Japanese Maple Shishigashira #2

[SantaFeBonsai]

Progression thread. $159.99 nursery stock.
I don’t really go to nurseries looking for pre-bonsai material but I couldn’t pass this one up.








If anyone happens to see this thread that has developed a shishigashira please explain your techniques. There’s really very little info on development, Julian Tsai has a nice article https://bontsai.com/2019/05/06/creating-ramification-on-shishigashira-maple/ on refinement but that’s all I’ve found. Please share any info you might have on this cultivar.

 

[0soyoung]

I have a landscape specimen. Your tree tells the same story. Left alone it makes long taperless stems with a bottle brush of foliage near the tips. Prune, prune, prune and one can make moving tapering stems pretty quickly, The trouble, I think, arises in maintenance. I'm pretty sure that

@William N. Valavanis

knows, but will he share? That is the only question.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I have been thinking deeply about a shishigashira all winter. I did get one that is being shipped to me- sight unseen. I am going to plant it in the landscape and do some air layers.
I really like yours. I know that all the critters around me love to eat maples. Mostly just the new buds and twigs. Protect it well.
I will want to see your progress with this.

 

[JonW]

Great starting point. I'd air-layer some of the long, straight and taperless growth at the top. For $16, I would have bought as many of those as I could fit in my car! Down the road from me, someone has a shishigashira that is 8+ feet tall with a trunk that must be 9-inches wide. I've never met the person who lives there, but I keep hoping I spot them outside contemplating getting rid of the tree. I'd casually offer to air-layer it this summer and dig-out the roots in the spring