Japanese Maple advice please

Allymc · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:23 pm Post subject: Japanese Maple advice please

Hi,

Late last week while i was out and about in West Bromwich where i work i spotted in the local Wilkinsons a two Japanese maples for £5 deal ( £2.99 each) and decided "hey , that sounds like a good deal " and handed over the dosh.

However i have been have been thinking over the weekend . How would it be best to Bonsai them ?

Below i have linked to the pictures, (apologies for the lovely blue recycling bin)

I was thinking of making them into twin trunked or informal upright styles .... looking at the pictures is this the best option ?

The first picture is of the "ordinary" green leafed variety and the second is called " Orange dream " or so the label says and has orange margins of the leaves.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll16/Staffsally/Pictures005.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll16/Staffsally/Pictures003.jpg

Thanks in advance

Stymie · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

The first one in particuar, is exhibiting signs of being kept in less than favourable light for a time. This has resulted in long spaces between leaves and large leaves. The drawn growth would be well removed to get more compact results. Give them a bright position outside, keep their planting medium moist and consider planting them in open ground to thicken the trunks before doing the final styling. Keep in touch, let us know what you do and ask anything that troubles you.

emorrin · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 1:06 am Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

If you have that option to plant them in the ground, I would do so. Else, plant them in a grow box or over sized pot so they can grow a couple of more years untamed. These maples only look to be between a year or two old. I would wait until they are around 4 years to do anything with them.

If you have a chance to buy or borrow a book from the library, I would recommend "Bonsai with Japanese Maples" by Peter Adams. I am fairly new with maples myself and have found this book very useful.

imholte · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:28 am Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

Very young trees that I would let grow up for a few years until you can see a good avenue to pursue for the trees.

freezingcold · Orange Belt Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 289

I bought a few of these types from Morrison's last year.
I chopped the tops right back to about 4 inches tall and left them .
they are all now coming back with nice compact tops and branching nicely.

I also bought a butterfly maple from a bargain basement in the local garden center the tree was supposed to be £40 but it was reduced to £15 as it looked in a bad way.
It was about 5 foot tall. I did the same with it chopped it back to about 8 inches re-potted it and let it grow it is now branching nicely.

may be I will get the camera out and take some pics of these maples and post them here to show some examples

Allymc · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:11 am Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

Hi

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I was going to plant them out into the garden but was thinking about what to pursue once they are a little older.

Do you suggest pruning the roots even before planting in the garden , or should i do that once the garden period is over ?

yamadorinige · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:41 am Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

No I wouldn't cut any roots before planting, it is unsafe to do so once it has leafed out. When planting it in the ground try teasing the roots out so that you can spread the roots out flat.
One thing that would benefit the trees is to put a tile or slab underneath it when you plant it. This will stop the roots growing down and force them to grow outwards forming a good radial root spread.

steve · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:37 am Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

Curious, nige, why you feel that it's unsafe to root prune maples while in leaf. If those were my trees I would most definately prune as much of the tap root off that I could get away with and take an equal amount of foliage with it (if in doubt take off extra leaves). I know I've repotted and root pruned J. maples in leaf before without ill effect.

imholte · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

It is more stressful to repot while in leaf but like Steve said if you remove some of the leaves to balance the loss of roots then it should be fine. Before you plant it in the ground I would remove any roots that are bad for they will get alot bigger and cause more problems in the long run.

If it makes you feel any better I repotted a maple in leaf just yesterday, and soon I will start to collect trees from the mountains as the snow allows.

imholte · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject: Re: Japanese Maple advice please

One trick to keep the soil more moist after repotting while in leaf is to cover the soil with moss. This keeps the little roots from drying out.