Japanese maple from my growing bed

MACH5

MACH5

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This is a Japanese maple that's been growing for several years in my growing bed. It started as a small tree and I grew it specifically to make a shohin out of it. Occasionally I have taken it out and worked the roots as well as chopping it back and letting it grow out all over again. This year I decided to dig it out and start to refine it and build a small tree from this material. It now has a trunk of 3" with a pretty decent spreading nebari that I will keep fine tuning and improving.

Below are pics of just before I dug it out of the growing bed.








Just as it was pulled out of the ground.





The tree was roughly 5' tall.






Roots being washed and cut back. I also pruned it back to create an initial structure keeping only the fine, smaller growth.






And finally potted into a wooden training box. When I get a chance I will do some wiring and let it grow all season long. Next year I will asses what I have and begin the process of more careful branch selection and refinement.








Large chop at the back is almost completely healed.

 
Looking good! I too am wondering roughly how old this tree is.

Jamie
 
Nicely done, I'll be keen to watch this as I have a palmatum currently in the ground for the same purpose. How long did it take to grow the 3" trunk diameter?
 
Mach5.....

He also does it in the ground!

Slick!

Sorce
 
was it an airlayer at first? a cutting? a seed tree? The root flare is awesome.
I would really like to know how often you do root work and and how much cutting back of the roots that involves.
 
Max, the tree I believe was started from seed or cutting. Not sure though. It was originally purchased from a member of my old club (which I just rejoined last year) around 1996 as a small tree. I had it for a few years in a plastic pot. I remember buying it because the nebari was already showing good promise.

Circa 2004 I planted it in the ground to hopefully get something nice out of it. Root work was done periodically, about every 4 to 5 years and branches cut back where appropriate. All roots growing downwards were cut off and all of the thicker lateral ones were cut back. In later years I started to prune it back more judiciously as the tree was taking shape for a future shohin or small size bonsai.

I think it is important at some point to just let the tree grow as much and as tall as it wants to and let it be for a few years. I have a few other projects in the ground but are not ready yet for primetime. It is good to do a little of everything. :)
 
Man, this tree appears to have a great future! It looks like the right work was done at the right time. You've got a nice trunk with movement and taper, good surface roots...great potential. I wish my ground-grown trees all looked this good.

Was thinking about how long this may have taken last night, was thinking close to 15 years. So I wasn't too far off. Of course, it would take somewhat longer up here, as everything does.

Curious about your thoughts on one thing - if you look at the picture in the first post where you are holding the tree with your left hand (labeled "Roots being washed and cut back") - what are your plans for the right side first branch? You've got a pretty large stump from an old sacrifice branch, with two smaller branches growing above and below. Will that area be a first branch or possibly a subtrunk? Or will it all eventually be removed? That would leave a large scar to heal...

Chris
 
Chris, yes that's a bit of a problem area. I left both branches for the time being as you can see. I don't know yet what I will do, but most likely I will keep at least the lower right one as a first branch or sub-trunk. There is also the possibility of keeping both. Most likely I will decide more accurately what I will keep after seeing what the tree has to offer after this year's growth.
 
Thanks Mach5! If you could, next time... if you remember... could you take pics of ground growing trees root work?
 
I would say that for 12 years old it really had some strong growing seasons. Mine from seed take 2 - 3 years just to be big enough to call a start.

Excellent job that we all can learn from.

Jamie
 
@Mach I know I'll love what you have for its future, but as of now it reminds me of the second Japanese maple I listed over at this thread, post #85.
 
barrosinc said:
Thanks Mach5! If you could, next time... if you remember... could you take pics of ground growing trees root work?
Click to expand...


Yes, I have another one I may take out and will try and take pics of it. A bit challenging to photograph when your hands are covered in dirt and try and take pics as you go along. :rolleyes:

j evans said:
I would say that for 12 years old it really had some strong growing seasons. Mine from seed take 2 - 3 years just to be big enough to call a start.

Excellent job that we all can learn from.

Jamie
Click to expand...

Yes I did get some excellent growth in most years. But I also did not start with a tiny seedling either.

thumblessprimate1 said:
@Mach I know I'll love what you have for its future, but as of now it reminds me of the second Japanese maple I listed over at this thread, post #85.
Click to expand...


Thumbless that's a beautiful maple! Would not mind at all if mine looked half as good as that one! :rolleyes:
 
great start! ive been meaning to get another jm to do root over rock with but havent found the right one yet.
 
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