Mark Comstock Kiyohime JM

[SouthernMaple]

Picked this fella up while in Kannapolis today, i followed @Tieball advice and I didn't buy the cracked cascade dragon terracota pot that looked really cool and after the dawgs getting their butt whooped by lsu, I didn't want a red and black saldano pot that i was eyeballing, luckily someone scooped it up on sunday, I almost left with nothing. But just in case my collection was destroyed by a certain someone I thought I should get something from Mark Comstock.

I think it has potential, kiyohime tend to grow horizontally and I was walking out the door a sagely man from triangle club told me it has a great semi cascade line, I was pretty hung over and tired from last night so I assumed he means the right side, but on further inspection I think he means to tilt it to the left ? What do you think my options are?

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Picked this fella up while in Kannapolis today, i followed @Tieball advice and I didn't buy the cracked cascade dragon terracota pot that looked really cool and after the dawgs getting their butt whooped by lsu, I didn't want a red and black saldano pot that i was eyeballing, luckily someone scooped it up on sunday, I almost left with nothing. But just in case my collection was destroyed by a certain someone I thought I should get something from Mark Comstock. View attachment 273723

I think it has potential, kiyohime tend to grow horizontally and I was walking out the door a sagely man from triangle club told me it has a great semi cascade line, I was pretty hung over and tired from last night so I assumed he means the right side, but on further inspection I think he means to tilt it to the left ? What do you think my options are?

My opinion is that this maple is still only in development phase. It needs to grow and be shaped. Could be a decent shohin 10 to 15 years later depending how well you treat it. Right now, I see no semi cascade.

 

[SouthernMaple]

My opinion is that this maple is still only in development phase. It needs to grow and be shaped. Could be a decent shohin 10 to 15 years later depending how well you treat it. Right now, I see no semi cascade.

i think he means this line

 

[Paradox]

This tree as pictured above as a semi cascade is not an appealing option for this tree.

The trunk is WAY too straight to make it even seem plausible that the tree actually grew that way. It would look very contrived and unatural.

You have 2 options with this tree

1. Formal upright using the straight trunk on the left as the main trunk and the right trunk as a sacrifice.

or

2 Informal upright using one of the "trunks" (really branches) on the right and using the left straight trunk as the sacrifice.
If you go with this option, I would eliminate 2 of the 3 branches of the right trunk before they form a reverse taper or bulge there.
Pick one as the leader. At some point, you would want to cut this branch back to force a new leader to form at one of the internodes near the trunk.
IMO the bottom branch in the front is a good candidate because it has clear nodes at good intervals. If you get a bud to form at one of these you would be in good shape.
The top branch might have some nodes as well, but its hard to tell from the photo. You would cut at least half an inch ABOVE the chosen node in the late winter/early spring. In case you dont know, the nodes are located wherever you see a paleish line on the branch. I pointed to one in the vert below but you can see a few above the arrow as well. You could go a bit further out than where I pictured if you wanted to. I would also cut back some of the branches above the new trunk on that side of the sacrifice at the same time so that the new trunk line gets light to encourage buds.

This is a long term project but eventually you would have something that looks similar to:

 

[mach6]

with this material you could literally pursue any design/style. this is especially true of mark's kiyohime (and kiyohime in general), which bad-bud furiously

mark's strengths will be discovered when you repot this tree. do it carefully for many many years and you will have a killer nebari

the roots are what you purchased anyways. 90% of the trunks/branch material in your image is sacrifice material

long term project with infinite potential! great purchase. i buy these from mark regularly without even looking at the tops

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Look at how kiyohime maples grow naturally before you start fighting it to become a semi-cascade. They grow beautifully into a wide-canopied broom style on their own.

 

[Dav4]

I purchased one from the same batch... it's either going into the ground or into a grow pot for a few years to thicken up the trunk and nebari. The trunk will remain upright to accentuate the nice 360 degree root spread that's only going to get better with time.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

For perspective, here's a Kiyohime, a grafted one grown from a chopstick sized tree about 10 years ago. Trunk is now about 1.5 inches. It spent a good amount of time in ground or in large pot. Before I began work on it, the canopy must have been 3 feet wide, 2 feet tall. It's gone through chops and large branch cuts. I plan to remove one last large branch/trunk. It's future is a clump style. It's got many grafts going each year. Large wounds to heal. Some need to be redone to look better. A great learning process.

 

[SouthernMaple]

For perspective, here's a Kiyohime, a grafted one grown from a chopstick sized tree about 10 years ago. Trunk is now about 1.5 inches. It spent a good amount of time in ground or in large pot. Before I began work on it, the canopy must have been 3 feet wide, 2 feet tall. It's gone through chops and large branch cuts. I plan to remove one last large branch/trunk. It's future is a clump style. It's got many grafts going each year. Large wounds to heal. Some need to be redone to look better. A great learning process.
View attachment 273737

No offense but I am not a fan of these fat chunky maples, I guess I like my maples to be more femanine. Its just not appealing to me to have a tree thats gonna have graft marks all over it and look like a short chubby tree stump. To each their own I guess.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

No offense but I am not a fan of these fat chunky maples, I guess I like my maples to be more femanine. Its just not appealing to me to have a tree thats gonna have graft marks all over it and look like a short chubby tree stump. To each their own I guess.

No problem. I'm more of a fan of the moderate maples, which is what I consider this one. I have even chunkier ones in development. Maybe part of the reason it looks chunky is because of some of the putty on the cuts. I like many styles.

 

[kingsville grower]

I purchased one from the same batch... it's either going into the ground or into a grow pot for a few years to thicken up the trunk and nebari. The trunk will remain upright to accentuate the nice 360 degree root spread that's only going to get better with time.

You will be amazed how these bulk up after 2 or three years in the ground, 5 or 6 years is even better. If people make bonsai out of them at this stage it’s more a yatsubusa maple than an actual bonsai

 

[SouthernMaple]

Put a really light spray of neem mainly water on some leaves the other day and this is the only tree that seems affected by it and weather got down to 36 the other night, I also repotted and cut some roots back on march 9 th, Don't know what this is, a friend of mine says it needs some nitrogen, what do yall think?

 

[Pitoon]

I usually move the tree out of sun then spray the neem, leave it for a couple days then spray the entire down with a hose, the move it back to its original location. If your concentration was to high or direct sun it can burn the leaves.

 

[JudyB]

View attachment 294843View attachment 294844

Put a really light spray of neem mainly water on some leaves the other day and this is the only tree that seems affected by it and weather got down to 36 the other night, I also repotted and cut some roots back on march 9 th, Don't know what this is, a friend of mine says it needs some nitrogen, what do yall think?

Did you repot before or after it leafed out? I'm assuming so, but it could be a root issue if you cut too many roots after leaf out. It could be wind damage on new leaves, or an issue with your neem like @Pitoon said.

 

[SouthernMaple]

Did you repot before or after it leafed out? I'm assuming so, but it could be a root issue if you cut too many roots after leaf out. It could be wind damage on new leaves, or an issue with your neem like @Pitoon said.

it died of vermiculum wilt two weeks later

 

[JudyB]

it died of vermiculum wilt two weeks later

 

[luvinthemountains]

it died of vermiculum wilt two weeks later

That sucks - sorry. And maybe herein lies the story of your loathing of kiyo hime?