Repot and air layer at the same time?

[AcerAddict]

Update: This tree had about 30-40% of it's leaves quickly turn brown and fall off since last Friday. I have no clue as to why, because the only thing I've done since buying it was slip it into a wider pot. None of the roots were removed. It was only getting about 3-4 hours of sun, but I moved it to a shadier spot in the yard until it recovers. Thankfully, the die off seems to have stopped, and it still has new growth coming out at the ends of the branches, so I'm confident it'll recover. Had me somewhat worried over the weekend though, as this tree cost me $325 and I'm sure is already many, many years old.

I'm thankful for the advice given in here, because had I went ahead and chopped off 1/3 of the roots, repotted, and air layered it all at the same time next spring, I'm not sure it would have survive. Japanese maples are gorgeous, but they are indeed the divas of the tree world, LOL.

 

[penumbra]

Tree spoke to you.

 

[AcerAddict]

Tree spoke to you.

Apparently it did. I imagine it said some pretty nasty words to me though that can't be repeated in a public setting.

 

[penumbra]

Thank you friend. Laughing feels so good.

 

[berzerkules]

It has bad nebari and a graft scar, you can fix that with ground layering, but then you would have to deal with those first four branches that caused inverse taper. Then the next set of branches is another set of 4 thats going to cause even more weird taper. You would end up having to make lots of cuts and leave scars all over the thing if you wanted to correct that taper.

Another option would be to use that thing as a mother plant. You wouldn't have to ground layer and wouldn't have to use that tree for a bonsai. You'd have an endless supply of cuttings/airlayers. I wouldn't be in a rush to make a quick buck to buy another tree when you could literally get thousands of trees out of it.

I'm really new and probably shouldn't be giving advice but if it was mine and I lived in a place where maples thrived, I'd slam that thing in the earth so fast and just let it grow wild for a year or so. Then I'd airlayer all the branches I didn't care for, prune whats left and root all my clippings.

 

[AcerAddict]

It has bad nebari and a graft scar, you can fix that with ground layering, but then you would have to deal with those first four branches that caused inverse taper. Then the next set of branches is another set of 4 thats going to cause even more weird taper. You would end up having to make lots of cuts and leave scars all over the thing if you wanted to correct that taper.

Another option would be to use that thing as a mother plant. You wouldn't have to ground layer and wouldn't have to use that tree for a bonsai. You'd have an endless supply of cuttings/airlayers. I wouldn't be in a rush to make a quick buck to buy another tree when you could literally get thousands of trees out of it.

I'm really new and probably shouldn't be giving advice but if it was mine and I lived in a place where maples thrived, I'd slam that thing in the earth so fast and just let it grow wild for a year or so. Then I'd airlayer all the branches I didn't care for, prune whats left and root all my clippings.

After all the feedback I got in here earlier, the plan was to 1) air layer any branch I could next spring, 2) air layer the trunk in spring 2023 then put it in a large training pot, and 3) do a major trunk chop in spring 2024. That's three and a half years of my life gone before I can basically start from scratch with this tree.

That said, it seems every day I think about changing my mind regarding what to do with this thing. As I've learned more about bonsai over the last year, especially the last several months, I find that my path in this hobby is never straight, but very curved, and loaded with many different forks I can follow.

The idea of putting it in the ground and enjoying it as-is has not escaped my mind. However, I spent a decent chunk of change on this tree specifically because of the thick trunk and the prospect of selling the air layerings next year to further fund my adventures in this hobby. After analyzing the structure many times since buying it, I do see the inverse taper that's been created and realize that will take some substantial effort, i.e., time, to correct. I'm currently at one of those aforementioned forks in the road where a decision needs to be made. Considering that the trunk layering wouldn't happen until 2023 anyway, I really don't see any reason anymore to leave it in a pot and not put it in the ground. We live on a half-acre lot with plenty of space for this tree.

Well, it looks like I just decided to go ahead and get it in the ground this week. I'll decide in the spring whether to enjoy it for the beautiful tree that it is, or to air layer branches for personal growing or monetary profit. Shishigashiras are slow growing, and I don't feel like waiting for cuttings to mature, so I think I'd rather let them go, considering they would sell for easily $75-100 each, if not more for the larger branches.

 

[AcerAddict]

I went ahead and planted this tree in the ground on Monday afternoon. It gets sunshine in this location only until about 1pm, so it should be happy there. Planted it in a mix of quality organic soil, native soil from the hole, and some sand thrown in for better drainage. Had some retaining wall blocks left over from another landscape project, so now it has a nice ring as well. Can't wait to set up my air layers on the branches in March.

The 2nd picture is where I think a good trunk line may be (yellow line) after I layer that off above the graft scar at some point in the future. Due to the camera angle and my phone's lens, the branch at the top of this line looks very thick compared to the trunk, but actually it all tapers very smoothly. For an untrained nursery tree, it doesn't look too bad. The big question mark with this tree is how the trunk will look and heal after I chop off all but one of those branches at the big whorl.

At @Bonsai Nut's advice, I'll layer the trunk on an angle (red line), so once it's in a training pot, the tree will slant up and to the side, then make the natural bend back in the other direction. Looking forward to see how this tree develops over the next few years.

 

[hinmo24t]

I went ahead and planted this tree in the ground on Monday afternoon. It gets sunshine in this location only until about 1pm, so it should be happy there. Planted it in a mix of quality organic soil, native soil from the hole, and some sand thrown in for better drainage. Had some retaining wall blocks left over from another landscape project, so now it has a nice ring as well. Can't wait to set up my air layers on the branches in March.

The 2nd picture is where I think a good trunk line may be (yellow line) after I layer that off above the graft scar at some point in the future. Due to the camera angle and my phone's lens, the branch at the top of this line looks very thick compared to the trunk, but actually it all tapers very smoothly. For an untrained nursery tree, it doesn't look too bad. The big question mark with this tree is how the trunk will look and heal after I chop off all but one of those branches at the big whorl.

At @Bonsai Nut's advice, I'll layer the trunk on an angle (red line), so once it's in a training pot, the tree will slant up and to the side, then make the natural bend back in the other direction. Looking forward to see how this tree develops over the next few years.

planting came out nice

 

[Sootys trees]

Hey, how is this tree doing ?
How did the layerings go ?

Bit of a late comment haa, but the idea of just establishing the tree in the ground as a mother plant for producing lots of extra trees sounds the best ! Especially with this type of tree