Estonio - This is not a contest Tree

[Estonio]

So there I go...

My experience so far: 5 years ago I did lot of reading and I started doing what I will explain below. Unfortunately I had to give away that plant and now 5 years later I´m starting again. So I have never gone beyond buying a plant in a garden center, repot it and prune it.

So starting this year again: I bought this Acer Palmatum Shaina at the garden center on the 3rd March:




I have repotted it using 60% Akadama; 20% Kyriuzuna, 5% earthworm humus and 5% coconut coir. I wanted to choose a percentaje of soil which allows some water retentation to balance my personal lack of availability to water the plant some times








Repotting was done on the 15th March. Today I´m starting with some inorganic fertilizer and this is how the plant looks like today:



In terms of style, I´m targeting a Moyogi.
Plan for this year: Generate good roots letting the branches to grow but cutting back. after few months.
I believe most inmediate actions will be:
Let branches grow for a couple fo months
Wire them to make them vertical and direct them as per the future design
Unwire after a couple of month and cut them back.

Because of lack of experience, the most difficult to me will be to foresee the results of the possible actions I can take, what will happen if I cut that branch, to which direction to bend a wired branch, etc... but I have to start from somewhere..

Note; I don´t know how to insert pics in vertical position, they look like vertical in my pc but not in the post... sorry about that..

 

[Estonio]

It went from a very green colour to reddish in only one day. Don´t know if related to the fertilizer effect or temperature that raised today... also I see some middle point leaves really small in comparison to other 4 points, and other leaves where middle point is longer than the rest.. don´t know if this is particular to Shaina variety. I will post a pic every now and then to show progress before wiring the branches, as I guess I still need to wait a few weeks before wiring...

 

[Estonio]

Some update 20 days after:



I believe nothing else to do here.. but let it grow.. for the time being right?

 

[John in Toledo]

Sweet!

 

[LorraineDavis]

Nice pictures!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Yes, let it grow to recover from repotting.
Nice tree.

Late summer or early autumn will be the first time for work

 

[Estonio]

Very good. I will leave it as it is growing till late summer then. Just a picture every now and then to provide an update

 

[Estonio]

This is an update. Not much change in 2 months though... It got some leaves dried, my neighbors are not as diligent as me watering what do you think?

 

[Cypress187]

Looks good!

 

[petegreg]

First pictures show too slanting tree.

But looking good and healty.

 

[Estonio]

First pictures show too slanting tree.

I guess I can always rectify the angle in the next repotting... Thank you for the observation

 

[Estonio]

The plan has suffered the summer more than expected, even it might have some spider mites. It´s definitely not growing more since a while. Now that we are at the end of the Summer, any suggestion about next actions?

 

[Hack Yeah!]

What is your vision for the final tree height? You can shake spider mites off onto a white sheet of paper and see them move. Probably need to make a plan for your dormant season pesticide/fungicide treatment

 

[Estonio]

Hi,

Thanks for commenting. My vision for the final height would be around 80cm = 2,6 feet
Regarding spider mites, I believe you mean acaricide instead of pesticide / fungicide... I use some but I not always win the fight against spider mites and cottony cushion scale. They follow my plants for years... even survived to a house moving

 

[Estonio]

Late summer or early autumn will be the first time for work

So now it's time. Whout would you do at this point?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Estonio
Glad the tree is doing well. I'm glad you picked a final height, 80 cm. What is the current height?

Ideally, an 80 cm tree, in the informal upright style, should have a trunk with a diameter near or greater than 10 cm at the a level just above the conclusion of the basal flare of the nebari. A guideline rather than a rule. A couple approaches are possible. Note that the trunk will slow or stop increasing in diameter once in a bonsai pot or a small pot, and sharply slow increasing once the trunk is chopped.

Method one. The trunk is rather straight, no movement, moyogi should have a trunk with bends and curves. One way is to grow the trunk in segments. First let the tree grow wild until the trunk is at the diameter you want for an 80 cm tree. I recommend at least 10 cm. None of the branches you have now will be part of the finished tree. Once you have desired trunk diameter, do the trunk chop in spring, just before new growth begins. Chop the whole top off at about a third of the final height, 20 - 30 cm. Chop a half cm above a node or branch, there's lots of dormant buds at a node. The tree will explode with new buds to become the new branches. If you currently have a branch in the 20 - 30 cm above the roots area, this branch will become the second segment of the trunk of the finished tree. Wire this branch now, so that it continues a line upward but with at least a 45 or greater change in direction from the direction of the first trunk segment. Everything above this branch let grow wild, more leaves equal quicker trunk diameter increase. The branch that becomes the second segment of the trunk you want to control it's growth to make sure internodes are short. Let branches on this segment grow out to 3 or 4 pairs of leaves then cut back to just one pair. When you are ready to do the trunk chop, we can revisit this. You probably have a couple years before the trunk diameter is sufficient.

Second method would be to use all of the trunk you have, which I feel is too straight, but if you like it that way, it is your tree. With this in mind you should designate at least two sacrifice branches. The first will be near or at the level of the first branch. Second will be near the current apex. These will be allowed to grow unrestricted to continue thickening the trunk diameter. You can begin wiring the branches you are going to keep. Adjust the to desired angle coming off the trunk. Next spring you will shorten these.
More later, I need to get to working.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Use cut paste to seal cuts greater than 2 mm. This will help prevent die back.

'Shaina' is a red leaf palmatum variety. New growth should feature bright red highlights, mature summer growth fades to green, usually with a bronze or purple red shading. Autumn colors should be brilliant red. Red leaf types need some sun to develop color but too much sun will burn foliage. It is a delicate balance getting the right amount of sun.

'Shaina' is fairly cold tolerant, unless you are living at high elevation, your winter will be mild enough that 'Shaina' should tolerate it.

 

[Estonio]

@Estonio
Glad the tree is doing well. I'm glad you picked a final height, 80 cm. What is the current height?

Right now is not more than 40cm. I just took some pictures to see the current height. I think 80cm would be rather too high and I would go for 60cm from the nebari..

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Okay, not a problem. Right now you need to at least double the diameter of the trunk. So no chopping, pruning, nothing. Just keep it growing. Repot to a larger nursery pot or larger box or colander in spring. You may have to allow the tree to get several times the proposed final height in order to adequately thicken the trunk to desired diameter. 2 meters would be reasonable, before cutting back.

 

[Estonio]

Okay, not a problem. Right now you need to at least double the diameter of the trunk. So no chopping, pruning, nothing. Just keep it growing. Repot to a larger nursery pot or larger box or colander in spring. You may have to allow the tree to get several times the proposed final height in order to adequately thicken the trunk to desired diameter. 2 meters would be reasonable, before cutting back.

Thanks a lot. From 40cm to 2m could take some years. I will repot in spring to bigger training pot and fine tune the roots as in any repotting. Patience here..

Thanks for the advises