Smoke
Ignore-Amus
That leaf is going to bug me all night....
Thanks for the time it took you to document this.
It's encouraging to see that planning ahead makes the goal easier to accomplish.
In Jan. the virtual I made will be 5 years old. I swapped it horizontally so even though its really the back of the tree, it is virtually the same on either side. Putting them side by side is pretty uncanny while thinking about Max's observation.
Of course I still have a lot of work to do to get a base as exaggerated as the one in the virtual.
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This is probably one of the most important questions you could ask. It would be very difficult and super time consuming to post all that is needed about working with maples for developing material. There is no formula like you posted for branches except to say in short, keep everything to two's. Not two buds per se, but branch divisions to two. Always keep the terminal bud removed when the tree is to the point of keeping it styled. This induces twiggyness.Smoke,
When you are pruning, I think I understand that one is looking for successively smaller branches from the trunk to the leaves. What about the spacing between the branches. If you prune to have 2 pairs of buds, will the bud spacing get closer together as the branches get thinner? Or do you have to prune to 4 bud pairs on the primary branches, 3 on the secondary and so on. I'm sorry if my question is unclear, or not even wrong, I'm very new to this and trying to develop a plan for this spring.
@Smoke Al, thank you for all you do here on this forum and on your blog. I think I speak for most, obvious outliers excepted @RickMartin , that your contributions to the bonsaisphere are sincerely appreciated.
...I also understand that underpotting a tree can improve the nebari...
This topic deserves its own thread, and I will gladly explain my findings and show examples in the spring, when I repot. I've got 2" nebari on 3/4" trunks.Please explain. How does this work?
Scott
For the sake of argument and without reading anything Stan has yet to write, it goes without say for deciduous trees. I too have experienced this and the exact reason I tie my trees in shallow pots without soil underneath. It's just such a waste of soil.Please explain. How does this work?
Scott