Japanese Maple Katsura Progression

[VAFisher]

Last year I found an ad on Facebook marketplace from a guy that lives about 15 minutes from me who was getting rid of everything. He said he just didn't have time to devote to the hobby anymore. I ended up buying this maple, a huge crape myrtle and a nice big azalea from the guy. All of it was nice and healthy but somewhat neglected from a design standpoint. This is the tree last year right after I bought it.



Lots of branches coming off directly across from another one or stacked right on top of each other. Most of them are really long with foliage mostly out at the ends. Each branch contributes a significant amount of foliage to the canopy, so removal of anything is going to cause a big hole. The straight trunk lends itself to some sort of broom shape I think. On the good side, the leaves are nice and small and it has the start of some decent flare at the base, but this one is going to be a challenge I think. The box was rotten and falling apart and he didn't remember how long the tree had been in there, so I knew it was due for a repot in 2022.

Update coming soon.

 

[VAFisher]

So I was paralyzed with indecision on the branching with this tree and I decided to do nothing this year. Probably for the best anyway because I got pretty aggressive on the repot. I like to moss repotted tree because I think it helps. The moss is kinda mounded up and I could probably remove it now. The tree definitely didnt skip a beat with the root work. Branching decisions will come next year.

 

[Chosennugget]

What a tree! I can't wait for your updates in the future!

 

[19Mateo83]

This is a very nice tree, I’m curious to see it next year after you put your own twist on the structure.

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

Beautifull tree!
From a classic bonsai design stand point yes you are right this tree have flaws but I think it looks really natural as it is.
Really close in my imagination to a tree you could see growing in ground.
Funny as it is and this is a personal opinion I wouldn't do much corrections and work on another tree to give it that perfect classic bonsai look!
Do you have by any chance a picture of the tree structure only?

 

[VAFisher]

Hi!

Beautifull tree!
From a classic bonsai design stand point yes you are right this tree have flaws but I think it looks really natural as it is.
Really close in my imagination to a tree you could see growing in ground.
Funny as it is and this is a personal opinion I wouldn't do much corrections and work on another tree to give it that perfect classic bonsai look!
Do you have by any chance a picture of the tree structure only?

Unfortunately, I didn't take any leafless shots this winter. You can begin to see the issue with these shots though.





Whatever I do, is going to make the tree look like shit for a while. Nature of the beast I guess.

 

[VAFisher]

I'm wondering if, given time, this hole will close if the branches and trunk fuse together. 2 of the branches are already touching there. Or maybe I'll just stuff a chunk of putty in there...

 

[Jmontee]

I'm wondering if, given time, this hole will close if the branches and trunk fuse together. 2 of the branches are already touching there. Or maybe I'll just stuff a chunk of putty in there...

My guess is that, eventually, they will fuse but my question would be why you would want that? You may have a really incredible design already in mind that I can't see. From my perspective those three lower right branches (on the second picture in the thread) are in an awkward position if you want to keep the broom style eventually. If it were my tree (and this has to be taken with a grain of salt cause I don't know what it looks like in real life) I would remove those three branches and then guy wire some of the existing branches to even them out almost like a cone coming out of the main trunk. I also see what you mean by the really long and straight branches so you could reduce all the branches in the winter and just start over with the basic structure that is already there. It would definitely make the tree look pretty bad for a few years but imagine the end result in like 5 years!!



You can also completely ignore the above as it is a really cool looking tree already!!

 

[rockm]

Needs some interior editing. A lot of redundant branching inside there. I'd also shorten the remaining branches by two thirds at least.

 

[VAFisher]

Needs some interior editing. A lot of redundant branching inside there. I'd also shorten the remaining branches by two thirds at least.

It needs a crap load of interior editing. I just haven't been able to decide exactly what to edit yet and have done nothing. Haha.

Removing those lower branches on the right is going to leave a pretty big wound on the trunk. Do I need to worry about the trunk dying back if I remove them?

 

[LanceMac10]

Leave a "stub"....you can go back later and clean it up. Make that cut like an eye laid on it's side. It will heal better with tapered ends on the cut. Use cut paste or equivalent.


Edit: The eye in yer' head and your laying down on a nice pillow.....if you were confused....time to go have a drink!!! Not thinking clearly....

 

[rockm]

It needs a crap load of interior editing. I just haven't been able to decide exactly what to edit yet and have done nothing. Haha.

Removing those lower branches on the right is going to leave a pretty big wound on the trunk. Do I need to worry about the trunk dying back if I remove them?

I'd start by completely removing all the smaller diameter branches off of the trunk. i.e. where two branches are growing from about the same place in the same direction, I'd eliminate the smaller one from the trunk completely. The lower branches can be reduced to one, which in turn could be shortened by two thirds or more. It's kind of hard to tell exactly what to remove from the photos. This is one of those trees you have to have in front of you to work on, unfortunately. You can do all of this next spring, when the tree is repotted--sever the roots first the reduce to reduce bleeding...

 

[VAFisher]

Leave a "stub"....you can go back later and clean it up. Make that cut like an eye laid on it's side. It will heal better with tapered ends on the cut. Use cut paste or equivalent.


Edit: The eye in yer' head and your laying down on a nice pillow.....if you were confused....time to go have a drink!!! Not thinking clearly....

Not sure I follow the eye part but I got you on the stub part. I've always been confused about trunk die back on maples. Seems like it would heal with branches above that still need to be supported but I know that's not always the case. Wouldn't want to remove those 2 low branches and end up having a trunk with deadwood...

 

[LanceMac10]

If you take your concave cutter and address the tree with the handles near parallel with the "ground". That will give you an eye shaped cut. Tapered ends will heal quicker than if you came in sideways and made the cut too much across the face of the trunk.

A spherical one works even better.

Think an eye stood up soz' to drain the "sleepies" out of your eyes!

 

[VAFisher]

I've been studying the tree a lot over the last few days and something like this is what I'm considering. We'll see how it all plays out.

 

[Jmontee]

I've been studying the tree a lot over the last few days and something like this is what I'm considering. We'll see how it all plays out.

View attachment 443320

This is exactly what I was thinking. The only thing I was thinking was possibly trying to get some more spread between the branches you are looking at leaving. Def wouldn't do anything until next spring at repot time.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

I've been studying the tree a lot over the last few days and something like this is what I'm considering. We'll see how it all plays out.

View attachment 443320

What did you end up doing?

 

[VAFisher]

What did you end up doing?

I hacked it up good - basically to the red lines in the pic above. I'll get a pic soon.

 

[David P]

I hacked it up good - basically to the red lines in the pic above. I'll get a pic soon.

Hi where are the updates on your tree?

 

[Hack Yeah!]

I hacked it up good - basically to the red lines in the pic above. I'll get a pic soon.

Would love to see a one year post cutback shot, I've got a katsura growing out