Japanese Maple with Coarse Primary Branches

[DrTolhur]

I've got this Japanese maple (Sharp's Pygmy) that looks good in leaf (photo from fall 2023), but the branch structure isn't so pretty (photos from fall 2024). I did some pruning away of excessive thicker branches earlier this spring, but I'm still not happy with it. The two main problems are that massive first branch and the thickness of all of the primary branches. I'd rather not take the nuclear option of removing all branches and starting from a bare trunk, but I am open to some restyling suggestions. It's currently about 10" from soil to top, and I'm not looking to make it much taller.

Should I remove more of the branches to create pads instead of a solid canopy?
Should I lean into the massive branch and let it form a separate secondary trunk line?
Something else?

Thanks.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Imho It depends upon your goals.

If the goal is a fine silhouette, likely hard cutbacks would be in the tree’s future.

Sharps love to create barrel like branches if one lets them go without frequent trimming. Have had to cut two back hard and restart them. This action caused a proliferation of fine branching…which gives one a good selection for the future.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shibui]

Coarse branching is one of the outcomes of fast growing Japanese maples. It is very common in purchased trees. You can live with it or you can start over. I don't know of any other options.
JM are also very, very susceptible to over thickening if more than 1 or 2 branches grow close together. The junction in the middle has 3 thick branches + the trunk. It's already showing some indications of inverse taper there. Same thing happens at the ends of branches where clusters of small shoots grow after pruning.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

This area is very congested and will get bad in time. It’s hard to make a suggestion on what should go based on this photo, but you probably need to reduce what appears to be 4 branches emerging from this node down to 1, 2 at most.

The coarse branching won’t get better without pruning, but to avoid dieback, you might consider where to cut back during this winter while it’s bare, and then make pruning cuts late spring so it heals and continues to grow finer replacement branches.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

You can live with it or you can start over.

This is really the only advice anyone can give. The branches aren't going to get un-thick Worse, you can convince yourself you will live with it, and do a lot of ramification work, and then decide five years from now that you have to fix it and you will have lost five years in the interim. Additionally, I agree with @Brian Van Fleet that you have to evaluate the structure and make sure you don't have too many branches at any one juncture, or you will get an ugly knob of inverse taper that will be very difficult to address.

If it were my tree, I would carefully evaluate the structure, and mark the branches I was going to remove. Then I would attempt to air-layer them in the early spring - and remove the branches if the air-layers did not take by late spring. I would tend to move aggressively - because I have learned it is better to make the big moves early on with your trees so you spend all your time working forward with a good design rather than regretting that you didn't fix problems years ago.

Note also that this is a grafted tree. The graft is well-done, but it is still there.

 

[Wood]

Am I the only one who sees a great start to a larger size tree? The whorl needs addressing, but the rest of it seems like decent bones. The tree seems to be about 12 inches tall given the size of the basket, so maybe building this to 16 inches. A couple more trunk and branch sections would improve the taper and visually reduce the coarseness

 

[SeanS]

Am I the only one who sees a great start to a larger size tree? The whorl needs addressing, but the rest of it seems like decent bones. The tree seems to be about 12 inches tall given the size of the basket, so maybe building this to 16 inches. A couple more trunk and branch sections would improve the taper and visually reduce the coarseness

The trunk would need to get to 2-3 times as thick to make the current primary branches ever look good. That lowest branch on the right in the last photo is a whopper! It’s almost as thick as the next section of trunk directly above it. While you’re growing the trunk thicker you’d have to drastically hold back those current branches to ensure they don’t get much thicker than they are now. Might as well just cut them off and build new ones, in my opinion

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Am I the only one who sees a great start to a larger size tree? The whorl needs addressing, but the rest of it seems like decent bones. The tree seems to be about 12 inches tall given the size of the basket, so maybe building this to 16 inches. A couple more trunk and branch sections would improve the taper and visually reduce the coarseness

It doesnt look like a tree in miniature. It looks like someone trying to grow a bonsai. There isnt a mature maple tree on the planet that has that kind of branching. So you can live with it, knowing you will never have a great tree, or you can try to address it in hopes of having a great tree in the future

 

[DrTolhur]

I'm aware that the thick branches won't get better by letting it grow. What I was wondering is if anyone had any specific styling suggestions that would allow them to fit better than they do. Like my suggestion of using the very thick branch as a sort of separate pad on its own rather than incorporating it into the canopy. In leaf, it basically mimics broom style, but without leaves, it's mostly just a mess. Would there be any moves away from broom style to make valid use of the thick branches, or is the consensus just that I need to remove pretty much literally every primary branch and start over? (I definitely agree that any solution involves removing more of the cluster near the top.) If the latter, should I just chop 'em all off at once in spring before leafing out?

I'm not particularly going for a natural look, but just visually pleasing and balanced.

Not that it really changes anything of the current conversation, but just for reference, this was the condition when I bought it. I don't know anything of the history as to how it got here.

 

[Shibui]

That's pretty typical of Ground grown Japanese maple offered for sale. Unfortunately most vendors prune for a quick sale rather than for a good future bonsai and that strategy obviously works. Would you have paid the same amount for a trunk with stubs instead of branches? With only half those branches?

You have had 4 very experienced growers explain the need to chop all the long branches and the need to remove several completely.
There's no strategy or style that I'm aware of that can accommodate all those thick branches if you want a good winter view.
Leaves will hide a multitude of sins so if you're happy to just have a great looking summer canopy you are welcome to retain branches as they are. Just be aware that if you do leave the bunches of branches and continue to trim the ends as you have, the swelling problems will quickly get worse.

Worse, you can convince yourself you will live with it, and do a lot of ramification work, and then decide five years from now that you have to fix it and you will have lost five years in the interim.

I've been there and done that too. The longer you leave it and the more work you've put in to develop ramification and a good outline the harder it gets to do the hard cut back to rectify those basic problems. Definitely easier, quicker and more effective to start right early as possible.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

I would not overlook the possibility of developing this tree, in my opinion, properly, by which I mean focusing on the trunk-line for 1-2 decades as well as the location of some primary branches. (Meanwhile developing the nebari, of course). Trying to make aesthetic decisions now by selecting branches on this tree as-is will never create a world-class maple bonsai.

I attached an image from Meriggioli's book in order to illustrate the core principle (not the aesthetic/design).

I attached an edited picture of your tree. You can cut back to the red line (not now, and not in one shot), and use the remaining branch as your new leader to develop a new trunk line. That new branch has sufficient internodes (circled in blue) so that it too can eventually be cut back. If treated properly, the wound(s) that you would be creating will leave scar(s), if any, far smaller than what is common to see at the highest level exhibitions in Japan. The movement that you would create going from your current trunk to your new leader might look severe now, but when that section of the trunk has grown to its appropriate 4-6" across and the height of the tree is 18-30" tall, that movement will seem relatively mild. You can also lean into the movement that this new leader will create and emphasize it -- to this end, I attached 3 inspiration pictures.

 

[dbonsaiw]

As a fellow newbie, I am often distracted by the existing canopy of a new tree and then struggle to decide what I want and how to get there. If your question is whether the existing canopy can basically be preserved so that you are at a later stage of development, I think the answers you are getting are (1) of course, but the tree will lack a certain refinement you may want at a later point; and (2) no, if you what you are trying to grow is a tree with refinement that gets the cool emoji responses here. If you are shooting for a higher quality tree, very experienced growers have presented different possible approaches, each of which I believe requires you to view the tree as being in an earlier stage of development. it can be a smaller tree, but the trunk and branches will need work. It can be a larger tree, but will need to grow out for some time and refined.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

When you have lemons make lemonade. You have several branches there that are thick enough to start new trees with. Air layer away in spring and you’ll end up with 4 or more trees to develop a well ramified collection of pygmies with.

 

[DrTolhur]

Thanks, all. As I'm not interested in making it either taller or bigger around, it looks like I'm pretty much left with going with the nuclear option. Given that, any more particular advice other than removing everything that isn't trunk come spring just before buds start to swell? (I'm thinking I might leave the wimpy lower branch in the back left.) Would that be too much wounding to the tree to do at once? Other strategies? I kinda like the street tree aesthetic on this, so I don't think I'm looking for a trunk chop to add movement.

Between not wanting to waste a year of growth, not looking to get more of this tree, and having a terrible success rate at air layering, I don't think I'll be going the air layer route. And I'm not looking for a great tree or even show worthy. I have pretty low standards as evidenced by my serious consideration to leave it as is. This is just for my own enjoyment, but I would like for it to look nicer than it does now.

 

[Shibui]

While I can't see the tree to assess it properly, I would probably not remove all branches completely. Some of them are a good size to match the trunk, just too long and straight with no secondary branching.

You want to get something like the area circled in red (plenty of secondary and tertiary shoots) but back, closer to the trunk instead of way out at the end of a long, bare branch. You can see the branches sprout new shoots but only close to the cuts so to get that effect closer to the trunk you need to cut closer to the trunk. I'm guessing somewhere near the blue lines. Each of the white rings around the branches are nodes where new shoots can grow from so leave 2-3 rings on each branch you want to keep.
The big thick 1st branch may or may not stay, depending what emerges from it and whether the thin one might be a better 1st branch but make sure you chop that wimpy branch short enough to get some secondary shoots where they need to be.
You'll need to assess the cluster of branches and decide which one(s) to remove completely. Start with removing the thickest if possible. If you can't decide which of the others to keep just chop both and see which looks better after they develop new shoots.