young maple forest

[maverickheath]

My miss got me this as my father's day present it's nice but they are very
Young trees

 

[Cypress187]

Yeah.

 

[maverickheath]

im thinking about spliting them up and putting them in bigger potts to help them grow

 

[MACH5]

Not necessary to split them up. I would just transplant it right into the ground or into a larger, shallow wooden box. As the trees grow let them grow at different rates. This way you'll end up with a variety of sizes that will make your composition more interesting and natural looking.

The only reason I would perhaps split them up, is to correct (if need be) their spacing relative to each other. In the end you want to have a variety of heights, trunk thicknesses and spacing.

BTW, as you probably know, it is to late to split. If you need it to do this, best to wait until next spring.

 

[0soyoung]

I'll just add that the larger they get, the harder it is to position them closely. It either cannot be done or you wind up killing one side of the pair of trees (low-down on the trunk) carving off the roots as needed to get the trunks close together.

In other words, I think it is far easier to set the positions and then grow the group than the other way around.

 

[sorce]

Nice...

I went looking for Bowser...
And found a turtle!

Sorce

 

[maverickheath]

Not necessary to split them up. I would just transplant it right into the ground or into a larger, shallow wooden box. As the trees grow let them grow at different rates. This way you'll end up with a variety of sizes that will make your composition more interesting and natural looking.

The only reason I would perhaps split them up, is to correct (if need be) their spacing relative to each other. In the end you want to have a variety of heights, trunk thicknesses and spacing.

BTW, as you probably know, it is to late to split. If you need it to do this, best to wait until next spring.

ok cool I won't split them just didn't think they would grow that well together I'll just transfer them to a bigger pot something like a 15 litter pot I will need to change that soil tho it really poor drainage

 

[justBonsai]

ok cool I won't split them just didn't think they would grow that well together I'll just transfer them to a bigger pot something like a 15 litter pot I will need to change that soil tho it really poor drainage

As the tree is already in leaf, I would avoid overly disturbing the roots. If you bareroot the tree to remove all the soil it will cause a substantial amount of stress. Maybe a very light scraping of the outer soil then slipping into the new container at most.

 

[maverickheath]

As the tree is already in leaf, I would avoid overly disturbing the roots. If you bareroot the tree to remove all the soil it will cause a substantial amount of stress. Maybe a very light scraping of the outer soil then slipping into the new container at most.

Ok that's not a problem I'll do that as for as trim it is it difficult I'm sure I have read maples don't like to be trimmed

 

[MACH5]

ok cool I won't split them just didn't think they would grow that well together I'll just transfer them to a bigger pot something like a 15 litter pot I will need to change that soil tho it really poor drainage

Mav you don't need something that large. Also make sure your pot is not too deep. Ideally you want something on the shallow side. The main thing you want to ensure is that your soil does not stay too wet for too long as they don't like "wet feet". Japanese maples can grow quite a bit even in smaller pots. They also have no problem at all growing close together.

Ok that's not a problem I'll do that as for as trim it is it difficult I'm sure I have read maples don't like to be trimmed

Please can you clarify what you mean by "maples don't like to be trimmed"?

 

[maverickheath]

Mav you don't need something that large. Also make sure your pot is not too deep. Ideally you want something on the shallow side. The main thing you want to ensure is that your soil does not stay too wet for too long as they don't like "wet feet". Japanese maples can grow quite a bit even in smaller pots. They also have no problem at all growing close together.



Please can you clarify what you mean by "maples don't like to be trimmed"?

Ok that's good to know and I noticed they don't like being to wet my big maple isn't doing to well and I think that has something to do with over watering it.

What I mean by they don't like being trimmed is because they bleed alot and can kill them if done wrong ?

 

[MACH5]

Ok that's good to know and I noticed they don't like being to wet my big maple isn't doing to well and I think that has something to do with over watering it.

What I mean by they don't like being trimmed is because they bleed alot and can kill them if done wrong ?

Ok. I can tell with a fair amount of certainty, that although Japanese maples can and do bleed when cut back in early spring, it will not kill them or even cause the branch to die back. After more than 25 years working with maples, I have never had a branch die on me because of it. In general, maples can take quite a bit of "abuse" top and bottom when done at the right time (ie. heavy root pruning in early spring).

 

[rockm]

Best time to hard prune the tops is along with the roots in early spring. Pruning the roots first, then the tops reduces "bleeding" substantially. Like Mach5, I've not had an issue with bleeding causing much of a problem. Maples are "bled" all the time for maple syrup and have been for centuries. The trees aren't "bleeding" in a human sense.

 

[maverickheath]

good to hear

 

[maverickheath]

any more good tips?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

any more good tips?

One more: do what @MACH5 suggested.