Coral Bark Maple

[shakotan710]

Hello everyone!

This maple was won at my local Sacramento bonsai club raffle earlier this year and this was its first styling since it's been in my possession. A fellow member of my local club, Roger Steel, was kind enough to host a workshop and allow me to work on this tree. This tree was found in a landscape nursery a number of years ago and outgrew its pot leading to the 'interesting' nebari that we see here.

Much of the rootball was just a tangled, woody mess which means that I still have a lot of work to do before I'm content with it. I was able to cut a portion of the bottom root mass away which allowed me a lower position in the pot and more room for soil. No other root work was performed besides that; there were plenty of fine feeder roots (which should've been photographed). I'll post more of the process when I go at the roots again.

I let the tree grow the entire year with nothing more than minimal leaf pruning during the year to allow light into the lower portions of the tree. The top portion that looks like it's been carved away has been dead and I'll take a look in the next couple weeks (keeping it away from the rain) to seal and find what's still alive. Some branches were wired as a teaching lesson since I'm still trying to get the hang of it. Other branches have been left in order to heal some of the large scars the tree still has.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Smoke]

Super rare. You showed this side twice. Are the other views bad or uninteresting?

Never seen a coral trunk this big. Sweet!

 

[shakotan710]

Super rare. You showed this side twice. Are the other views bad or uninteresting?

Never seen a coral trunk this big. Sweet!

Thank you, I don’t think I’ve seen one this large either.

The reason behind showing the same side was as a before and after comparison. The other sides are fairly interesting, but I completely forgot to take more pictures during the workshop.

Once it starts to leaf out I’ll get more angles.

 

[j evans]

Nice tree, I like it!

 

[shakotan710]

Spring update - Pinching some new growth. I'm allowing the small first branch on the right to thicken, so all of those buds have been left alone. I'll be placing sphagnum moss when I have some time and continuing to pinch growth once the rest of the buds have been able to burst and begin to extend past the first pair.

Before pinching


Detail shots




After


And lastly, a view from the opposite side. The left side from this perspective looks quite empty and I'm hoping I can start filling that out this year.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

nice photos and tree!

do you have a shot from a higher angle of the nebari?

 

[Nanuk]

Please keep this thread updated. I really like your tree.
As derek mentioned, some better pictures of that nebari would be nice.

 

[shakotan710]

nice photos and tree!

do you have a shot from a higher angle of the nebari?

Thanks Derek! I'll get more shots of the nebari once the weather gets better within the next couple days.

Please keep this thread updated. I really like your tree.
As derek mentioned, some better pictures of that nebari would be nice.

Nanuk,

Thanks for the kind words; seasonal updates should be a regular occurrence.

 

[MrWunderful]

Great sango. Looks like someone trunk chopped it pretty low a couple times!

 

[John P.]

Nice. Interesting fat little thing.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Good age and compaction.

 

[MACH5]

Nice! You hardly see any Sango-Kaku around specially for bonsai. I'd like to get one myself.


At this point I would start to make some decisons on what you'd like to keep. Otherwise you'll get unsightly swelling if all is left alone to grow. Whatever is left then you can let that grow to heal your scars.

 

[BobbyLane]

good potentiol.
ive been scouring the nurseries lately, ive seen quite a few sango kaku about, they must be very popular here as garden trees. nearly bought one the other day but opted for a katsura.

 

[August44]

There is a pretty large one of these out at a nursery here in town. It is about 6-7' tall. I will have to go out and look at the trunk. I have wondered how they would do as a bonsai. Can one take a large on like that and chop the trunk down that low and then get away with pruning the roots back also or what is the best way to do that? Thanks, Peter

 

[parhamr]

I have a 30-year-old sango kaku tree. The cultivar is so vigorous that it does great with heavy chops, aggressive pruning, and pinching. At nearly every node a sango kaku will try to push around 8 buds.

 

[MACH5]

There is a pretty large one of these out at a nursery here in town. It is about 6-7' tall. I will have to go out and look at the trunk. I have wondered how they would do as a bonsai. Can one take a large on like that and chop the trunk down that low and then get away with pruning the roots back also or what is the best way to do that? Thanks, Peter

Peter if the tree is healthy one should be able to drastically prune it back and work on the roots all in one go. Coral bark from what I have seen look to be quite responsive.

 

[August44]

I'll go look at it. Sounds like my kinda tree. Thanks for insight! Peter

 

[ysrgrathe]

Nice! You hardly see any Sango-Kaku around specially for bonsai. I'd like to get one myself.

Might be regional, they are all over the bay area sold as garden trees. I saw them sold a few times back in the north east, but they inevitably died over the winter in the landscape. All of the corals seem more sensitive to freezing.

 

[August44]

They're a zone 6 I believe. Not sure why the nursery here has some cause we are a zone 5-5A. I wouldn't leave any maples out unprotected anyway.

 

[August44]

I went out and looked at them. They have nice sized trunks but they all also have an ugly graft 6" up from the ground...I mean ugly! Guess I could buy one and air layer it in several places. Does anyone know if they air layer well?