Thinking About Getting Into Maples- A Few Important Quesions

[Yoppyx]

Recently I have been pining to get into Jap maple bonsai, but as a Bonsai beginner(2 years) I am still super spooked by deciduous trees. I have only really worked with conifers and I am now planning to change that. Before I dive into trying to train a Jap maple, I have a few questions that I'm hoping to find answers too.

Q1: Do I Need a Specific Dwarf Cultivar?
One of my biggest fears is starting off on the wrong foot, so I am wondering if in order to get a good looking komono sized Jap maple, is it essential to get a certain dwarf cultivar and if so what cultivar?

Q2: Seems like Maples take a hella long time. Is this true?
From looking around it seems like before you can even start training a Jap maple bonsai you need to go through 8 years of ground planted trunk chopping. If this is true should I get a bunch of sapling lined up in my garden so if I wait the 8 years out, I will have a high yield of trees?

Q3 Any Good J Maple Books?
Looking for book recommendations, found this online not sure if its a good read: https://www.stonelantern.com/Bonsai_with_Japanese_Maples_Care_how_to_bonsai_p/b1jmaples.htm


Those are my most pressing questions! Any general advice on a min max way to start working with this species would be appreciated. The sooner I can start the process for Jap maples correctly,the sooner I can have a delicious tree.


Thank you for your time!

 

[sorce]

Apologies for the delay in your http containing "Spam Watch" post!

Welcome to Crazy!

@MACH5 always says regular palmatum is best.

Start em right! Grow em slow!

See @William N. Valavanis maple from seed...40 years?

Sorce

 

[plant_dr]

Q3 Any Good J Maple Books?
Looking for book recommendations, found this online not sure if its a good read: https://www.stonelantern.com/Bonsai_with_Japanese_Maples_Care_how_to_bonsai_p/b1jmaples.htm

That is a great book.

You might as well start some seedlings if you want to it will give you something to do later. What you could also do is get one or two from a nursery to play with and practice on in the mean time. It will help you learn some skills and techniques and how they grow. You can start with something cheap-ish and then as your knowledge and confidence grow you can get something betater to work with. By then, your seedlings will be closer to starting training too! Good luck!

 

[MichaelS]

q1 You don't need to have any particular cultivar but it's interesting to have a few. Any cultivar with reasonably sized foliage can be made into the komono size.

q2 Yes maples do take a long time and there are no real short cuts. it will take 4 to 6 years in the ground for a trunk diameter of about 2 or 3 inches more if you want a good one, less if you want a straight pole. Much longer growing in a pot only.
Another 5 years to develop the main primary and a few secondary branches, and then another 8 or 10 years to have something to look at. You will need 30 to 40 years to get to the real nice fine ramification as with most trees. The dwarf cultivars are faster in this regard.

q3 Probably not. International Bonsai is a good reference.

General advice. J maple needs patience, attention to detain, experience and concentration. I know of people who have been doing bonsai for 40 years and their maples look like shit. Be prepared for failures, but keep at it and you will get there.

 

[Lorax7]

Q1: No, the plain green ones are just fine. Cultivars will work too. Just a matter of preference.
Q2: Yes, if you’re starting with a seed, sapling, or an ordinary nursery tree. My recommendation would be to go to a bonsai nursery and get one tree that already has a good trunk and some basic branch structure to work with. Then also get several trees from a regular nursery and start developing those. That way, you’ll have at least one tree that already looks nice on the bench and it’s a bit easier to be patient with the rest of your stick-in-a-pot trees.
Q3: I have that book and, yes, it is a good read.

 

[Lorax7]

P.S. As a beginner, you don’t need to be spooked by deciduous trees. I find that they’re actually far more forgiving than conifers if your natural inclination is to overwater.

 

[Cable]

They can be tough to work on (branches are brittle) and they can die quick if you make a mistake but they grow like mad when they’re happy so are more forgiving in that regard.

If you can find a healthy one at the end of the season they’re cheaper but don’t buy it if in poor health. Poor health + winter = deadski

 

[Yoppyx]

Apologies for the delay in your http containing "Spam Watch" post!

Welcome to Crazy!

@MACH5 always says regular palmatum is best.

Start em right! Grow em slow!

See @William N. Valavanis maple from seed...40 years?

Sorce

Thanks for the inspo!

P.S those trees by William are str8 nasty <3 What a legend.

 

[Yoppyx]

q1 You don't need to have any particular cultivar but it's interesting to have a few. Any cultivar with reasonably sized foliage can be made into the komono size.

q2 Yes maples do take a long time and there are no real short cuts. it will take 4 to 6 years in the ground for a trunk diameter of about 2 or 3 inches more if you want a good one, less if you want a straight pole. Much longer growing in a pot only.
Another 5 years to develop the main primary and a few secondary branches, and then another 8 or 10 years to have something to look at. You will need 30 to 40 years to get to the real nice fine ramification as with most trees. The dwarf cultivars are faster in this regard.

q3 Probably not. International Bonsai is a good reference.

General advice. J maple needs patience, attention to detain, experience and concentration. I know of people who have been doing bonsai for 40 years and their maples look like shit. Be prepared for failures, but keep at it and you will get there.

Thanks man! Ya I think I'm going to buy 5 nursery stock saplings and keep them in the ground for a long time, that way when I try to train them and a few die, I will still have a few trees left.

 

[Yoppyx]

They can be tough to work on (branches are brittle) and they can die quick if you make a mistake but they grow like mad when they’re happy so are more forgiving in that regard.

If you can find a healthy one at the end of the season they’re cheaper but don’t buy it if in poor health. Poor health + winter = deadski

Noted, didn't know nurseries fluctuated prices on their trees, this with help me save the dough.

 

[Yoppyx]

Q1: No, the plain green ones are just fine. Cultivars will work too. Just a matter of preference.
Q2: Yes, if you’re starting with a seed, sapling, or an ordinary nursery tree. My recommendation would be to go to a bonsai nursery and get one tree that already has a good trunk and some basic branch structure to work with. Then also get several trees from a regular nursery and start developing those. That way, you’ll have at least one tree that already looks nice on the bench and it’s a bit easier to be patient with the rest of your stick-in-a-pot trees.
Q3: I have that book and, yes, it is a good read.

Sweet, Ima snag that book and study up so I dont screw up when I actually need to train a Maple.

 

[Yoppyx]

That is a great book.

You might as well start some seedlings if you want to it will give you something to do later. What you could also do is get one or two from a nursery to play with and practice on in the mean time. It will help you learn some skills and techniques and how they grow. You can start with something cheap-ish and then as your knowledge and confidence grow you can get something betater to work with. By then, your seedlings will be closer to starting training too! Good luck!

That's actually good advice to stagger growing trees in diff stages so you can practice up. The only Issue I have with that is my small ass bench (((((

 

[JosephCooper]

I suggest you find a Trident maple first, it's tougher than a Japanese Maple.

 

[-norwegian_blue-]

I suggest you find a Trident maple first, it's tougher than a Japanese Maple.

Was gonna say this. You can be pretty brutal with tris. They grow like kudzu around here!

 

[Lorax7]

I suggest you find a Trident maple first, it's tougher than a Japanese Maple.

The toughness of a trident is really a function of location though. They didn’t mention what zone they’re in. Where I’m located (Michigan, zone 5b), trident maples struggle to survive our harsh winters. Amur maple is a more hardy choice for the climate here.

 

[plant_dr]

@Yoppyx , it would be helpful to us if you update your profile to include your location. Also a good resource for you would be to try and find the closest bonsai club in your area. They can give you valuable info on what will grow well and what will not. They probably also do auctions/raffles or tree swaps from time to time and could be a way to acquire trees. These may even have had some work done to them, giving you a head start.

 

[Yoppyx]

The toughness of a trident is really a function of location though. They didn’t mention what zone they’re in. Where I’m located (Michigan, zone 5b), trident maples struggle to survive our harsh winters. Amur maple is a more hardy choice for the climate here.

Im in zone 6a

 

[Yoppyx]

@Yoppyx , it would be helpful to us if you update your profile to include your location. Also a good resource for you would be to try and find the closest bonsai club in your area. They can give you valuable info on what will grow well and what will not. They probably also do auctions/raffles or tree swaps from time to time and could be a way to acquire trees. These may even have had some work done to them, giving you a head start.

New to this forum sorry, just updated my zone. There is a local club in my city, but I goto university in a diff city so its awkward to join and attend meetings.

 

[Cable]

Noted, didn't know nurseries fluctuated prices on their trees, this with help me save the dough.

It’s not so much fluctuations as a clearance sale on trees that didn’t sell. Can be a crapshoot. Why didn’t they sell? Could be half dead. Could be ugly, and ugly landscape tree can often make for a great bonsai.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

New to this forum sorry, just updated my zone. There is a local club in my city, but I goto university in a diff city so its awkward to join and attend meetings.

I'm in Montreal, we have similar weather. I would be sure to know in advance where you plan to keep your trees during the winter before buying any maples at all.