Fix Japanese Maple Trunk structure

9 years ago

I received this Fireglow Japanese Maple in early March 2014. It was already leafed out and very rootbound. Had to keep it in my garage 1 month, then did root surgery & planted. Needless to say, it barley made it, but the good news is that it survived.

I had to prune out a lot of dead branches. This is what is left. The branch with the red x looks dead too (no buds) so that will likely go to. My question is, should I let the healthy shoot (green line) grow up or prune everything out expect the single, crooked trunk?

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
i would do nothing until it leafs out in spring ... and probably.. not even then ...

i cant tell what is graft.. and what is understock ... you PROBABLY have made the right choice.... there should be a leaf difference ...

with JMs... i would go a little zen ... and not worry about a perfectly straight trunk ....

just for the heck of it.. i would move the big tag down to the trunk ... laying on the ground.. for now ... so it doesnt scratch the branch in winter... the lower is tougher bark at this point ...

personally .. i dont prune off anything for 2 or 3 years... except for broken stuff ... perhaps you ought to give it a break from pruning.. since you did what you called.. a lot of root surgery .... just a branch or two.. on something this size can be 50% of the canopy ... and that does not encourage root mass development ...

every leaf is a food making machine.. to grow the roots.. to grow the tree ... if you keep cutting them off.. IMHO ... you are retarding the growth potential of the plant ...

ken
sc77 (6b MA)
Original Author
9 years ago
Ken, your 2 for 2 tonight! I agree with everything you said about the pruning. The reason I decided to do it, was because the branches were 100% dead, no buds, no chance at recovery... figured it was better to remove them while dormant, than to wait until spring/summer. The branch with the red X is most likely a goner, but I left it until the spring to see what happens. Also, at the base of that branch is where a nice healthy shoot is heading up. As you can see in the updated picture, the shoot is defiantly above the graft line (see red line), so no worries about it being under stock growth.

I'm cool with the Zen approach, I guess my main question is in terms of aesthetics...Should I let that shoot develop into a second trunk to sort of balance the look of the tree, or keep it to the main truck... I'm imagining it looking like I have outlined in white if I let that shoot do it's thing...

Thanks,
Shawn
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All of the above is precisely correct. But it also makes a difference with the exact form of the tree at the time of selection - ones with high grafted, straight trunks are never going to produce that very sculptural look you are after, despite all the pruning in the world. You need to find a young tree that already has some character to its growth, either through some bending on the trunk, some directional growth habits or the arrangement of existing branches. This is never going to happen if purchasing a tree via mail order. You need to visit a nursery/garden center that specializes in maples and has a large and varied selection that you can chose from in person.
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Thanks for the picture of your tree. Before seeing the picture, I was thinking that the tree you bought at a nursery might be as large as 4 or 5 feet tall and so my answer as to how much to cut off would be different. The size shown in the picture is a manageable size. First of all, I agree with everything in the response by moochinka (above). If it was my tree, I would spend quite a bit of time evaluating the current branch structure and decide what your styling vision you have for what you want the Bonsai to look like (including the size). Then, remove all of the branches that are not in your styling vision. Next, after that, I would begin to wire the tree to verify that it is going in the direction of your vision. If you are going to keep the Bonsai at about its current size, then I would cut back the minor branches (which may include some of the wire you just put on) to no more than 2 nodes per minor branch. If you want the tree to be smaller, then I would cut back the minor branches to just 1 node. It will definitely grow out and become more full (with ramification). More than likely (if you are like me) as the tree continues to grow over the next couple of years you may change your vision of the tree. That is why spending some quality time at the beginning may save you extra work later and may also prevent you from removing a key portion of the tree.
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These question simply have no hard, fast answers. I tried to allude to the fact that some research shows no benefit-none-to doing such root surgery, the idea being that wherever such cuts are made, two new roots will form at aprox. right angles to the cut. Thus, they will be in perfect position to re-girdle (if such is actually happening). You seem to have flown right past that and want to cut something. My primary "advice" is that perhaps nothing should be done. And like beng said above, these are visible roots, but at least at this point, they are not girdling. If you want to see full-blown girdling root, get thee to the nearest street full of Norway maples, look for one with a thin, poor-looking crown, then examine the base of the trunk. You will likely find a flat side on the trunk where the very life is being squeezed out of that whole side of the tree. Nothing of the sort is going on with your tree. I am quite certain you are jumping the gun, a gun in this case which might not even get fired.
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Gosh, it's hard to imagine I even in live in same general vicinity as you guys...........snow has been virtually nonexistent in my area this season!! One little 3-4 incher a few weeks ago - that's it. There are some concerns here because the split occurs so low on the trunk and the weight of either branch will continue to want to pull the split wider. However, removal of either branch is going to result in a lopsided 'half' tree! What is the actual wound like? Is it soft and mushy inside or is it still solid wood? If still firm and solid, I'd consider bolting through the trunk split. If the tree was valuable to me (as all my JM's are and I'm sure you feel the same), I'd get a certified arborist out to give me some options, including the viability of bolting the trunks together.
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brandon7 TN_zone7
9 years ago
I'm fairly sure I'd eventually remove that entire branch. If, from looking at it in person, I was 100% sure it should go, then I would go ahead and remove it before growth begins in spring. However, if I wasn't completely sure, I'd remove the dead part (with a proper reduction-type cut) and make a final decision about the rest of the branch within the next couple of years.

Either way, you're not going to go wrong. Even if you think you need the balancing effect now, you won't in just a year or so. As the tree grows, The crooked trunk will be less and less noticeable.
mikebotann
9 years ago
Japanese Maples naturally have a nice branching pattern with plenty of curves. Why try to make it straight?
Mike
sc77 (6b MA)
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the feedback Brandon & Mike. Ideally, I would liked to have had a strait trunk up to a certain height before allowing it to split into multiple trunks. However, with mail order, you never know how the tree will look. That said, I don't mind that the trunk is crooked, as long as their is a second trunk to offset it looking weird. I guess it makes the most sense to just let it do it's thing and review the situation again in a few years

Fix Japanese Maple Trunk structure

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

sc77 (6b MA)
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Fix Japanese Maple Trunk structure

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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