Growing an Arakawa twin trunk

[Dav4]

This is an A. palmatum 'Arakawa' that I picked up from Martin Sweeney last October at the Carolina Bonsai Expo . Martin is a bit of a propagator and has fairly good success striking these from cuttings as well as air layers. Anyway, he was nice enough to bring several and this was one of the trees I chose to take. It was a twin trunk, which I was interested in, and it was already developing a pretty good nebari. If you look just above the root flare you can see a bit of the corky bark just beginning to show.

The picture shows the tree after it has been removed from the nursery can and had all the downward roots removed. Right after this picture was taken, the tree was placed over a tile and planted in my garden. The plan is to grow this one out over the coming years, developing both the trunk and the nebari while planted out. I've never done anything quite like this, so it should be fun.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I wish you all the best. I love Arakawa.

 

[Kodama16]

That's a good piece of tree there. Love love love cork barks.
And good plan.

 

[discusmike]

Wishing everyday spring comes to my neighborhood and I can work my maples, they trunk up pretty quick in the ground compared to other cultivars Dave, enjoy early spring my friend, nice start.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Cool tree dave. I will be watching this thread closely. I picked a small one of these up at the end of last year too and will be putting in a grow box once the season is here. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[Dav4]

Thanks guys. Depending on how it grows this year and next, it will either get dug in two or three years...here's to 3 foot extensions by June!

 

[johng]

You could always choose to let it grow a little This one is about 15 years from something about the size of yours...taken about 10 airlayers off over the years.

have fun with it!!
John

 

[Dav4]

Wow, that's BIG! I'm planning on trying to strike some cuttings from this one and one other I have, +/- air layering some of the sacrifice branches. If I'm successful, I'll probably might plant one out in the yard as a stock tree like yours...nice! I hope yours gets the great fall coloring I've seen on other arakawas.

 

[garywood]

Thanks guys. Depending on how it grows this year and next, it will either get dug in two or three years...here's to 3 foot extensions by June!

Dave, Arakawa's are fun! Very good growth rate, very good root development and wonderful fall color. To give you an idea of time frame. This one was grown from cutting, spent 2yrs in 1gal, grown 4yr in ground and 3yr in Anderson tray. Before and after June 2013.

 

[Dav4]

Dave, Arakawa's are fun! Very good growth rate, very good root development and wonderful fall color. To give you an idea of time frame. This one was grown from cutting, spent 2yrs in 1gal, grown 4yr in ground and 3yr in Anderson tray. Before and after June 2013.

That's some serious development in a short period of time. Thanks for the pictures, Gary. Hopefully, my success will mirror yours.

 

[Dav4]

I dug these 2 up, cut back the heavier roots, replaced the rotten boards and planted back in the ground. For good or for bad, they haven't grown as vigorously as I'd hoped, but they both have good bases going and I don't mind waiting for more trunk development.

 

[Dav4]

Finally, the trunks were cut back and sealed.

 

[MACH5]

One of the most outstanding maples to have in my opinion! Nice trees Dave!

 

[Giga]

Nice one! I have yet to find this species in my area! I'm excited to see this develop

 

[Les]

Nice maple projects, I have a couple I'm putting in the ground this year myself and one larger one I'm doing some thread grafting on. I love the fact that they can handle the sun better than my other maples.

 

[LanceMac10]

View attachment 131986

In the future, do you think you could reduce the tallest trunk. If'n you had a bud pop lower down? That's a fairly long, taperless straight stretch of trunk at the top.

 

[Dav4]

View attachment 132010

In the future, do you think you could reduce the tallest trunk. If'n you had a bud pop lower down? That's a fairly long, taperless straight stretch of trunk at the top.

Maybe? The current height of that center trunk is about 7" and I'm wanting I'm wanting this one to finish out at over 20"...like I said it wasn't growing as fast as I'd hoped. I'm hoping the chops stimulate some back budding along the trunk to give the lower trunk some character and taper while I continue to grow it out... it's another 10-15 year plan.