to make a bonsai. Got it from home depot on sale half price $22.00 it’s about 5 1/2 Feet tall

 

[cbroad]

I'm not telling you to do this, but if this was mine, I'd chop it now. Amur's are super tough and super cold hardy and (in my area) I know if I did it now, there would be plenty of time to regrow the next section this season.

I rarely give any styling advice because I really don't know much shit besides the basics but I'll post a virtual of what I'd do.

 

[cbroad]

I'd maybe cut that left trunk a little lower and maybe the right too. Also I'd try to clean up the interior stubs more to make a better transistion to the taller stub, in the hopes it would heal somewhat ok.

I'm working on a branched virt, but it might be crude.

 

[cbroad]

I was thinking twin trunk, you can probably see where I'm going with it.

But nonetheless, it was pretty cheap and you can have some real fun with it!

 

[bonsaichile]

The gap in between the trunks in your vietual will look pretty awful in reality. I would suggest to rethink which trunks to cut off

 

[Elyah]

Thank you all for the replies keep them common .I just don’t know what to do right now. I’m Reading Up Listening to all advice from Bnut

 

[bonsaichile]

Thank you all for the replies keep them common .I just don’t know what to do right now. I’m Reading Up Listening to all advice from Bnut

If you dont know what to do, dont do anything. Wait until you can see a path forward for this tree. there is no point in cutting off things now if you dont know what is it that you want to do. Better to wait than to cut something that later you wished you hadn't cut!

 

[Jcmmaple]

Wow nice find and good price, i want a Amur maybe I need to check my local Home Depot. Keep us posted on updates is like to see what you do

 

[MACH5]

Elyah, do you know what the root base looks like? That would be the first thing I would check. I really like amur maples but very hard to find ones with good and believable root bases that go all around the trunk.

 

[Elyah]

Not yet I’ll be planting the tree tomorrow in groundI’ll take a look and post pictures.

 

[Lorax7]

One thing you could try doing even before you have a solid plan for the existing trunks is air layer or take cuttings from higher up on the tree (areas that are obviously not going to be kept in any design you might come up with). You’ll get some practice and, if successful, have a few more trees to experiment with.

 

[Johnnyd]

Elyah, do you know what the root base looks like? That would be the first thing I would check. I really like amur maples but very hard to find ones with good and believable root bases that go all around the trunk.

Would you consider ebihara method on Amur maple in spring(screwing it to a wooden board and bury in a training box)? Not sure if it is done with Amur. I'm also starting to take an interest in Amur. They are vigorous and cold hardly in NJ.

 

[Elyah]

Been rethinking it.I know this is not the time of the year to do root work but , would it be OK to Comb And wash away all the dirt’ and planted in a More freely draining soil .and then Plant in training box. Here are some pictures of the root mass.

 

[bonsaichile]

Been rethinking it.I know this is not the time of the year to do root work but , would it be OK to Comb And wash away all the dirt’ and planted in a More freely draining soil .and then Plant in training box. Here are some pictures of the root mass.

To what purpose? What are you trying to achieve by doing that? Those are 2 questions I always try to ask myself before doing anything to my trees.

 

[Lorax7]

Been rethinking it.I know this is not the time of the year to do root work but , would it be OK to Comb And wash away all the dirt’ and planted in a More freely draining soil .and then Plant in training box. Here are some pictures of the root mass.

Disclaimer: The following is a heretical statement and there are several people who will undoubtedly strongly disagree with me on this point. This is my personal opinion and I am not making a recommendation. You’re the decider.

You could do some root work and the tree will probably be ok, providing that you are attentive to its needs and neither underwater nor overwater it. However, if you do this, you are rolling the dice and there is some risk that you might kill your tree. Are you comfortable gambling your $22 that you spent on the tree? The upside if it works is that you’ll get your tree settled into good free-draining soil this year and the tree will have recovered by next spring and you’ll be all set to move on to step 2 of your master plan, whatever that is, during next years’ growing season. The downside if it doesn’t work is you end up with a dead tree for the compost pile. I wouldn’t recommend repeating this in the future once you’ve invested effort in training the tree, but as a one-time thing to jumpstart progress on a cheap nursery tree, it’s something I have done before. Just answer Clint Eastwood’s question. Do you feel lucky?

 

[River's Edge]

What do you think does this amur maple have potential! I plan on planting ingrown. My question is coming spring .Do l trunk chip and rooot work and where would you chop .Could you give me some steps to the process.If this were Yours to make a bonsai. Got it from home depot on sale half price $22.00 it’s about 5 1/2 Feet tall

I believe the roots are the foundation of a healthy plant. My reccomendation is that the first thing you should do when acquiring a new plant is determine the condition of the roots and then repot at the appropriate time for the condition and species you are dealing with. All the rest should follow after the tree has recovered from root work and is growing well.
If you plan on reducing the number of trunks take the long view. Stage their removal to improve the healing of scars and also keep the tree stronger during each successive stage. What appears to be a slower approach will give you quicker results in the long term.

 

[Elyah]

Disclaimer: The following is a heretical statement and there are several people who will undoubtedly strongly disagree with me on this point. This is my personal opinion and I am not making a recommendation. You’re the decider.

You could do some root work and the tree will probably be ok, providing that you are attentive to its needs and neither underwater nor overwater it. However, if you do this, you are rolling the dice and there is some risk that you might kill your tree. Are you comfortable gambling your $22 that you spent on the tree? The upside if it works is that you’ll get your tree settled into good free-draining soil this year and the tree will have recovered by next spring and you’ll be all set to move on to step 2 of your master plan, whatever that is, during next years’ growing season. The downside if it doesn’t work is you end up with a dead tree for the compost pile. I wouldn’t recommend repeating this in the future once you’ve invested effort in training the tree, but as a one-time thing to jumpstart progress on a cheap nursery tree, it’s something I have done before. Just answer Clint Eastwood’s question. Do you feel lucky?

This is exactly what I’m contemplating.I know this is not right approach. Got busy today, but I did comb around just to check out the base of the stump and some surface roots.I attached some more photos haven’t decided to take the chance clean out all the dirt do very light root work and plant ina grow box. So I will be a step ahead next year like you said. Thanks

 

[MACH5]

Would you consider ebihara method on Amur maple in spring(screwing it to a wooden board and bury in a training box)? Not sure if it is done with Amur. I'm also starting to take an interest in Amur. They are vigorous and cold hardly in NJ.

Yes I would say that ebihara method is/should be applicable to all deciduous species.

 

[Elyah]

This is my thought on design when the time is appropriate . I lack experience how do amur heal. And please those experienced any design Thoughts would greatly be appreciated?

 

[MACH5]

They heal but do so very slowly! Not at all like Japanese maples or tridents. Be careful with such large cut backs as I have been cautioned of sudden dieabck. It has not happened to me but then again I have not been in a situation where I needed to do such large chops on an amur.

As far as your intended design and keeping in mind these things, I would make use of most of your existing trunks but shortened quite a bit (about 2" off the trunk) and build a tight canopy out of it. This is all based on what I see. It is often tough to give meaningful and specific design advice just from a photo.

EDIT: If you end up cutting back using the existing branches, cut them back longer that the final intended length for safety.