Koto Hime Maple Progression

[Darth Masiah]

My kotohime barely grew much this season. No idea why. How did you push growth?

i think its just a combination of regular growing techniques. this cultivar hss a great reaction to all bonsai techniques too, if timing and health are on point. it's definitely multi flush, so if pruned it'll push. growth seems more similar to trident than to regular acer
this year i used more coco coir/perlite when potting up cuttings instead of an all inorganic substrate and got a lot better push of new growth with the increased moisture retention in newly root pruned cuttings. usually after heavy root pruning they won't push growth out sitting in a fast drying substrate. but once established in a pot they usually start pushing growth. next repot ill be trying a lava/pumice/coco coir mix looking for that perfect moisture level drying out timing from watering every day in my micro climate.
im feeding every week with 'salt' style ferts mixed in the water. we're growing hydroponically so that's the style feeding i do. im going to get a dosatron one of these days so i can feed everytime i water. i haven't played much with the perfect ph for this cultivar, but my taps around 7.0 and i feed at 6.0.
i think they could benefit from 30% shade cloth in direct sunlight. even with high watering frequency and a good amount of humidity, I'll still get some drying out of the leaf edges.

 

[Darth Masiah]

one week later buds are exploding, so i started removing buds i didn't need.



and after removing a bunch, some too close to or coming off the trunk, some pointing straight up, some crowding an area.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

i got a Japanese tree now! I'm really doing bonsai! lol

View attachment 206056

You're really doing bonsai! Hehe... for certain!

 

[Darth Masiah]

my pics are too big to upload anymore. still using the same phone. guess a screenshot is small enough, though.

 

[Perplexody]

my pics are too big to upload anymore. still using the same phone. guess a screenshot is small enough, though.

View attachment 567102

Should be able to compress the image in your gallery or change your photo settings so they are smaller when you take the photo

 

[Maiden69]

my pics are too big to upload anymore. still using the same phone. guess a screenshot is small enough, though.

View attachment 567102

This issue has popped up a few times, usually resolves by the next day.

 

[Darth Masiah]

yeah, had to resize pics

these three similar cuttings had about the same amount of roots after repotting this spring. two in bonsai substrate and one in coco coir/perlite

3/24



9/24

 

[Darth Masiah]

ive been wiring up the cuttings i took this year you can see in the flat in the pic above repotting a few too for the second time if you count the first separation. the larger cuttings that were potted deeper for stability were a little rootbound. root growth is starting at this time of year, combined with a lot of overcast, raining weather, i feel like it's a perfect time to repot.





before editing. this is a good example of most of the 6 month olds.

 

[Darth Masiah]

weather was trash this fall.

3 of the decent 6yr old cuttings. going to do some repots this spring.

 

[Bavarian Raven]

Love it. Just wish I could airkayer my koto hime. But mine doesn’t air layer. Other Naples no problem but not the koto:/

 

[clem]

Nebari and trunk lines are beautifull

 

[Darth Masiah]

Love it. Just wish I could airkayer my koto hime. But mine doesn’t air layer. Other Naples no problem but not the koto:/

strange. this cut from Brussels Bonsai airlayers just fine. i assumed they got it from Valvanis, who brought it to the US first. now it's darths cut .

 

[Bavarian Raven]

strange. this cut from Brussels Bonsai airlayers just fine. i assumed they got it from Valvanis, who brought it to the US first. now it's darths cut .

Ya, not sure why it wont airlayer. I've airlayered other maples and apples and the like before, no problem. But my koto hime (in the landscaping) wont airlayer. :/

 

[Maiden69]

Quick question if you have some time. When do you take your cuttings? I have some very long extensions on one of the branches on my tree (close to 1/4" thick and plan on pruning it as soon as buds start to swell and was thinking about making a few cuttings from them. Do you do right before spring or after as some people do JMs?

 

[Darth Masiah]

Quick question if you have some time. When do you take your cuttings? I have some very long extensions on one of the branches on my tree (close to 1/4" thick and plan on pruning it as soon as buds start to swell and was thinking about making a few cuttings from them. Do you do right before spring or after as some people do JMs?

just took some cuttings yesterday. i kinda like taking them when it's cool, right before buds open. more around collecting time than repotting time. it's easy keeping them from feezing until the last frost has passed. by the time leaves come out and harden off they're usually pushing roots. i like taking the ends of shoots so you can bend them in the fall. under 3 inches is iffy. thickness wise, a quarter inch cutting will root great, but it's not going to bend.

 

[Maiden69]

just took some cuttings yesterday. i kinda like taking them when it's cool, right before buds open. more around collecting time than repotting time. it's easy keeping them from feezing until the last frost has passed. by the time leaves come out and harden off they're usually pushing roots. i like taking the ends of shoots so you can bend them in the fall. under 3 inches is iffy. thickness wise, a quarter inch cutting will root great, but it's not going to bend.

Thanks, we are not expecting frost for the rest of the season, a few days in the high 30's by the end of this week, then should be finally getting ready for spring. Grass started to show some green so that is the pointer here in central TX that we are getting close to spring time.

Going to try to take some cuttings this week then, thanks!

 

[MMJNICE]

Been quietly watching this post super interesting and impressive. Do you have any for sale?

 

[Darth Masiah]

Been quietly watching this post super interesting and impressive. Do you have any for sale?

i just got rid of about ten nice looking cuttings on ebay two weeks ago. i needed to pay a bill so I threw them on there and thry were gone in a week. i have a bunch of cuttings left that personally, i was just going to grow out to take more cuttings from. if you just want the cultivar to grow out, shoot me a message.

 

[MalsRFun in TN]

i just got rid of about ten nice looking cuttings on ebay two weeks ago. i needed to pay a bill so I threw them on there and thry were gone in a week. i have a bunch of cuttings left that personally, i was just going to grow out to take more cuttings from. if you just want the cultivar to grow out, shoot me a message.

Absolutely love the two I bought and greatly appreciated the awesome packaging. One of my favorite JMs!

 

[MMJNICE]

HEllen yea!! Give me a minute hahaha

i just got rid of about ten nice looking cuttings on ebay two weeks ago. i needed to pay a bill so I threw them on there and thry were gone in a week. i have a bunch of cuttings left that personally, i was just going to grow out to take more cuttings from. if you just want the cultivar to grow out, shoot me a message.

!!