Building a double trunk Telperion Japanese maple

NaoTK

NaoTK

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I got this Telperion JM trunk in 2020, just before the pandemic, and I've tried to sell it every year since. I just don't love JM the way I like other deciduous, so I begrudgingly worked on it for the last 4 years. I landed on a design today that I don't hate, so I guess I have to hold onto it for a few more years to see the design through :)

This is it this week. Those leaders are an inch thick to give scale
1735609822866.png

Proposed double trunk design: Its not traditional nor totally natural. I want to hear your suggestions!

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2020 as purchased. Look how Telperion grew there deciduous. Lots of scars and chops. I must have used a tub of cut paste.
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2020 summer after some clean up. On the first photo you can see how Telperion made 4 or 5 rough chops. Its great that it has size and twist, but the scars man.
1735608964660.png

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2021 thread grafting and repot. The root situation was not great, but not unfixable either. I left a strong leader always in order to smooth out scars.
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2023. I committed to a double trunk and let one branch run. I'm a sucker for double trunks, and this tree has a pronounced bend that worked well for making a fat first branch/double trunk.
1735609630149.png

2023 repot. Roots are not too shabby now. I will repot again in 2025.
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That is a lot of unfortunate issues in one trunk. The solution you have could work, something about the shape of the space between the two trunks bothers me a bit for some reason. Maybe a third trunk, to make a multi?
 
I think Judy hit on what doesn't settle well with me: the space between the trunks, but particularly the angle between the two. I think the trees that could be produced from airlayering the trunks apart from each other would yield better trees than this one will be with them together. If its destined to be a single trunk, consider airlayering to clarify the twin trunk isn't a ginormous branch.
 
A mother daughter composition would be cool too. Graft a new whip coming out from that root flare, and grow the apex of the main tree back to the right over it.
 
IMO its too high of a branch to be a double trunk.
It just looks like what it is, a really fat, out of proportion branch
Sorry
 
The lack of taper in the main trunk just looks so odd to my eye. I hate to even say it but I think chopping this at the first branch might be the best long term strategy.

IMG_4727.jpeg
 
Love the input, keep it coming. I'm glad you all agree I should have sold the tree 4 years ago :)

Actually, this design works well at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. The difference is the sub trunk is fatter over time so it will eventually look trunk like. Now it is a branch but imagine it in 10 years.
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The difference is the main trunk is very upright at the PBM, which I could copy on my tree

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Towards a compromise: removing the interior branches helps.
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@MHBonsai point well taken. In real life the taper is there, its at least not noticeable as a "problem" enough to warrant air layering. And I have like too many trees to air layer anymore :)


OK I gotta go wash kids and make pots. have a happy new year
 
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Nice nebari! I think it has lots of potential. If you don’t love it, you could chop the top off and remove all branches including that controversial large branch/2nd trunk and plant in the ground for a while?
 
Thick, ascending sub trunks is natural for JM. We need to stop looking at all bonsai as main trunk and drooping branches. Go and seek out old JM in the landscape to see what form they actually grow as.
The original plan looks Ok to me but the main branch needs to go up and out rather than up and up.
Pacific bonsai museum example tree shows the style can work but I actually prefer the @Ruddigger virt even better though I might have retained the big branch as a 3rd sub trunk as in the original plan and Pacific Museum tree along with the new extra trunk on the right side.
 
The base on this tree is actually quite nice, with an excellent tachiagari into the first branch. Then the entire main trunk is a response to the first branch. This first motion is the key feature of the tree, hence my wanting to make the tree about that. I can easily make another upright but that is not the point of this tree. So my goal here is to make this idea work on a $250 tree.

1735659771345.png

This is a very literal copy of the PBM tree with horizontal branching. As Ruddigger says, to be convincing the main trunk needs to get much taller and straighter. The virt is not terrible...

1735659281627.png

I'm not entirely against adding another trunk, although this will interrupt a very good tachiagari on the right side. The design also gets complicated and its no longer about that first branch, now its just another mother daughter tree and there is additional pressure to reduce the big trunk/branch. The temptation to add another trunk is an attempt to balance out the heavy left side, but on my first virt I tilted the tree to the left so the main is more upright, and I can grow out the right side to balance the heavy branch.

1735659602168.png
 
NaoTK said:
The base on this tree is actually quite nice, with an excellent tachiagari into the first branch. Then the entire main trunk is a response to the first branch. This first motion is the key feature of the tree, hence my wanting to make the tree about that. I can easily make another upright but that is not the point of this tree. So my goal here is to make this idea work on a $250 tree.

View attachment 578780

This is a very literal copy of the PBM tree with horizontal branching. As Ruddigger says, to be convincing the main trunk needs to get much taller and straighter. The virt is not terrible...

View attachment 578778

I'm not entirely against adding another trunk, although this will interrupt a very good tachiagari on the right side. The design also gets complicated and its no longer about that first branch, now its just another mother daughter tree and there is additional pressure to reduce the big trunk/branch. The temptation to add another trunk is an attempt to balance out the heavy left side, but on my first virt I tilted the tree to the left so the main is more upright, and I can grow out the right side to balance the heavy branch.

View attachment 578779
Click to expand...
I am partial to multiple trunk trees, so I have to say I do like this last virt.
 
It may be thought of sacrilege, but just because a tree is displayed at the PBM does not mean it is a perfect tree :) That tree would never make it into a major Japanese show because it looks so unnatural, and has a slingshot trunk.

@Ruddigger illustration is perfect for a twin trunk. Your illustration is perfect for a triple trunk. What you want to avoid is this. Now that I have drawn it, you will never unsee it :)

slingshot.jpg
 
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