Need some pointers.

[Finnbaks7]

Thanks for the info drew33998. Love graham potters videos he does some neat and amazing work. And I like how Walter pall goes about his work. Genangel has an eye for character. He has an awesome crape myrtle. Thanks again.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Some reading while the trunk fattens up:
http://nebaribonsai.com/Nebari_Bonsai/Projects_files/Evolution of Jap Maple.pdf

Very cool and informational, Brian. Thanks.

 

[discusmike]

Personally I would not wire in winter, most maples you can prune to get the direction you want the branch to grow, when you wire maples you need to wrap branches with raffia first before wireing, if you don't the wire will leave unsightly marks on the tree.good luck.

 

[Eric Group]

Thanks everyone love all the new info. I curious about having a tree who's trunk is thick enough and let's say it's very tall with the apical growth and no limbs at the bottom? Do you just chop it and let it sprout back out? And I've spotted a pine on the side of rd on my neighbors property. Their son has been driving over it with his utv side by side. The pine is about 4 ft and very nice. It has a little scarring from his machine but I might ask if I can get it. And Eric group thanks. I am about 5 mile from clemson. All my friends are clemson fans. But I'm the odd ball and love the gamecocks. Awesome game. Go cocks...

Nice...

Umm yeah if it is a Maple you are talking about and it is healthy and vigorous you should be able to chop it back. How you chop it depends on what style you are going for: if you want a broom, find a couple buds to chop back to and make a V With the buds at the tops of the V. Wrap them as they sprout to reduce bulge at the bottom of the sprouts.. If you want more of a tapered trunk and informal upright look, you can find a bud to be the new leader low down the trunk, cut above it and let it grow a little while. Once your new leader grows out some and is hardened off you can cut more of a diagonal with the leader at the top... Try to make a smooth transition and let it grow out for a couple years in the ground to heal the scar. There are a bunch of threads on here where people have done this with maples.

Good luck man!

 

[Eric Group]

Personally I would not wire in winter, most maples you can prune to get the direction you want the branch to grow, when you wire maples you need to wrap branches with raffia first before wireing, if you don't the wire will leave unsightly marks on the tree.good luck.

Yes, the branches scar up pretty quick.... Especially when you wire in the Spring while the tree is growing... Which is why it is good to wire in The Fall and Winter after leaf fall. It is also easier BECAUSE there are no leaves so you can see what you are doing and can get in to work on interior branches easily without damaging new growth...

I also prefer not to wrap Maples with raffia when trying to develop ramification as new buds can be easily broken of for discouraged by the raffia, and I believe the lack of sun reaching the bark can discourage them... And it seems like I am Almost ALWAYS trying to increase ramification!

So, I guess I respectfully disagree on most points... Why do you not like wiring in the winter? I have been working with Maples for a while but I am certainly interested in learning more about how other people handle them as well.

 

[MACH5]

Personally I would not wire in winter, most maples you can prune to get the direction you want the branch to grow, when you wire maples you need to wrap branches with raffia first before wireing, if you don't the wire will leave unsightly marks on the tree.good luck.

Mike unless you are bending a rather substantial branch, I would recommend to just wrap the wire with floral tape to protect the bark. For the same reasons that Eric had mentioned, I would not use raffia as it will prevent the development of much needed buds specially on young developing material. Yes the wrapped wire will still bite into the bark if left unattended for long periods but it can be left a lot longer on the tree than without the tape.

 

[discusmike]

Cold winters and wire on branches have caused dieback for me, especially on smaller branches, I usually wire in spring, early summer, remove by the fall, I have wired without raffia but they can scar quickly if your not watching closely, also branches seem to break easier in the winter when I tried wireing.ill look into floral tape, thanks

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I always pruned and wired my Chishio at Christmas, never had a problem.

 

[MACH5]

Cold winters and wire on branches have caused dieback for me, especially on smaller branches, I usually wire in spring, early summer, remove by the fall, I have wired without raffia but they can scar quickly if your not watching closely, also branches seem to break easier in the winter when I tried wireing.ill look into floral tape, thanks

Yes as far as wiring, that has been my experience as well. I defer all wiring until late winter/early spring.

Brian, I wonder if you may be ok because your winters are not as frigid?

 

[discusmike]

Your winter temps where you live could play a crucial role.

 

[benw3790]

No offense but does anyone read anymore? When I got into bonsai I read literally a 6' wide book case worth of material and i'm still going. Half if not 2/3 of the questions here would be answered in just about every bonsai book on the shelf. If I have time i'll try to come back and help you out. But in the meantime do some reading online or the old fashioned way.

Shit like this makes ppl not want to use this site. You sure as hell took the time out to be an ASSHOLE so instead of trying not to offend someone and posting a Pointless post, you could've helped the guy out. Jesus Christ Ive been using this forum for a coupe months now and Ive never made it my business to say something to the assholes on here or get into any of the arguments, but some ppl are just straight up rude. It pisses me off, I feel like were all in this together and I'm tired of ppl being rude to each other when everybody is here for help, in one way or the other. If I was at a bonsai meeting and asked someone with more experience a question and they answered this back to me I would knock them TF out. Peace

 

[nathanbs]

Shit like this makes ppl not want to use this site. You sure as hell took the time out to be an ASSHOLE so instead of trying not to offend someone and posting a Pointless post, you could've helped the guy out. Jesus Christ Ive been using this forum for a coupe months now and Ive never made it my business to say something to the assholes on here or get into any of the arguments, but some ppl are just straight up rude. It pisses me off, I feel like were all in this together and I'm tired of ppl being rude to each other when everybody is here for help, in one way or the other. If I was at a bonsai meeting and asked someone with more experience a question and they answered this back to me I would knock them TF out. Peace

You know I felt similarly as you when I had only been on the forums for a couple of months but year after year post after post it gets really annoying/boring for questions that get asked over and over again that can be answered if you just read about it or researched it a little . I would rather a newbie(noob) come on here and ask how do I properly use the search function on this forum so I can look to see if 3000 other noobs before me didn't ask the same question? I agree that there is a certain tone and level of rudeness on here but you get that anywhere you get keyboard warriors(yourself included) interacting. Maybe I was having a bad day I don't know, but I don't take it back as I meant what I said. Just as you said you've never taken the opportunity to tell "one of us" off, I rarely take the opportunity to vent my frustrations with these redundant questions. I think I did my venting a lot more eloquently than you however. A bonsai meeting is a little different as you cant assume the individual has access to the internet or maybe this is their very first meeting to see what bonsai is all about. If that same individual came time after time asking the same questions over and over than it would be a little more similar to this.

 

[Vance Wood]

Shit like this makes ppl not want to use this site. You sure as hell took the time out to be an ASSHOLE so instead of trying not to offend someone and posting a Pointless post, you could've helped the guy out. Jesus Christ Ive been using this forum for a coupe months now and Ive never made it my business to say something to the assholes on here or get into any of the arguments, but some ppl are just straight up rude. It pisses me off, I feel like were all in this together and I'm tired of ppl being rude to each other when everybody is here for help, in one way or the other. If I was at a bonsai meeting and asked someone with more experience a question and they answered this back to me I would knock them TF out. Peace

In all defference to nathanbs the OP shows a picture of a 3 year old Japanese Maple and proceeds to ask what to do with the tree including styling tips. There is nothing here the could not have been found in almost any bonsai book you could have purchased, found at a library or accessed on line. You also have to understand that most of the time, some of the most trivial questions are answered and dealt with, this time it was not. The bottom line is that none of us are being paid to be here, it is not incumbent on any of us that we share anything at all.

 

[nathanbs]

In all defference to nathanbs the OP shows a picture of a 3 year old Japanese Maple and proceeds to ask what to do with the tree including styling tips. There is nothing here the could not have been found in almost any bonsai book you could have purchased, found at a library or accessed on line. You also have to understand that most of the time, some of the most trivial questions are answered and dealt with, this time it was not. The bottom line is that none of us are being paid to be here, it is not incumbent on any of us that we share anything at all.

You're right I didn't have to share anything, including my "rude" comment that is his point. I guess its not ok to teach others anything other than bonsai here. What ever happened to Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel how to do Karate but first teaching him discipline? Do you remember wax on and wax off? What's the harm in teaching noobs how to fend for themselves? Whats this world coming to? Hopefully next time I go into a public urinal someone will be there to unzip my pants and shake me off when I'm done pissing. Thanks anyways Vance but some just don't get it and I'm not talking bonsai.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Hopefully next time I go into a public urinal someone will be there to unzip my pants and shake me off when I'm done pissing.

An old drunk tried that on me in a co-ed public bus stop urinal in Korea 30 years ago where you just basically pissed in a ditch. I saw this hand creeping around from in back of me and I was like WTF? I turned around and it was a dead-ass drunk old Korean dude. My wife was in a stall behind me peeing and she yelled at him.

But I digress...

Gentlemen, please resume.

 

[nathanbs]

An old drunk tried that on me in a co-ed public bus stop urinal in Korea 30 years ago where you just basically pissed in a ditch. I saw this hand creeping around from in back of me and I was like WTF? I turned around and it was a dead-ass drunk old Korean dude. My wife was in a stall behind me peeing and she yelled at him.

But I digress...

Gentlemen, please resume.

i thought you were about to tell me a George Michael story

 

[Dav4]

i thought you were about to tell me a George Michael story

You gotta have faith!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu3VTngm1F0

 

[benw3790]

Sorry, I was just really frustrated and I had to get it off my chest cause it seems like so many ppl on here are really egotistical, I actually have respect for how you responded to what I said. Hope I didn't burn any bridges. Lol but I always see posts on here from more experienced people, telling newbs to go "look it up" we know we can find certain answers in books and on the internet, but sometimes we want to know what you guys would do PERSONALLY, or what you WOULD do personally, because we have direct access to people with experience on here. Instead of reading the same things over and over again. But youre right, NOBODY HAS to reply, or help others with questions. Its that persons choice. But I am sorry for the way I called you out, it was more directed toward all the other negative comments and posts I see a lot around here. And I couldn't bite my tongue any longer!

 

[Vance Wood]

Sorry, I was just really frustrated and I had to get it off my chest cause it seems like so many ppl on here are really egotistical, I actually have respect for how you responded to what I said. Hope I didn't burn any bridges. Lol but I always see posts on here from more experienced people, telling newbs to go "look it up" we know we can find certain answers in books and on the internet, but sometimes we want to know what you guys would do PERSONALLY, or what you WOULD do personally, because we have direct access to people with experience on here. Instead of reading the same things over and over again. But youre right, NOBODY HAS to reply, or help others with questions. Its that persons choice. But I am sorry for the way I called you out, it was more directed toward all the other negative comments and posts I see a lot around here. And I couldn't bite my tongue any longer!

I don't mind someone asking me how to do something but when I am asked to share the entire cultivation cycle with someone I tend to get a bit irritated. I had no internet, I had one bonsai book and I had a short time with an old man teaching me for the period of a year. Other than that I have had to learn everything I know by my self. Honestly if I wanted to dis someone I would simply not answer. There is nothing wrong with telling someone to go look something up, it builds a sense that the answers are out there if you care to take the time to look them up. When I had a question I had to figure it out.

 

[Paradox]

No offense to anyone, but it is true that people have begun to view the internet as the answer grape for everything. People don't seem to want to take the time or work to look things up for themselves.

I try to help when I can on what I can, but it does get tiring answering the same question over and over, particularly when a simple search would reveal the information pretty quickly, not to mention it gets time consuming.

I am still a bit old school in that I LOVE books that can be taken anywhere and they dont require batteries! I keep some of my bonsai books near the TV and I flip through them during commercials or read about a particular species. That way through continued exposure, it sinks in after a while hopefully .