Ten Months of a hedged maple.

[Neli]

Thank You Al. Good answers.
I was thinking to let it acclimatize first before I do drastic work on it. Also I dont want to mess up, and make a fool of my self, by asking stupid unnecessary questions. As you can see I am trying to read and learn a lot before I attempt anything. If I am not mistaken that maple belonged to a very old man that died, and I suspect it was not cared for well, for a long time. Eventually the son brought it to a shop to be sold. So It needs to be really vigorous, healthy, repotted, fertilized before I start on it if I want any back budding and not dead branches.
And as I promised you, I will not touch that maple before I get proper advise....from Mr Al.
There are some maples that are very old, about which Oyakata warned me that they will not back bud. So there is where I will need most of the advise.
But I did work on one yesterday, and will post it asap. The one with the dry wood. I have fallen in love with tridents and you are the main culprit responsible for that. So I have many rough materials. Some very weird looking ones, but not 75 for sure.
WP uses the same hedging method. In Japan they use it also on some trees.
About the stubs cut not flush with the trunk, I think I read about in your blog. (That is if I am not mistaken) But I see here in one of the pictures that You dont cut them flash with the trunk.

On this maple the fat branch you cut off, is not flush with the trunk and the trunk chop also has a stub.

 

[Smoke]

If you are talking about the lower branch then it could have been cut to provide a better transition to the trunk. In the first photo I posted someone did not like the cut that was done there because it makes the trunk look as if it has some reverse taper. There is a branch grafted on that scar at the bottom that is filling up that hollow portion, and I suspect in about three years that wuill all be gone.

The top cut also marked in red. That cut was sawed there and the ridge of cambium was left above the leader to draw sap there and not dry out. The new leader was smaller and I did not wish to cut so close to the leader and risk drying it out on top. The light blue lines show how the trunk will roll over the chop and blend and transition to the leader and make a smooth trunk.

Like I posted earlier in the fourth dimension, these trees are not posted here because they are great or finished trees, I post them here so people can see what goes into developing a tree into one to be worthy. When my tree has been in training for forty years I should have a blemish free trunk just like the old trees in Japan has. Trouble is, it will be someone else enjoying the fruits of my labor.

 

[Neli]

Thanks Al. I understand about the leader better now, and would like to ask:
Did you not cut the branch flash because you were hopping for a bud?
Is there any danger if the branch is cut flush with the trunk, that I should be aware of?

 

[Paulpash]

I have no idea how walter does his. I have never read his blog in that much detail or even know if its there. I prune/shear/ hedge to a predetermined shape and do that continually thru the year, and detail prune in fall as I have shown. I have done that for years.

Just to save you a read ... it's exactly the same principle Al. He lets his J. maples grow longer (8 - 10 leaves) then shears back to a silhouette with the logic that increased vigour will create lots of back buds and an abundance of branches. In the Winter these are then selectively pruned to improve the taper / movement / branch structure or to strengthen weak areas.