Standard JM

theta

Mame
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I picked up this JM this morning for a what I thought was a pretty decent price at a local nursery. So excited to dig into this thing this year. Plans are going to include layering off one or possibly two of the apexes, chopping back the thicker trunks, tons of root work, thread grafting, maybe approach grafting some young JM I have, trying some techniques like Ebihara and Van Meer, so much fun to be had! I don't really want to just cut it back to a stump and regrow everything. So hopefully I can come up with a plan that will allow me to keep as much as possible, but still have taper throughout the tree.

One thing that concerns me is a patch of blackish/dead part on the back of the trunk. But it looks like it has started to heal, maybe I can post a picture and see what you guys think?

I'll post an update this spring. At this point I have more experience buying nursery trees and making plans than actual experience working on them, haha, but it's all good.
IMG_20180122_093301.jpgIMG_20180122_093306.jpgIMG_20180122_093511.jpg
 

RobertB

Chumono
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nebari looks pretty decent from the pics.
 

AndyJ

Shohin
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Be interesting to see where you go with this - I've got a couple of beech trees that I'm in a similar position with
 

theta

Mame
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So this other side is pretty bad. Guy at the nursery said it just suffered frost damage, but looks much more serious to me. Does anyone have an idea of what this is?
IMG_20180126_130157.jpg
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
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It was damaged - a strip of bark got torn away somehow (raccoon scratching?) several years ago. It has healed over, but because the tissue is so much younger the bark is thinner than on the rest of the trunk. It doesn't appear to be punky meaning I don't see any wrinkling of this new tissue, that would indicate cambium death. So, I bet the black stuff is just smut that will easily come off with a fresh water tooth brush scrub. Maybe 2 tablespoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide in a quart of water will help.

But, yes you will want to keep this to the back of your composition.
 

theta

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OK thanks so much for clearing that up and putting my mind at ease. The black had me nervous.
 

theta

Mame
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Dug into this today. Cut back as much roots as I could, but again ran out of time, rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

After really looking at the top branching I realized there wasn't really much up there worth layering off, so I just cut off the thick trunks.

IMG_20180223_133646.jpgIMG_20180223_134533.jpgIMG_20180223_135921.jpgIMG_20180223_152148.jpgIMG_20180223_155343.jpg

Have to finish raking out all the rest of the old nursery dirt and see how far up I can go underneath.
 
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AHHHHHHH I really like it! that base is really good for just being nursery stock. Makes me start itching to do some repots haha
 

cbroad

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Really like the nebari on this, very cool! The damage on the trunk could be sunscald.
 

theta

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Wasn't really happy with how the rest of the work went, I probably could have raked more of the old soil out and gotten closer to the base of the tree underneath, but oh well. It is what it is.

IMG_20180224_190537.jpgIMG_20180224_190545.jpg

My back is not happy.
 

theta

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Juuuuust starting to leaf out in its new home. Had to bring it back in the garage last night and will do the same for the next 2 nights. After that I hope spring will stick around so this guy can start growing.
IMG_20180313_084243.jpg
 

RKatzin

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Nice maple, but I think you need to reduce it more. What is the finished height of the tree to be? Figure that first and reduce the trunk to about two thirds of that and then grow out the top. As is you are staged to make a fairly large tree. Your leader should grow until it blends with the trunk and then cut again to bring the taper up in stages. Rule of thumb is six inches tall per inch of trunk diameter. So a three inch trunk will make an eighteen inch tree, cutting back to twelve and growing six inches of upper branches and canopy.
This is not cast in stone, but a good go by when setting up the tree for future.
 

theta

Mame
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Yeah you know after sitting back and looking at this image, I thought I should have cut some of those longer branches back more, but - I do want to make it a good bit taller. I know the standard rule is 1:6 , trunk to height. But I really am more interested in creating something along the lines of 1:9 or 1:10, or even more. I think you see those proportions much more often in nature, and am hoping it will give this tree a more natural feel, like a real tree.
 

discusmike

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Reduce the leader in late summer n i think you got something cookin
 
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Most of the time I like to establish the roots first before working on the top so the top part has maximal power to produce the roots. But what nice find is this... Besides the scarred back this is best nursery stock I've seen...
 

ysrgrathe

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Nice find and nice work on the roots!
 
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