Beginner, first prebonsai, Amur Maple

[justkilintyme]

Hello Bonsanut!
I am very new to Bonsai. My first 'bonsai' was a gardinia gift for our anniversary. It is alive and doing well, but not super impressive. I've always had an interest in bonsai, and ants and trees in general. This sparked a big interest.
This week I went to The Flower Market in Michgan and was blown away by their bonsai and prebonsai. I went with the intention of getting a Trident maple, but the guy there spent quite a bit of time explaining the challenges of keeping a trident in zone 6a, and steered me toward more appropriate choices. I picked up a larger Amur maple prebonsai in a training pot, and two seedlings that will be planted in the ground for now.
I really like the larger prebonsai, and don't an to do anything until after winter. The shop said it would be OK to repot then.
I dont know which way to go with the tree for final design. I feel like I should work on cleaning up and developing the roots/nebari when I repot.
I am open to critique, suggestions, etc.
Also, it it OK to post updates as this develops? I enjoy following progression threads with pictures along the way showing the various stages.

 

[Atom#28]

Welcome! YES, absolutely share updates!! I am excited to see where your big maple leads you... or you lead it....( I still haven't figured out who's the boss, us, or our trees)

 

[leatherback]

Welcome to the nuthouse.

You do not waste time beating around the seedling bushes and get a bug tree straight away. Cool Tree!
Please do keep updated. But also.. If you have no-one around who does bonsai: Use the hive here to discuss routes forward, before taking drastic steps!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Nice-
Lots to chew on!

 

[hinmo24t]

nice. i want a gardenia

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Congrats on keeping the gardenia alive. Not everyone can do that. As an indoors for winter bonsai, they are good to great, all their flaws are forgiven when they bloom.

The amur maple, Acer ginnala or sometimes referred to as Acer tataricum or Acer tataricum var. ginnala, is a great choice for bonsai if you are living north of Memphis. The Amur maple has a range the spreads into the colder regions of Siberia and Mongolia, it can take cold winters without missing a beat. Set it on the ground, in the shade of a fence or building and forget about it for the winter, and it will be fine.

Looks like you have several Amur maples there, the big pot and 2 smaller pots. You can combine them all to make a forest. Repotting would be done in spring. Or you can keep them seperate, and attempt different styles with each.

On the big one. You have multiple trunks. Over winter think about which trunks you want to keep. Remember, with deciduous it is pretty common to reduce a trunk drastically the first time it is styled. Often all the branches on a deciduous are removed especially if branches have gotten overly thick during early phase of trunk development. Your trunks on the big one are large enough, it is ready for its first styling. Spring, or early summer, after it has recovered some from being repotted.

Keep in mind, the largest diameter trunk should be the tallest. The second in diameter trunk should be reduced to about 2/3rds the height of the tallest. The smallest diameter trunk should be either 2/3rd of the height of the second trunk, or 1/3rd the height of the tallest trunk, which ever make more visual sense. Play around with ideas. Ponder this over winter.

So you did find a nice piece of material to work with. Keep us updated. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't follow styling suggestions without considering them and seeing them in your own mind's eye. Its easy to look at a photo and make suggestions, it is another thing to have the living tree in front of you. Only take advice after looking at the living tree in front of you and deciding the advice made sense. (in other words, it is okay to ignore me).

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Props to the Flower Market for taking care of you!

May want to observe the WP method for handling these, as I think some of these came from TFM.

Preparing American deciduous broadleaved trees

Jennifer, Ron, Jeff and Walter have fun working on these trees. These are all deciduous broadleaved trees which were collected in America. They are mostly American hornbeams, Swamp Maple, oaks, linden, hydrangea and others. You can see what they look like after two vegetation periods and how...

www.bonsainut.com

Walter certainly has an eye to develop this kind of material. Stuff you wouldn't think has a direction, gets a direction, and of course, there are end results.

If you can catch Jennifer up in MI again, definitely do so. Wonderful group to learn from!

9 reasons to love the Arctic Trident....in one inch.

Now if I can only remember when I made that cut! Acer Ginalla. Pics? Discussion? My favorite.... Any pudding with proof to feed naysayers?

www.bonsainut.com

Sorce

 

[justkilintyme]

Crazy indeed. I'm headed back to TFM Saturday for more. Also have signed up for their beginner indoor bonsai workshop next weekend.
I greatly appreciate the comments and links to other progression threads.
I'm also open to ideas as to where to start with this tree, and have time to analyze before doing anything.