This past winter, I received a number of Japanese maples with good roots but no movement or taper whatsoever. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I considered my options. I figured I could:
- give them away
- develop them for landscape material
- destroy them, or
- make a big cut and start from scratch
I went with the last option, though I’m not convinced I made the right choice. As the first branches on most of the trees were fairly high, this meant I had to generate the shoots that would form the upper part of the trunk. I wasn’t sure how the trees would respond to such drastic cutting so I left the trunks fairly long. Here’s what they look like today.
A few of the trees show no signs of life or are growing slowly.
Japanese maple – no new buds at this point
Japanese maple – a few young shoots have emerged low on the trunk
Other trees are growing vigorously.
Japanese maple with plenty of new shoots
New shoots high up and down low will provide good options for future styling
Most of the younger trees are growing well, and because the trunks aren’t so large, it will be relatively easy to transition from the existing trunks to new leaders.
Young maple with new shoots
Spring foliage on young maple
As it doesn’t take long for vigorous growing maples to produce shoots that are too large for wiring, I’ll have to decide whether or not to wire before too long. Until then, I’ll enjoy watching the new shoots develop.
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ceolaf says
I’ve been trying to figure out when the right time of year to trunk chop might.
is it right now?
Marty says
I need to do this with some as well. I wonder if the first one that is not responding was chopped too low. It will be interesting to here if it buds back.
When were these last repotted?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Marty – the trees were dug up from the ground and potted in early spring, not long before the first buds appeared.
@ceolaf – As for when to make large cuts, early spring is a good time to do it. Better to make large cuts when the tree has a chance to heal soon afterward.
Daniel Yamins says
How many trees? Enough for a statistical sample?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Dan – I have 14 of the larger trees and 10 of the smaller.
africanbirding says
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
catwolfsf says
Jonas, had these trees achieved the desired trunk thickness? I here different theories about achieving taper. Some say to let base of trunk achieve desired thickness before cutting leader and developing taper. Others say to cut back regularly to achieve taper as trunk thickens, but this is supposedly slower. Which approach are you applying?
Jonas Dupuich says
I think the best approach is when you replace leaders along the way – the method Eric describes in the pine article on the BSSF site. The sole reason I cut these back was to get some low branches from which I can select future leaders.