Progression of Acer macrophyllum C

[parhamr]

April 2012

Seedlings collected in Portland, OR.

April 2014

This was a larger pot with way too much sand and bark compost.

June 2014

Repotted.

May 2015


January 2016


I repotted this tree into a 7-gallon grow bag with diatomaceous gravel and pumice. For aesthetic purposes I trimmed away some smaller surface roots that were crossing over other roots

I inoculated the roots with endo mycorrhizae and fed it Osmocote 14-14-14.

Updates will come as relevant. I’m planning to grow this into an informal upright.

 

[parhamr]

I repotted this tree today. I thought the tree had been in the grow bag for two years but this thread conveniently documents otherwise. (The system works!!)

Freshly pulled from the grow bag:


Root pr0n:



Wired, chopsticked, and sphagnum-ed into a grow box at a new angle. I also chopped the secondary trunk and reduced some reverse taper above the second branch.


Trunk caliper is 2.25" above the basal flare. The flare is looking pretty good, except one strong root may need to be heavily pruned in a future repotting. This tree is heavy and I'm glad this box has heavy duty utility handles installed on the sides

 

[justBonsai]

I dig it, looks like a nice tree. How is leaf reduction?

 

[parhamr]

Lead reduction is easy enough. Petiole reduction is something I would like to see more of. Unrestricted tree vs shohin in training pot:


Here's how juvenile foliage can appear:


Also of note: tree C (I have about 5 of these) puts on about 5' of growth every year.

 

[parhamr]

Today, after minor tidying

 

[parhamr]

I repotted a bigleaf maple today. Looking through this thread, I guess it was this one. I'm pretty amazed by its progress!

It took me three hours to comb out and remove roots that weren’t well positioned. I bare rooted the tree and cleaned out all organics, including the coconut coir I had used way back in 2014.

More pics to come when the lighting is right.

 

[Silentrunning]

I repotted a bigleaf maple today. Looking through this thread, I guess it was this one. I'm pretty amazed by its progress!

It took me three hours to comb out and remove roots that weren’t well positioned. I bare rooted the tree and cleaned out all organics, including the coconut coir I had used way back in 2014.

More pics to come when the lighting is right.
View attachment 232624

That root system is awesome. Well done!

 

[plant_dr]

Who knew those ginormous leaves could reduce so much?? I spent a lot of time around those maple tre9copes, growing up in WA. Love them! Great work!

 

[parhamr]

 

[plant_dr]

Who knew those ginormous leaves could reduce so much?? I spent a lot of time around those maple tre9copes, growing up in WA. Love them! Great work!

*maple trees* It was late at night and didn't catch the typo

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Coming along nice.

I'm tagging @Peter44 as we have had a conversation about this species.

Interesting progress.

 

[August44]

I am coming in way late here. What kind of a maple is that you're working with here? Peter

 

[plant_dr]

Acer Macrophylum - large leaf maple
Here's an info page http://www.nwplants.com/business/catalog/ace_mac.html

 

[August44]

Leo...the maple that I have growing in the Mts around here is, Acer glabrum var. glabrum, also called Rocky Mt Maple. It has bigger leaves also when mature. I collected a very small one last year that defoliated completely when I collected but then can back after I tented it. It had small leaves. Will see what it looks like this spring. Peter

 

[August44]

Here is a photo I took of a Rocky Mt Maple last summer at about 6900'

 

[parhamr]

For posterity, here’s the best leaf size I’ve been able to develop so far on this species. It’s not the same specimen as this post (it’s from my shohin thread).


That’s the sort of small leaf and short petiole I get in a small pot when water and fertilizer applications are carefully controlled. It’s clearly not universal, as you can see some earlier, stronger shoots have larger leaves.

But for everybody who has heard it’s not possible to get small leaves on the ‘Bigleaf’ maple I say the proof is in the pudding! Happy growing, y’all.

 

[HorseloverFat]

For posterity, here’s the best leaf size I’ve been able to develop so far on this species. It’s not the same specimen as this post (it’s from my shohin thread).
View attachment 311986

That’s the sort of small leaf and short petiole I get in a small pot when water and fertilizer applications are carefully controlled. It’s clearly not universal, as you can see some earlier, stronger shoots have larger leaves.

But for everybody who has heard it’s not possible to get small leaves on the ‘Bigleaf’ maple I say the proof is in the pudding! Happy growing, y’all.

Impressive!

The whole progression makes me wanna yell like Forest Gump’s CO..

“God Damnit, Gump! ( @parhamr ) ...why did you assemble this weapon so quickly?! (why did you reduce these bigleaf maple’s leaves so effectively?)

Nicely..... nicely done.

 

[parhamr]

Just a quick snap of an update


The tree put on pretty good growth last year but you wouldn’t necessarily believe it from this photo. Last year I had cut back to some nice interior buds.

Here’s the tree in its new grow box — 21 inches square. I did a bit more root work, especially to remove the coarse roots and knock it back to fine feeders. I think I can afford the space to let this tree run a bit in its growths this year. I’d like to heal some wounds and smooth out some transitions.

 

[hinmo24t]

awesome. looks like a sugar maple to me

 

[parhamr]

The two fronts I’ve been liking the most: (after minor pruning)




If you look close at the soil you’ll see some carnage where birds and squirrels dug. The entire top of the soil had plush dressing but now it’s totally gone.

Between the root work, record highs, and garden bandits the tree didn’t put on the burst of growth I had hoped to see.