Liquidambar - Sweet Gum Chop: Any advice?

[KKBonsai]

Hi guys! Any advice here. Ideally I'd like it a little bit shorter. Would I ruin it by chopping it right to the bottom branch?

 

[Shibui]

It is liquidamber. You can cut right to the ground and it will still send up new shoots from the roots. Leave a little stem above your branch just so you don't damage the sap flow. Prune back closer after a few weeks when the branch has started to grow properly.

 

[KKBonsai]

Thanks for the spelling. Yeah I'm definitely going to go ahead and chop it at that branch. I will follow your advice. Thanks

 

[AlainK]

Is it Liquidambar styraciflua, Liquidambar formosana, or Liquidambar orientalis ?...

 

[Shibui]

Do you know any features that differentiate between the 3 species @AlainK ? I've never been able to work out which are which.

 

[AlainK]

I'm not sure, here we only have L. styraciflua, many of them planted as street trees.

I have one L. formosana seedling planted this spring (thanks Michàl from IRL !) but it's still too small to make the difference. I think one of the main differences is the bark : L. styraciflua has a coarse bark, almost a cork bark, whereas L. formosana seems to have a smoother bark. L. orientalis (never seen any here) is said to have smaller leaves.

But I'm pretty sure there are posts about sweetgum/liquidamber/Liquidambar on the site...

 

[leatherback]

Good to get taper!