MMJNICE
Shohin
So I had been wanting a large Japanese maples to develop from scratch and I found one at a local nursery that I thought had potential. I could tell from the shape of the lower trunk the root spread was fairly even at least growing from one plane and I've always like the particular bark of this type of Japanese maple so I bought it.
My next order of business was to start the process of cleaning up the trunk and bit. And to remove the burlap string that left a horrible ring around the lower trunk. That line is not a graft mark it was the nylon string that was left on by the nursery. And btw I can't really find a graft mark on the trunk anywhere. I would be very surprised if it wasn't grafted but if I can't tell most people probably won't see it either. I took a grafting knife to all the cuts I made and cleaned the wounds and knife with alcohol after each cut.
Later that night I got curious about the root spread so I started uncovering the soil around the base. I wasn't surprised to see very thick structural roots forming the root base because the tree was planted in field soil with zero potting soil in the pot at all. The tree and pot probably weighs about 70 pounds. The roots will need to be cut back to start forming taper to the root spread. They are not the prettiest roots but at least they are all in one plane and somewhat radial. My goal for the short term is to watch and wait for buds to start swelling to tackle the repotting and possibly build a box. The largest growing branch to the right may get cut off because the angle is weird growing parallel with the trunk.. Their is a bunch a little branches a couple of inches from the top of the chop point that will form my new apex area. I'm planning on getting a lot of areas where new buds will formed hopefully,, and if not ,,a thread graft will be preformed on place's that need a branch. I'm hoping to have something resembling a bonsai in 5 years. Year one is to choose and grow primary branches. Year 2 will be to thickin primary branches and preform the first cut backs to start taper and movement in the premiere branching. Year 3 will start the process of ramifying the primary branches. Year 3 also should be the second repot and at that point the roots will be assessed to determine if a ground layer is appropriate or if I can live with what the cut back structural roots look like. The tree will be repotted into mostly Academa to help slow down the growth leading to the beginnings of a refinement stage. Year 4 should continue the ramification of the canopy with techniques like defoliation and pinching being deployed. Year 5 I should have a fairly presentable tree and will start looking for bonsai pots to further refine the canopy. In a perfect world that how it will work. But i have not observed how vigorously the tree grows or it growth habit so more realistically the process could take much longer and will probably take 8 years. Btw this tree has been at this nursery for as long as i have been coming to this business and the owner estimates that the tree is 30 or 40 year old. The tree may get a new cut back to add more taper but it will most likely grow freely this first season.
My next order of business was to start the process of cleaning up the trunk and bit. And to remove the burlap string that left a horrible ring around the lower trunk. That line is not a graft mark it was the nylon string that was left on by the nursery. And btw I can't really find a graft mark on the trunk anywhere. I would be very surprised if it wasn't grafted but if I can't tell most people probably won't see it either. I took a grafting knife to all the cuts I made and cleaned the wounds and knife with alcohol after each cut.
Later that night I got curious about the root spread so I started uncovering the soil around the base. I wasn't surprised to see very thick structural roots forming the root base because the tree was planted in field soil with zero potting soil in the pot at all. The tree and pot probably weighs about 70 pounds. The roots will need to be cut back to start forming taper to the root spread. They are not the prettiest roots but at least they are all in one plane and somewhat radial. My goal for the short term is to watch and wait for buds to start swelling to tackle the repotting and possibly build a box. The largest growing branch to the right may get cut off because the angle is weird growing parallel with the trunk.. Their is a bunch a little branches a couple of inches from the top of the chop point that will form my new apex area. I'm planning on getting a lot of areas where new buds will formed hopefully,, and if not ,,a thread graft will be preformed on place's that need a branch. I'm hoping to have something resembling a bonsai in 5 years. Year one is to choose and grow primary branches. Year 2 will be to thickin primary branches and preform the first cut backs to start taper and movement in the premiere branching. Year 3 will start the process of ramifying the primary branches. Year 3 also should be the second repot and at that point the roots will be assessed to determine if a ground layer is appropriate or if I can live with what the cut back structural roots look like. The tree will be repotted into mostly Academa to help slow down the growth leading to the beginnings of a refinement stage. Year 4 should continue the ramification of the canopy with techniques like defoliation and pinching being deployed. Year 5 I should have a fairly presentable tree and will start looking for bonsai pots to further refine the canopy. In a perfect world that how it will work. But i have not observed how vigorously the tree grows or it growth habit so more realistically the process could take much longer and will probably take 8 years. Btw this tree has been at this nursery for as long as i have been coming to this business and the owner estimates that the tree is 30 or 40 year old. The tree may get a new cut back to add more taper but it will most likely grow freely this first season.
