What would you do with these Japanese Maples?

[Epos7]

I'm just starting my bonsai journey. I sourced three maples from Evergreen Gardenworks in 1-gallon pots. They have 0.5-1" trunks. One is a seed-grown green JM, the other two are cultivars grown from cuttings - no grafts.

I've built some cedar training pots, and I have all the components necessary to make bonsai soil. My options are to get them into training pots or put them in 7-gallon fabric pots to thicken up a bit more. If they go in the fabric pots, soil mix will be 50/50 organic soil conditioner and doug fir bark.

If I go the training pot route, I know the trunks won't thicken up as fast as if they were in the ground or a big grow bag, but my understanding is this will better develop the roots for bonsai.

Questions:

1) Should I aim to arrive at my desired trunk size before moving the trees into training pots? Or will the trunks continue to grow in training pots, albeit slower than if they were in the ground/fabric pots.
2) The trees were delivered two days ago. I assume I should wait at least a week before doing anything with them?
3) I'm in zone 7b. Will they be happy with 5-6 hours of direct sunlight? The place I'm planning for them to live has good morning and early afternoon sun, then is shaded for the rest of the day.

 

[Epos7]

Update: I decided to plant all three in 7-gallon fabric pots. I think they need another year or two to thicken up (maybe 3-4 for the Coonara Pygmy). I used a mostly 50/50 mix of douglas fir mulch and organic soil conditioner. I also threw in some worm castings, crab shells, and I inoculated the roots with Azospirillum brasilense and Rhizophagus intraradices.

The Coonara Pygmy had a really small root mass, only filling about 25% of the 1-gallon pot it came in. I decided to be really gentle with the roots on this one, and repotted it as is. The Ao Kanzashi and Green Leaf were both rootbound so I aggressively separated the roots, and flattened them into somewhat of a pancake before repotting.

This brings my count of Japanese Maples growing in fabric pots to six.

2 x Green Leaf Japanese Maples in 7-gallon pots. These two are pretty young. 3-4 feet tall, have no branches. Very skinny trunks. Source: Scenic Hill Farm Nursery.
1 x Japanese Maple 'Ao Kanzashi' in a 7-gallon pot. 2-3 years old with a ~0.75" trunk. Source: Evergreen Gardenworks.
1 x Japanese Maple 'Coonara Pygmy' in a 7-gallon pot. 2-3 years old with a ~0.75" trunk. Source: Evergreen Gardenworks.
1 x Green Leaf Japanese Maple (small leaf, small seed seedlings) in a 7-gallon pot. 2-3 years old with a ~0.75" trunk. Source: Evergreen Gardenworks.
1 x Japanese Maple 'Shindeshojo' in a 25-gallon pot. This I found at a nursery. It's grafted and has a ~1" trunk. I plan to air layer it to get two trees. Source: local nursery.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site! I guess my first question would be "what do YOU want?" Do you want to own some individual Japanese maple bonsai? How large/small would you like them to be?

 

[Epos7]

Welcome to the site! I guess my first question would be "what do YOU want?" Do you want to own some individual Japanese maple bonsai? How large/small would you like them to be?

Thanks! I want to turn them into Japanese Maple bonsai. I don't want them to be particularly large - I think I'd be happy with a trunk thickness of 1.5-2".

 

[Epos7]

Updated photos in the 7-gallon pots.

Ao Kanzashi:


Coonara Pygmy:


Green Leaf Japanese Maple 'small leaf small seed':

 

[Jrmcmich]

Hopefully no issues with doing root work with trees in full leaf. But looks like a good plan to grow them out. I am Not sure how large a container is ideal based on current size but keep thread updated to see how they grow this year.

 

[Epos7]

Hopefully no issues with doing root work with trees in full leaf. But looks like a good plan to grow them out. I am Not sure how large a container is ideal based on current size but keep thread updated to see how they grow this year.

Yeah, good point about being aggressive with the roots. I gave them plenty of food in the upper layers, and I'll keep them nice and moist for the first couple months until they acclimate. These three maples came from a more southern latitude so they're further along than the ones in my zone.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

What would I do with these at this time of the year? Pretty much the same thing the same thing. But use a 4 gal for the larger tree and 2 gal for the smaller. Up pot as they grow.

Would start identifying a line with all three

Would do some cutbacks of branches that are not on the prospective larger one. However fear this maybe a cut down job.

In any event would work the roots next year on the larger one and put it on a box. If a cut down is done you’ll want to have a good root system… and if the plan is to use what’s there, the same applies.

The other two will need at least a couple more years of growth. We have the Coonaria and it is a slow grower.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Epos7]

But use a 4 gal for the larger tree and 2 gal for the smaller. Up pot as they grow.

Is there a disadvantage to using a larger pot? My thinking was I won't have to worry about watering quite so frequently.

 

[JesseKane]

Using a larger pot actually means that the soil will stay more moist as there aren't as many roots to remove the water. In extreme cases, the soil around the outside without roots will stay wet while the soil around the roots will dry out and you might not realize that the tree needs water. I think a good rule of thumb is to use a pot with an inch or two diameter larger than the root ball and then repot as the soil gets completely filled with roots.

 

[Epos7]

Using a larger pot actually means that the soil will stay more moist as there aren't as many roots to remove the water. In extreme cases, the soil around the outside without roots will stay wet while the soil around the roots will dry out and you might not realize that the tree needs water. I think a good rule of thumb is to use a pot with an inch or two diameter larger than the root ball and then repot as the soil gets completely filled with roots.

Yeah, I have heard the same for houseplants. I've used these fabric pots for growing vegetables outside, and they dry out really quickly in the summer heat. Hopefully I didn't overdo it, but my thinking is since I'm going from a plastic nursery pot that doesn't breathe to a fabric pot that breathes really well, I should go up more than one size.

 

[clem]

Is there a disadvantage to using a larger pot?

It is better to use draining particles (akadama, pumice) and a large and flat pot to improve the nebari (to help roots grow horizontaly). With your deep pots, the vertical roots will grow fast (same as in the ground) and the lateral roots (the important ones for nebari) will grow slow. It is also better to cut the vertical roots before repotting to stimulate the lateral roots to grow.

I advise you to search "flat and wide wooden crates" to look at what we can do with those "training pots". It is practiced and popular because it is effective

 

[Epos7]

I advise you to search "flat and wide wooden crates" to look at what we can do with those "training pots". It is practiced and popular because it is effective

This was my initial conundrum, as I built some wooden cedar training pots. I was unsure if I should put the maples in those, or plant in fabric pots. In the end, I decided to go with fabric pots for the first year, as I think that will help thicken the trunks up better. You are right that it won't be as ideal for root development.

 

[TrimmyWhimmy]

You may want to consider pond baskets at some point. Unlike a grow bag, they will air prune the roots, providing root ramification as the tree grows.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

For next year one might check out this thread about root working maples and boxes .

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Epos7]

You may want to consider pond baskets at some point. Unlike a grow bag, they will air prune the roots, providing root ramification as the tree grows.

The pots I'm using are fabric, they should air prune I think?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Citrus/comments/1gnacgj/air_pruned_roots_from_felt_pot

 

[Epos7]

For next year one might check out this thread about root working maples and boxes .

Cheers
DSD sends

Thanks! My plan is to keep them in the fabric pots this growing season, then move them into my cedar training pots in winter or early spring. Will keep that thread bookmarked.