Long term progression sapling maple tips

[Bigggtuna]

Hi all, I’m looking for some tips on long term progression of red maple saplings. I harvested this sapling from a field last year and it’s overwintered wonderfully buried in this plastic pot. Because of the angle that it’s growing, I want to eventually show this as a shohin semicascade, but at the moment the trunk is straight and boring.

My plan is to plant it at a near horizontal angle and let the two branches at the base grow vertically for a while as sacrifices to thicken the base and allow the trunk to straighten out a bit, so at a later repot the trunk may exit the soil vertically before turning into what is currently the trunk. I will also wire and shape the smaller branch about 1/2 way up the trunk and allow it to become the leader to add even more movement. Will this work? Any suggestions or improvements on my plan?

I also inadvertently collected this tiny sapling along with it that seems to have been stepped on or something and is a near perfect natural literati…if not for the fact that its only 1mm thick! Is it possible to keep it this shape and only thicken the trunk? Should I just snip any and all buds along the trunk and top it when it gets too tall? Or would thickening necessarily straighten it out a bit?

 

[Gabler]

You’re trying to do too much too fast. Just let them grow until they’re as thick as you want the final trunk to be, and then cut them down to size. It’ll take a few years. You’ll want to do a little root work and up-pot the trees during that time to set yourself up for success down the road, but don’t worry about anything other than the base of the trunk for now.

 

[Bigggtuna]

Yes I know it will take a few years or longer. I am trying to control the direction and locations of growth as it thickens before I do anything more than repotting. I plan to this by repotting at a more dramatic angle so the two branches at the base grow vertically and the rest continues to grow at at least somewhat of an angle. If I just leave it untouched it will certainly straighten more, grow vertically, and continue to be rather boring, no?

 

[Gabler]

Yes I know it will take a few years or longer. I am trying to control the direction and locations of growth as it thickens before I do anything more than repotting. I plan to this by repotting at a more dramatic angle so the two branches at the base grow vertically and the rest continues to grow at at least somewhat of an angle. If I just leave it untouched it will certainly straighten more, grow vertically, and continue to be rather boring, no?

You won’t be using anything that grows above the current height of the trees anyway. You’ll be chopping it off. Planting the trees at an angle will also screw up your ability to develop an even spread of roots. Have you read the resource on developing maples? I’ll post a link…

 

[Gabler]

I’ll post a link…

Article - Chopping Maple trees

Learn the difference and how to make pine tree looking maples and the spreading meadow maple.

www.bonsainut.com

Red maples are even more vigorous than Japanese maples, so you should get even better results during development (albeit with bigger leaves and internodes during refinement).

 

[Gabler]

I look forward to future updates on these trees, whatever you decide to do with them.

 

[Bigggtuna]

I look forward to future updates on these trees, whatever you decide to do with them.

Thanks for the reference and advice! I’ll provide updates on them in the years to come.

 

[Gabler]

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out this thread:

32 year old Acer Rubrum

This tree has appeared in some other threads but I thought it deserving of it own. This was the first tree I ever collected (1987-1988) and it was out of my own woods. It was stumped a few inches above the ground line and then let grow for a season to recover as well as it could. The following...

www.bonsainut.com