Ebihara maples

[markyscott]

Maybe he will talk about dormant spraying for fungus!

Excellent idea - fungal problems on maples are a plague on the Texas Gulf Coast where warm, damp conditions dominate our long summers and make for an excellent breeding ground for all sorts of fungi (and mosquitos, but that’s a different problem). Here’s a link to an article I wrote about maple fungal problems. I synthesized a lot from Al’s excellent post (referenced in the article) as well as my own experience and other sources referenced in the articles. An important component of control, in my experience, is timely application and a systematic regimen of dormant spraying. Here’s an article I wrote on that subject and an excellent video from the University of Oklahoma explaining the steps involved.

Scott

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Excellent idea - fungal problems on maples are a plague on the Texas Gulf Coast where warm, damp conditions dominate our long summers and make for an excellent breeding ground for all sorts of fungi (and mosquitos, but that’s a different problem). Here’s a link to an article I wrote about maple fungal problems. I synthesized a lot from Al’s excellent post (referenced in the article) as well as my own experience and other sources referenced in the articles. An important component of control, in my experience, is timely application and a systematic regimen of dormant spraying. Here’s an article I wrote on that subject and an excellent video from the University of Oklahoma explaining the steps involved.

Scott

I had a small trident maple with leaf curl and black like in your pictures from that link. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I put it in the ground and it recovered dramatically. Perhaps the maple had some other problem at the time and not fungus?

 

[markyscott]

I had a small trident maple with leaf curl and black like in your pictures from that link. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I put it in the ground and it recovered dramatically. Perhaps the maple had some other problem at the time and not fungus?

I think it’s highly likely to be fungal related. You’ll often see this in new growth in the spring when conditions are damp. Strong growth hardens quickly and isn’t as affected.

 

[Clicio]

Thanks a lot for this fantastic thread, guys.
@markyscott, I appreciate your knowledge!

 

[Smoke]

hmmm.....

 

[Smoke]

2014 bout the size of my finger.

 

[Smoke]

Curious to see what happens
Rolled the dice this time!!!!

 

[markyscott]

2014 bout the size of my finger.

View attachment 177296

Don’t keep us waiting, Al!!!!

S

 

[Smoke]

The base has expanded to about 8 inches across and the central tree is about 2.5 inches across. The 8 inch base is all solid wood. This is the fused trunks from under the disk. Thats a 14 inch terra cotta pot suacer. The upper base looks very much like what was under the disk. In all the disk trunk fusing projects I've done I've never seen it fuse so large under the saucer. Very interesting. Yes it was a brand new red sawzall blade.

 

[Smoke]

Don’t keep us waiting, Al!!!!

S

This is it so far. I dug it up last weekend and cut the four trunks off. Now I will just concentrate on building the tree from what I have in the first picture. It took me two hours to get this thing out of the colander which I chopped off in pie wedges, then started breaking off the saucer and finally managed to get it to the point of sawing it from the saucer. Then cut the four trunks off.



It was pretty tall, and the canes were about 3/4 across , about the size they were when I started. Clear past the roof!!

 

[markyscott]

This is it so far. I dug it up last weekend and cut the four trunks off. Now I will just concentrate on building the tree from what I have in the first picture. It took me two hours to get this thing out of the colander which I chopped off in pie wedges, then started breaking off the saucer and finally managed to get it to the point of sawing it from the saucer. Then cut the four trunks off.

View attachment 177298

It was pretty tall, and the canes were about 3/4 across , about the size they were when I started. Clear past the roof!!

View attachment 177300

View attachment 177299

It’s great to show material in development. Thanks for this, Al.

Scott

 

[AndyJ]

Smoke - sorry if I have missed something with this, but did this put this amount of growth on from just being planted in the colander? No ground growing? Did you let the roots escape? Fascinating if this growth was achieved from such a small pot ....

 

[Shima]

Drinking bourgeois wine

Um...not really a complement ya know.

 

[markyscott]

Everything gets some attention in the early spring. For those trees not being repotted, I cleanup the top soil and replace the top dressing. The process is described in this post and several following it.

Scott

 

[markyscott]

Ebihara maples pushing spring growth.

 

[dcw]

Wow, that's a lot of growth. Over here I've only seen bud break on my Box Honeysuckles. Everything else will probably start in the coming week.

Also, hi, I'm new to this forum. Entering my second spring as a bonsai hobbyist and stumbled onto this thread about 2 weeks ago. I took a week off last week to get the repotting work for this season done. We had frost at night up until last weekend.

I had 5 potgrown seedlings that I picked up at raffles at my local bonsai club and from general nurseries. I went really savage on their root systems when repotting, because they all still had their taproots. I didn't take pictures of the process, but most ended with a rootball of approx. a CD in size and about an inch thick. The old substrate was extremely fibery and I didn't want to damage the existing roots any further.

Here's to hoping they all push out growth and survive. I figured if any of them were to lose branches due to heavy rootwork, I'd rather have it happen now.

 

[markyscott]

Wow, that's a lot of growth. Over here I've only seen bud break on my Box Honeysuckles. Everything else will probably start in the coming week.

Also, hi, I'm new to this forum. Entering my second spring as a bonsai hobbyist and stumbled onto this thread about 2 weeks ago. I took a week off last week to get the repotting work for this season done. We had frost at night up until last weekend.

I had 5 potgrown seedlings that I picked up at raffles at my local bonsai club and from general nurseries. I went really savage on their root systems when repotting, because they all still had their taproots. I didn't take pictures of the process, but most ended with a rootball of approx. a CD in size and about an inch thick. The old substrate was extremely fibery and I didn't want to damage the existing roots any further.

Here's to hoping they all push out growth and survive. I figured if any of them were to lose branches due to heavy rootwork, I'd rather have it happen now.

Doesn’t sound like you were too aggressive. Generally new people tend to be way too timid and not nearly aggressive enough. A seedling with a rootball a CD in size and an inch thick? Depending on the species, that’s not savage - that sounds downright tender and loving. The picture below left might seem like major root work, but it’s a Chinese elm. The picture below left is the same tree 2 years later - no problem. I don’t think it even noticed. Depending on the species and at the right time, you can work the roots pretty hard. Root problems won’t fix themselves in the pot. Crossed roots will stay crossed. Downward growing roots will keep growing down. Crappy soil will stay crappy (or get worse). You have one moment in time to correct these issues and you have to make the most of it. I could do this work because it was A) the right species, B) strong and healthy and C) the right timing.



S

 

[dcw]

Doesn’t sound like you were too aggressive. Generally new people tend to be way too timid and not nearly aggressive enough. A seedling with a rootball a CD in size and an inch thick? Depending on the species, that’s not savage - that sounds downright tender and loving. The picture below left might seem like major root work, but it’s a Chinese elm. The picture below left is the same tree 2 years later - no problem. I don’t think it even noticed. Depending on the species and at the right time, you can work the roots pretty hard. Root problems won’t fix themselves in the pot. Crossed roots will stay crossed. Downward growing roots will keep growing down. Crappy soil will stay crappy (or get worse). You have one moment in time to correct these issues and you have to make the most of it. I could do this work because it was A) the right species, B) strong and healthy and C) the right timing.

S

Wow, yeah, I was really timid compared to that. I didn't work on any Zelkovas or Maples. I repotted 2 Carpinus Betulus, 2 Fagus Sylvatica, 2 Larix Decidua (that I didn't bare root and went even easier on, because I figured they would never take the rootwork as well), 1 Quercus Robur and 1 Azalea (that wasn't flowering).
So far the summer oak seems to be showing some dried out twigs, but I'll only know for sure if none of the buds actually extend. The rest seems to have made it through entirely unscathed.
The summer oak also turned into a cascading tree... It's taproot actually curled and tapered nicely before splitting into two, so I moved the rootbase to the place of the split, wounded the side without roots and applied rooting hormone before screwing it to some mdf and tying it into the pot. Can't wait to see it in leaf and what next year's repotting will show.

 

[miker]

Regarding screwing the underside of the tree to the board, does anybody have any concerns about this possibly causing harm to the tree? Possibly predisposing it to rot or other infection or at least causing a needless hole that won't heal?

 

[markyscott]

Regarding screwing the underside of the tree to the board, does anybody have any concerns about this possibly causing harm to the tree? Possibly predisposing it to rot or other infection or at least causing a needless hole that won't heal?

Hi M. I’ve not noticed any predisposition to root rot. The roots have generally been in really good health and the board has leased multiple repotting. But I use a coarse grained substrate that doesn’t retain much water. The wound caused by the screw is not a concern to me at all. It’s very small relative to the wounds left by regular root work and will heal over rapidly when the screw is removed.

S