Amur Maple Trunk Chop

[Backwardsvg]

Any update on this tree I love it so far.

 

[August]

Hey Colorado; I have a few trees I need to trunk chop this next season, would you consider May the best time for this? (I'm in the Denver metro)

 

[Colorado]

Any update on this tree I love it so far.

Thanks! It is tucked away for the winter, in a shady spot with a nice layer of snow.

It needs to be repotted in the spring as the box is full of roots and starting to impair drainage significantly.

 

[Colorado]

Hey Colorado; I have a few trees I need to trunk chop this next season, would you consider May the best time for this? (I'm in the Denver metro)

Depends on the species. For maples like this one I like to do a trunk chop after the first flush of new leaves has hardened off in the spring, that’s what I did with this one anyway. That would probably be around May but depends on the tree and weather.

 

[Colorado]

I repotted this tree out of the grow box and into an oversized bonsai pot for further development.

The box was chock full of good roots:


You can see the bottom is starting to form a flat, plated base


Nebari is coming along ok for a nursery tree. Maybe I’ll take some cuttings this year to use for root grafts in the future.


Oversized training pot, 2:1 akadama to pumice. Nebari buried for further development.

 

[clem]

Good job !
I wonder if the root (red dotted) is usefull ? As it seems that there is a more ramified one (green dotted) which grows below it ? ->

 

[Cajunrider]

I just read through the entire progression.
Love the work!

 

[Colorado]

Good job !
I wonder if the root (red dotted) is usefull ? As it seems that there is a more ramified one (green dotted) which grows below it ? ->
View attachment 481898

Good point Clem! That didn’t really occur to me at the time, but I will have to look closely at it next repot

 

[Colorado]

I just read through the entire progression.
Love the work!

Thanks Cajun! It’s been a fun journey with humble material

 

[Deleted member 47471]

This is an Amur Maple that I purchased last year as nursery stock. If memory serves, it was approximately $40 and in a 2 or 3 gallon container. Here’s a photo from Summer 2019:
View attachment 302384

I did a “late summer repot”, which I wouldn’t really advise for more extensive work. Here, I just reduced the bottom 1/3 of the root ball and reduced down a bit from the top. I put it in a plastic training pot I had laying around.

View attachment 302390View attachment 302391

It had a nice nebari starting to form. I covered that back up with akadama top dressed with spagnum. Nice fall color:
View attachment 302392

I had originally planned to let the tree just grow this year and accumulate energy. But the tree exploded with growth this spring and I decided to go ahead and do some work on it this year. I’d say I chopped low enough, no?
View attachment 302393View attachment 302394

I plan to update this thread as a progression periodically.

Looks good to me. I hope you accomplish the taper you desire. I like the interesting movement in the lower trunk, but you placed the chop in the right place as far as I can tell for traditional style/taper.

I wonder if you could have made the trunk even thicker (slab under soil) and then made the chop, but it depends on your vision and what the tree reveals to you as its keeper.

 

[August44]

Looks good to me. I hope you accomplish the taper you desire. I like the interesting movement in the lower trunk, but you placed the chop in the right place as far as I can tell for traditional style/taper.

I wonder if you could have made the trunk even thicker (slab under soil) and then made the chop, but it depends on your vision and what the tree reveals to you as its keeper.

Like what you have done a lot!

 

[Colorado]

Looks good to me. I hope you accomplish the taper you desire. I like the interesting movement in the lower trunk, but you placed the chop in the right place as far as I can tell for traditional style/taper.

I wonder if you could have made the trunk even thicker (slab under soil) and then made the chop, but it depends on your vision and what the tree reveals to you as its keeper.

Like what you have done a lot!

Thanks, y’all!

 

[jazzwhiz]

Updates?

 

[Colorado]

Updates?

Well we got 16” of snow at my house last weekend and another 8.5” yesterday so it’s currently buried in snow . You can just see the top branches poking out, lol.

 

[Colorado]

 

[Colorado]

Well, this has been a fun project over the last few years. But I decided to sell this tree so that I can focus on native conifers. In my climate, deciduous are just too high maintenance. Even though Amur maple is extremely cold hardy, I end up having to shuffle it a ton in the spring because it will break buds super early and then we will inevitably get more storms with many feet of snow and freezing temps that will destroy the fresh new leaves.

The tree is now with a RMBS club member who I’ve sold a couple trees to.



It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend!

 

[Jrmcmich]

You did a nice job on that tree. Disappointed won’t see updates as I have an Amur maple but definitely lots of good insight on how to train a tree over a longer term.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Well, this has been a fun project over the last few years. But I decided to sell this tree so that I can focus on native conifers. In my climate, deciduous are just too high maintenance. Even though Amur maple is extremely cold hardy, I end up having to shuffle it a ton in the spring because it will break buds super early and then we will inevitably get more storms with many feet of snow and freezing temps that will destroy the fresh new leaves.

The tree is now with a RMBS club member who I’ve sold a couple trees to.

View attachment 543604View attachment 543605

It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend!

I have the same problem with mine. It starts growing in February when our last frost date isn't until the end of April. I am going to continue shuffling mine, but I understand where you are coming from.

 

[Colorado]

I have the same problem with mine. It starts growing in February when our last frost date isn't until the end of April. I am going to continue shuffling mine, but I understand where you are coming from.

Yeah, I have the same problem with pretty much all of my deciduous. I am going to keep just a couple that I can’t part with

 

[Corrado]

With fall color like that I could never let that one go!!! beautiful!!