Murisaki Kiyohime Bonsai

[Deez Nutz]

Here’s a Murasaki Kiyo Hime I ordered from sooner plant farm last winter.

First order of business was getting rid of the graft. Here it is February 26.


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As you can see they airlayer quite easily. I separated on July 24, almost 5 months to the day.

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I think I read somewhere you can’t grow maples in New Mexico!

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So here it is after it’s initial styling. Main priority is getting rid of faults that only get worse over time, better to take care of them now plus some of the branches have a very small window of opportunity to get some movement in them. With all the foliage above the roots nebari development will happen much faster.

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If your tree were mine I would follow the same path.

Damn bro, you are a pro. I’m definitely not there yet. I would seriously kill my MK if I try that. I did prune mine and I think I violated it. First time here.

 

[Deez Nutz]

Here’s a Murasaki Kiyo Hime I ordered from sooner plant farm last winter.

First order of business was getting rid of the graft. Here it is February 26.


View attachment 464898


View attachment 464899

View attachment 464900

As you can see they airlayer quite easily. I separated on July 24, almost 5 months to the day.

View attachment 464901

View attachment 464903

I think I read somewhere you can’t grow maples in New Mexico!

View attachment 464904


View attachment 464905

So here it is after it’s initial styling. Main priority is getting rid of faults that only get worse over time, better to take care of them now plus some of the branches have a very small window of opportunity to get some movement in them. With all the foliage above the roots nebari development will happen much faster.

View attachment 464906

If your tree were mine I would follow the same path.

Damn bro, you are a pro. I’m definitely not there yet. I would seriously kill my MK if I try that. I did prune mine and I think I violated it. First time here

I've found the following series of youtube videos very helpful in giving a high level 101 on getting started w/ Bonsai. Just learning some of the vocab, a bit of the process, and mainly what search terms to use has been very helpful to learn more from the bnut forum. The deciduous videos would be helpful for you with this tree (there's one specifically on cleaning up a deciduous tree), then you can drill down into species-specific care & tendencies.

I've read in a few places Japanese maples bleed excessively in the spring if you prune. If this is relevant to your species, you'd be targeting next fall after leaf drop for pruning, which gives you even MORE time to decide

thanks for the video. Really helped a lot.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

What do u guys think? It’s my first time doing this.

I think that you need to spend some time with someone who has experience with bonsai. I checked your location to see if I was close, but you're probably 3 hours from me.

When you start thinking about styling a tree, you have to start at the base - the flare of the bottom of the trunk and the surface roots. It is very important because it is the hardest part of the tree to develop and takes the longest time. Next you want to focus on the trunk - the taper and the line. Then you start to look at primary branching - location and balance. Finally you start to think about second and fine branching.

Your tree has a very bad nebari, with a single large root on the surface of the soil. You would want to address that before you did anything else with your tree. Additionally, your tree is a landscape Japanese maple. It is a grafted tree with a very noticeable graft line. (See mark on this image). Everything above the red line is Murisaki Kiyohime. Everything below the line is generic green Japanese maple. So what @SantaFeBonsai did (in the example above) is air-layer the tree above the graft line - which would tend to fix the surface roots at the same time as removing the graft mark/bulge.

You have spent some time pruning the tree and wiring a few of the branches. But your work is somewhat akin to putting whipped cream on an ice cream sundae... before you have made the ice cream. You need to be able to get enough guidance from someone to help you understand your priorities - and where you should focus your efforts. But I want to make sure that what I am saying is not disheartening or demotivating. You just need to have someone provide you with some guidance...

 

[Deez Nutz]

Thanks Honesty is always welcome in my world. It’s my first time doing this. I’m not going to try an air layer on this tree until I successfully do one with another tree. I have a bloodgood that I will air layer a few branches.