Ideas for this sad looking 'Beni-Otake' Japanese Maple

[mthelm85]

I picked this tree up today in the discount section of a local Japanese maple retailer. This is by far the biggest nursery stock I've tried to work on to date, so I'm looking for some advice. Some questions I have are:

• Is there any reason this particular variety wouldn't make a good bonsai?
• It appears to me that the leaves are sunburned but, other than that, my novice eye doesn't see anything seriously wrong with the tree. Anyone else seeing anything different?
• When should I make the big chop to bring it down to bonsai size? I'm in Zone 9a (western Washington state). Should I wait until next season to do this when the tree is healthier?
• Should I consider air layering instead of chopping the trunk?

 

[WIlliam_Butler_Yeets]

should definitely wait to do any chopping or layering. you wanna do that when the tree is getting ready to spend some time growing so it can recover relatively quickly, if you were to chop now the tree would be going into winter with fresh wounds.

 

[Shibui]

Agree that the problem is burnt leaves and that's quite normal for Fall. The tree appears to be healthy otherwise.
I'm not familiar with Beni Otake but most of the red leaf cultivars have larger leaf size, longer internodes and strong growth which makes it more difficult to tame them as bonsai. I'd probably aim for larger size rather than smaller.
I would not chop this time of year. When I have done Fall chop to JM they often shoot then those shoots don't mature in time to go dormant for winter. Maybe that won't matter in 9A. Mine just had leaves all winter then shot new ones in spring then went back to normal cycles - zone 9B? I don't think a chop now will achieve more than doing the same chop later so I'd wait till late winter or spring.

Consider layers carefully. Layering will delay your plans for around 6 months, maybe a whole year and what do you achieve?
The trunks and branches I see have no taper or really attractive shape so converting any layer into bonsai will take many years. If there was a great branch or trunk I'd say yes but I can't see that here. If you just want another Beni Okame then layer, otherwise just go right to the chop.