Sean’s Japanese Maples

[SeanS]

ROR



I lost the top of this little tree so grafted a shoot to create the next section of trunk. This is one of the trees that has bee plagued by fungus, but is recovering.




One of my larger trees. I performed a wedge cut to assist with healing the scar that removing the large branch in the back would create. It's about 40% closed already. Next season I'll be able to remove the branch and have a much smaller wound to heal. There is a tiny set of buds at the red circle. I'll be cutting back to those buds next season to grow the next section of trunk.





The end of the left trunk/branch. I'm leaving extra shoots to heal the scar. Once it's healed I'll cut them off and cut away any swelling that the extra shoots might have caused, then allow that smaller wound to close.

Virt of the possible future design can be found in my earlier post below.

RootBattle2021 continued

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Virt of a possible design. You can see where I’m hoping some buds will pop one node further down on the main trunk. If not I can always thread graft a new trunk leader exactly where I want it.

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Big Ol’ bucket of roots!

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[Scrogdor]

ROR

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I lost the top of this little tree so grafted a shoot to create the next section of trunk. This is one of the trees that has bee plagued by fungus, but is recovering.

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One of my larger trees. I performed a wedge cut to assist with healing the scar that removing the large branch in the back would create. It's about 40% closed already. Next season I'll be able to remove the branch and have a much smaller wound to heal. There is a tiny set of buds at the red circle. I'll be cutting back to those buds next season to grow the next section of trunk.

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The end of the left trunk/branch. I'm leaving extra shoots to heal the scar. Once it's healed I'll cut them off and cut away any swelling that the extra shoots might have caused, then allow that smaller wound to close.

Virt of the possible future design can be found in my earlier post below.

Is the idea behind the partial wedge cut to leave the branch alive so it can help heal the scar faster? haven't seen this before.

 

[SeanS]

Is the idea behind the partial wedge cut to leave the branch alive so it can help heal the scar faster? haven't seen this before.

@Scrogdor yes exactly. By leaving the branch you want to remove connected for a while (with a wedge cut out of it) you essentially have 2 parts of the tree healing the initial wound: the main branch/trunk that you actually want to keep, and the branch that you're trying to remove. Once the branch has helped with healing the wound you cut it off and then only have the last part of a much smaller wound to heal.

Here's a blog post by Jonas from Ebihara's garden, scroll down a bit to see some examples of the technique

Here's an IG post by Kaya Mooney showing the process.

 

[PieterVE]

Hi @SeanS
when did you make the cuts ? Winter or summer dormancy ?
( to have minimal bleeding)

 

[SeanS]

Hi @SeanS
when did you make the cuts ? Winter or summer dormancy ?
( to have minimal bleeding)

In spring when I did my repotting. This tree was an air layer I separated last season and let grow for for the rest of the season until winter. I repotted it the following spring (last August/September) and made the cuts then. There was minimal bleeding as I did extensive root work.

I documented the repotting and wedge cut process in this post: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/sean’s-japanese-maples.51529/post-889913

 

[Shibui]

Late winter and early spring around bud burst seems to be maximum bleeding. As @SeanS mentions root pruning stops any bleeding so best to combine spring cuts with root pruning.

I find avoiding bleeding is not a case of dormancy. Right after leaf drop is OK. After leaves have opened and hardened is OK even though trees are actively growing. Summer is still OK but it can be harder to see where you are cutting because of the leaves everywhere.

 

[SeanS]

Late winter and early spring around bud burst seems to be maximum bleeding. As @SeanS mentions root pruning stops any bleeding so best to combine spring cuts with root pruning.

I find avoiding bleeding is not a case of dormancy. Right after leaf drop is OK. After leaves have opened and hardened is OK even though trees are actively growing. Summer is still OK but it can be harder to see where you are cutting because of the leaves everywhere.

I'm still in my early learning stages but am trying cuts at different times to see how trees respond. My JMs that I've made some smaller cuts on during summer have had zero bleeding, so summer seems to be a safe time to cut as @Shibui has mentioned. My larger trident that I cut in December (early summer) did still bleed for about a week before it started pushing new buds and had somewhere to send all the sap to. I think it also comes down to how many buds or existing foliage the tree has to send sap into. My conclusion so far is that if there is zero foliage on the tree (like after a big trunk chop) then it will bleed until it can send fluid elsewhere.

This is the trident mentioned above. Once the new grown exploded after the cut bleeding stopped.

This tree however was also cut mid summer last season, but continued to bleed for months. It also never budded out at all. I may have cut below the last node, or the tree simply wasn't strong enough to overcome the constant bleeding and push new growth. This is the tree that I grafted seedings onto when I repotted it in spring. It's growing gangbusters now, with the seedlings reaching well over my head now. Latest update here

 

[PieterVE]

As the time of leaf drop here in Europe is long gone, I think I'll make the cuts in summer to be on the safe side.

 

[SeanS]

My first cultivar (that I’m aware of) in my garden, ‘Shishigashira’. Paid a premium for a pretty small plant, but I think it will be worth it once I can grow it out and start propagating it.



The nursery also had some ‘Beni maiko’ grafted trees available which I contemplated getting, but I’d rather keep looking for a ‘Deshojo’ to bring a red leaf cultivar into my collection. Another local nursery also has ‘Katsura’ available but I already have an unidentified tree which has new foliage that looks very similar (in my opinion) to ‘Katsura’ so I’m unsure if it’s worth getting one. I need a red leaf tree next.

 

[SeanS]

Repotting season is upon us here in South Africa!

Repotted one of my bigger JMs today as the buds had started moving. This was started as a layer which was separated in January 2021. It spent last season on a wooden board. Today it went into a wide shallow tray, still in the board. I’ll post some post repot photos in the next few days.

The large branch on the back poking out to the right is being removed using the Ebihara wedge cut technique, it’s halfway healed and will be removed fully just after the spring flush hardens off.

Photos aren’t the best as they’re screenshots from my instagrams story. IG Profile





January 2021

 

[SeanS]

One of my RORs was waking up, so I did some work on it. Forgot to take photos while the roots were unwrapped

Grafted this one with shishigashira, we should know in a few weeks if I’m successful. Now before you all go “GRAFTED!!!”, I’ve come to realise that grafting is carried out and accepted in Japan (thanks to @Canada Bonsai). I haven’t seen too many shishigashira root over rock bonsai.

 

[giventofly]

That twin trunk looks amazing!

 

[eugenev2]

Repotting season is upon us here in South Africa!

Repotted one of my bigger JMs today as the buds had started moving. This was started as a layer which was separated in January 2021. It spent last season on a wooden board. Today it went into a wide shallow tray, still in the board. I’ll post some post repot photos in the next few days.

The large branch on the back poking out to the right is being removed using the Ebihara wedge cut technique, it’s halfway healed and will be removed fully just after the spring flush hardens off.

Photos aren’t the best as they’re screenshots from my instagrams story. IG Profile

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January 2021

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Hi Sean,
I see you mention it's repotting season in SA, i'm newish to bonsai, very skittish to do something wrong. I'm also from SA and interested to find out if you normally report this time of the year? I was under the impression it normally happens early spring rather than middle/late winter? Or is this for dependent on the weather conditions or specific trees only? The reason i ask is that i have a few trees that either might or will require repotting now or soonish, as they have some of the indicators like buds bulging and such.
Trees that i have at the moment that i'm considering is a Japanese black pine, candles are starting to elongate, acer palmatum, but i'm not sure what is meant with...the buds are moving, bald cypress buds are starting to bulge, but it's old leaves are still on the the tree only reddish brown colour. And then finally i have some sapling celtis, not sure whether sinensis or africana...they jus randomly appear between my trees.

I realise this is a maple thread, but desperate for a south african perspective.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[SeanS]

Hi Sean,
I see you mention it's repotting season in SA, i'm newish to bonsai, very skittish to do something wrong. I'm also from SA and interested to find out if you normally report this time of the year? I was under the impression it normally happens early spring rather than middle/late winter? Or is this for dependent on the weather conditions or specific trees only? The reason i ask is that i have a few trees that either might or will require repotting now or soonish, as they have some of the indicators like buds bulging and such.
Trees that i have at the moment that i'm considering is a Japanese black pine, candles are starting to elongate, acer palmatum, but i'm not sure what is meant with...the buds are moving, bald cypress buds are starting to bulge, but it's old leaves are still on the the tree only reddish brown colour. And then finally i have some sapling celtis, not sure whether sinensis or africana...they jus randomly appear between my trees.

I realise this is a maple thread, but desperate for a south african perspective.

Thanks in advance for any advice

@eugenev2 its common practise to repot trees once they start growing. This is usually around spring time, but trees don’t understand calendars or clocks so this doesn’t always coincide with our human “Spring Day ” on September 1st (in the Southern Hemisphere). Once trees sense longer day light and warmer temperatures they will start growing. Sometimes that’s later winter, sometimes early spring.
That’s when we repot.

Here are the buds on a JM I repotted yesterday, this is what’s meant by “buds moving” or swelling

 

[eugenev2]

Ah great, thank you very much. I know now what to look for.
Ie my maple's buds doesn't look like that yet

 

[Ming dynasty]

Sure. Nothing revolutionary. I found using pots when possible to be much easier to water and get good air flow into. I used 50:50 sphagnumerlite. I tried 1 or 2 layers with pure sphagnum but found the perlite:sphagnum mix was much easier to comb out of the roots when it came time to separate. I also watered them a lot, twice a way until it ran out the bottom of the pots.
None of my layers took more than 9 weeks.
I’ll be doing 2 layers this season and I want to try butting a wire tourniquet right up against the top cut to create more root flair as per one of @SantaFeBonsai threads.

I’ve had zero layer failures so far, I’m 10 for 10

When was the latest in the season you air layered?

 

[SeanS]

Update on one of my bigger Japanese maples. In spring I thread grafted a shoot through the leader to become the next section of trunk. Graft is doing really well and the leader has been cut back to a little above the graft point. I’ve been slowly reducing the grafted shoot below the entry hole and should be able to sever the graft in the next month.

I’ve had a second flush of growth in the last month and all of the primaries are thickening up nicely. I should be able to cut off most of the sacrifice branches at the end of the season and continue developing the secondaries and some tertiaries next season. The lowest branch on the right comes out right above the nebari and is being developed as a low crawling trunk/branch. I’ve recently guy wired it down so it’s not as upright as in the early spring shot below.



A shot from earlier in spring

 

[SeanS]

Time to start the autumn/fall updates for 2023

First up one of my bigger Japanese maples.

Spring 2020, R200 ($10.56 ) nursery score



Fall 2023




The apex is a thread graft from spring, I’m pretty chuffed if I say so myself. The lowest right branch/sub-trunk was a tiny shoot in spring as well. It will be developed into a really low meandering part of the tree. Next season I’ll start working on more ramification on the branches that are ready while allowing the others to extend to build their structure.

 

[SeanS]

Air layer from 2020. Will need to work on the wounds on the left trunk a bit next season, the callous is causing some swelling in the area where the branches originate.
There’s a bud right on the base of the main trunk that I hope pops next season so I can grow a 5th trunk low on the right hand side



Some progress shots

 

[SeanS]

(screenshots from my IG story so not the greatest quality)

What do we have here, an unassuming little 2 year old seedling



What’s hiding inside this mess of roots?


Here’s what



Breakfast is served