LG Chuhin Kotohime

[Lars Grimm]

Hi All,

This is a progression thread for a chuhin sized kotohime in my collection. This was originally purchased from @MACH5 in the summer of 2017. Like almost all kotohime in the US, it was originally from @William N. Valavanis stock. Here are the pictures originally from Sergio in a Koyo pot at the time. It has a great base. The canopy needed to be completely built and some trunk chops still needed to be healed.

 

[Lars Grimm]

It was switched to a plastic training pot for shipping (sadly the pot stayed in Sergio's collection). I just let it grow that summer to get stronger, heal trunk chops, and thicken some of the branches.

Here is a shot in the Winter of 2018/2019 with bare branches. You can see that many of the branches have elongated and thickened nicely. Some areas still obviously need a lot of work.



In the Spring of 2019, I potted it into a Waldo Street pot that I had available. It is too deep for the final pot, the it looked much nicer than the plastic!! This tree has beautiful red foliage in the spring.

 

[misfit11]

That base is fantastic. It will be a great tree once the branches develop. You don't want it in a shallow pot until the secondary branches are set anyway.Keep us posted of the progress. Sergio has amazing trees!!

 

[Lars Grimm]

In 2019, it made some really nice strides towards building the secondary and some tertiary branches. Here is a winter 2019/2020 shot.



This species just gets such thick clumps of leaves it can be very overwhelming. This Spring after it fully leafed out you can see it develops these tufts of dense leaves.



Here you can see how dense these leaf clumps can get.



I go through and remove the first one or two basal leaf pairs but leave the tips to allow elongation. In my experience kotohime doesn't want to elongate like other japanese maples so by removing the basal leaves you are stimulating extension growth. Here you can see after the clean up job.



And here is the final shot after the work (it started to get dark). Even though the tree is small it took a couple hours with the tweezers and small scissors. I'll continue to feed strongly. The secondary trunk on the right needs another sacrificial branch to smooth the transition, but I am very pleased with the progress so far.

 

[MrWunderful]

Always wondered what a few years of removing the basal leaf technique would do. I don't think I've ever Seen anyone document it.

Ive always been intimidated by the “tufts” of foliage on kotohime.

 

[Mike Westervelt]

That's a beastly maple, I like it!

 

[MACH5]

Wonderful Lars! You are doing a great job with it.

 

[AndyJ]

I go through and remove the first one or two basal leaf pairs but leave the tips to allow elongation. In my experience kotohime doesn't want to elongate like other japanese maples so by removing the basal leaves you are stimulating extension growth. Here you can see after the clean up job.

Lovely tree, Laras, really like it. Please can you explain a little more about the basal shoot removal technique? Do you mean that on each branch, you remove the lowest shoot? Or leaves? Or do you mean you remove the lowest leaf pairs on the trunk itself? I’ve got a young Kotohime and would like to learn appropriate techniques to develop it.

many thanks

 

[Lars Grimm]

Lovely tree, Laras, really like it. Please can you explain a little more about the basal shoot removal technique? Do you mean that on each branch, you remove the lowest shoot? Or leaves? Or do you mean you remove the lowest leaf pairs on the trunk itself? I’ve got a young Kotohime and would like to learn appropriate techniques to develop it.

many thanks

I base it on a technique I read about from Julian Tsai's bonsai blog discussing Shishigashira Japanese Maples

 

[Lars Grimm]

Here you can see a couple weeks later that there are extensions everywhere. If I don't do this, then you often just get tufts of growth without the extensions.

 

[ConorDash]

Here you can see a couple weeks later that there are extensions everywhere. If I don't do this, then you often just get tufts of growth without the extensions.
View attachment 293130

Found your thread because I am trying to figure out how to deal with my "tufts of growth without the extensions." ....

I should have reduced the number of buds earlier in the spring, now I have a BUSH of leaves but barely any extensions that I need + dying leaves on the inside, due to lack of light... *sigh*, oh well. I have wasted some time. It should be a strong tree, so ill reduce and clean it up now, hopefully get a second flush to get some development going.

 

[JuniperMasterRace]

Do you do anything to monitor the pH level of the soil for your kotohime maples? I read that putting a small amount of gypsum powder is appropriate.

 

[Lars Grimm]

Do you do anything to monitor the pH level of the soil for your kotohime maples? I read that putting a small amount of gypsum powder is appropriate.

No, I don't do anything to tweak the pH levels. There are many factors that go into affecting the pH of the soil: composition, water, fertilizer, environment. I suspect that adding gypsum powder would be beneficial for only a small number of people given the specifics of their pH situation and not a general practice.

 

[Hartinez]

Great progress with this tree Lars!! Exceptional material.

 

[erich_raudebaugh]

I base it on a technique I read about from Julian Tsai's bonsai blog discussing Shishigashira Japanese Maples

This is really helpful, thanks for the link and progression!

 

[discusmike]

Amazing tree Lars

 

[Lars Grimm]

Quick September update. The tree has been growing strong. I pruned off a couple sacrifice branches a couple months ago and have a couple still in place. Looking at the silhouette, I might need to expand a bit more of the silhouette on the right. I'll wait until leaf drop to do some more side by side comparisons, but I have been pleased by the growth and some ramification this year so far.

 

[Lars Grimm]

Here is a fall update. I went through and removed a bunch of longer growth. I wired some extensions. One challenge is that it tends to produce growth at slightly wider angles so I have to work with that. I've always used aluminum for my deciduous but switched to some fine copper (#18) half way through and I am in love. It works so much better. Unfortunately, it is a grey day so not the best lighting.





I also go through and rub off a lot of buds. These will be buds in the wrong spots, but also buds in areas where I want a little bit of extension. The kotohime produces internodes that are actually too tight so I have to rub off many proximal buds. You can see a nice before and after here.



Smaller side by side from 2018 to 2020 showing the progression of branches.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Great job, it's developing nicely!

One challenge is that it tends to produce growth at slightly wider angles so I have to work with that

I wonder if @William N. Valavanis , David Easterbrook, or Suthin Sukolsovisit have found any tricks? They all have extraordinary Koto Hime specimens and severals decades of experience with Koto Hime.

During his first episode on the Asymmetry podcast Vojtilla mentioned that the orientation of buds transition from parallel to perpendicular in proportion with the length of the branches. From memory, I think he was talking about birch though. I have not investigated this idea yet, but planned to test it out this spring with Koto Hime and Shishigashira.

 

[BobbyLane]

Its just going to get better, looking good.