Japanese Maple Styling Advice

[The Warm Canuck]

Looking for some advice on where to take this JM? I'm wondering if I could do a broomish style with it?

 

[JRBonsai]

Honestly this is such young material that in order to have any decent ratio between trunk diameter and leaf size you're looking at another 5 years of letting it grow freely minimum.
Otherwise, stick-in-a-pot becomes quite literal here! That's just my opinion, of course.

That said, it could be right on it's way to becoming a broom style if you remove the main leader (like you were probably already considering).
Airlayering could be worthwile too in that case.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Honestly this is such young material that in order to have any decent ratio between trunk diameter and leaf size you're looking at another 5 years of letting it grow freely minimum.
Otherwise, stick-in-a-pot becomes quite literal here! That's just my opinion, of course.

That said, it could be right on it's way to becoming a broom style if you remove the main leader (like you were probably already considering).
Airlayering could be worthwile too in that case.

I realize that, I try to balance "just let it grow" and a bit of cut backs. I'm not a big fan of huge scars.

I guess I'm most concerned with a large knuckle growing at that main junction.

 

[johng]

Given the excessively long internodes, IMO your best option is creating a very small tree

 

[JRBonsai]

I realize that, I try to balance "just let it grow" and a bit of cut backs. I'm not a big fan of huge scars.

I guess I'm most concerned with a large knuckle growing at that main junction.

In all fairness, building a solid trunk with the necessary rootwork to create nebari should be your first focus before worrying about the shape of the canopy.
Removing the main leader will also prevent significant inverse taper.
Also, I wouldn't worry about the cut wound down the line, maples heal over so well.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Given the excessively long internodes, IMO your best option is creating a very small treeView attachment 540556

Hmm, good call, that's why I asked, I didn't even notice the length of the inter-nodes on those main branches. Maybe at this point I should just cut the left lower branch off and wire the right one down a bit.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

In all fairness, building a solid trunk with the necessary rootwork to create nebari should be your first focus before worrying about the shape of the canopy.
Removing the main leader will also prevent significant inverse taper.
Also, I wouldn't worry about the cut wound down the line, maples heal over so well.

100% agree on the nebari, I just cut the roots back pretty hard. I didn't mean that I don't like making large cuts, I'm just not crazy about the idea of growing the trunk out to complete final size and than cutting the main leader at that time, leaving a huge scar. I understand that apical dominance and maximum foliage will give the quickest results, however, I believe in trying to strike a balance between the two. However, this is from my limited experience, so there's that.

Yes, maybe cutting the leader back this summer is an option.

 

[coltranem]

You are still in the trunk building stage. How big do you want the tree? The first node above the roots will have dome control on that on general because that is the lowest your first branch can be without grafting. You need to plan around that.

The right branch has a short first internode and could be the next section of trunk. You do have a few branches coming out of that first node. If you want an elegant trunk it might be worth reducing to 2 shoots. However there are some folks building trees in Japan (onuma? See Jonas Blog) who let everything run for the year and cut back to the first trunk node. This isn't onuma but has a similar technique.

It is good you are working on the roots too.

 

[luvinthemountains]

The right branch has a short first internode and could be the next section of trunk.

This is where I would go. Remove everything else, cut just above the first node, and let the upper bud extend. If you do it after the tree has leafed out and hardened off (June-ish?) then the growth from that bud will be restrained. Later in the year, you wire some movement into that and then let it grow for a few years. Like others have said, maybe a broom is in the future but you can make that decision a ways down the road.

 

[Dabbler]

Is that a soil top layer? That seems very very coerce to be able to hold water?

 

[The Warm Canuck]

You are still in the trunk building stage. How big do you want the tree? The first node above the roots will have dome control on that on general because that is the lowest your first branch can be without grafting. You need to plan around that.

The right branch has a short first internode and could be the next section of trunk. You do have a few branches coming out of that first node. If you want an elegant trunk it might be worth reducing to 2 shoots. However there are some folks building trees in Japan (onuma? See Jonas Blog) who let everything run for the year and cut back to the first trunk node. This isn't onuma but has a similar technique.

It is good you are working on the roots too.

This will most likely be a large Bonsai as it may not actually be a palmatum but a japonicum. There's been some discussion on a previous thread, last fall on if this: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/whats-this-jm-cultivar.62080/

We'll see for sure when the leaves grow out:

Is that a soil top layer? That seems very very coerce to be able to hold water?

It's just a top dressing, to keep the perlite in my pre-bonsai mix, from blowing away.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I would cut on an angle leaving the right branch as the new leader and just let it grow. Next year, you could cut the new leader back to the first node and continue with a cut and grow.