It's always difficult to get any sort of perspective from a 2D photo, but you have the makings of a very nice mother/daughter tree, with the daughter tree on the right. If you decide to go that route, the daughter tree needs to have a smaller caliper (trunk diameter) than the mother tree. As things are now, the mother tree is the same size as or smaller than the daughter tree. This means you need to reduce the daughter tree considerably and leave a maximum amount of foliage on the mother tree so it can fatten up. At the same time, you need to keep the tree's future in mind, as you envision it. That's usually the hard part for beginners. If this was my tree, I would reduce the daughter tree today, by removing the vertical branches that won't be part of the composition. This plant tends to grow in tufts of foliage at branch ends just behind pruning cuts (like burning bush), so (on the daughter tree), I would remove any end 'tufts' that have multiple branches so there are only 2 secondary branches growing from each main branch. Concentrate on developing only horizontal branches you'll be keeping as part of the future composition. Let the mother tree grow unencumbered by pruning. ANY branches you intend to keep should never have more than 2 branches emanating from any single point - IE, Y's are ok, but 3 branches from the same point will give you trouble down the road because of reverse branch taper, so correct that as soon as it's reasonable to do so on both trees pictured in your posts. As you develop the top of the mother tree, keep in mind it will want to overhang the smaller tree protectively, so as you prune & wire, the main tree will want to move from left to right, as seen now - if we're looking at the best 'front'. One of your tree's most attractive features will undoubtedly be its roots. Experienced judges of bonsai material look there first, so start working on the roots at the first repot time. Reduce heavy roots the most & allow fine roots in the right places to grow unencumbered by pruning. If you lack roots in a particular spot where roots are needed, get after stimulating root growth in that area and work toward a horizontal root system and roots of equal size/spacing. This picture (above) is actually a preparation for layering off the top of a Carpinus koreana with poor roots, but just filling the holes (done with a brad-point drill spun in my fingers) with rooting gel will produce roots where wanted. If your tree has enough trunk below where the two trunks join, it's a good candidate for layering. See this maple's nearly perfect root structure after layering: You can still see the wire I used as a constriction to block the downward flow of photosynthate to roots, which caused a high level of carbohydrates (to enhance rooting) and a nice swelling (trunk flare) to occur immediately above the constriction. I do this to a LOT of trees with weak root systems - it's much easier than fixing them. This is a very impressive root system (Acer b) for such a very young tree - done by drilling the holes & layering off the top - as you saw in the pics above. Any back-budding that occurs low on the trunks - let those branches grow to increase lower trunk diameter. You can remove them later, after they've done their job, but if they occur very close to each other, eliminate one of the branches to reduce swelling and reverse taper. This goes back to the 'no more than 2 branches emanating from any one point'. Al

robiniaquest, this is for wayne (and all, too) I could swear the other two were NS. I googled both and learned a bit more. Most nursery sites say it was introduced by the U of Minn (I always knew that somehow) in 1950 (didn't know that long ago). A few sites say they were introduced later. I don't know how I got it in my head that's what I wanted all those years ago or why I ended up with the first two, must have read about them somewhere, called the local nursery, awful I can't remember now, do remember exactly what I paid for them then and planting them. I could swear they were NS, but these new ones look a little different starting out. Two are plenty for me. They often ripen during the horrid hot days, and I often just don't bother to pick them. I just like to watch them grow and have a few, never learned to make jam or jelly. All I ever do is make pies with them. A lady used to stop every year and ask if she could have enough for a couple of pies; I always let her. An old friend from church for years used to pick and pit them for me (he grew up on a farm), then we'd split them, but I think he kept the lion's share. I'm going to try to keep more for myself if these do anything. They have to be easy to can, and I still have a pitter, but it is work. Usually we just froze them but I don't have a big freezer and see no point in getting one now (one more thing to keep clean and worry about). This variety is quite sour, and I found diluting the juice with water and using plenty of sugar helps, then thicken with cornstarch before I bake the pies, just guess the right amount. I hate it when I guess wrong or the cornstarch doesn't work right and they're soupy. Pies are a lot of effort but the kids and I love them. The fruit is not as plump as the old standards (which I prefer flavorwise), too hard to pick from those big trees; people don't have them any more around here. I also checked Montmorency, edenfoods promotes it as very healthy, you know how it is when you are used to something, you don't want to switch. They had those out at HD, too. I just liked these and never had to care for them at all. I did call the extension office today, and he asked did we mow around them, yes, I remember not being careful when I did the mowing, that could have caused the gall, said not to worry, pull the mulch out 2-4 inches, fertilize with something slow release, thought my rose fertilizer would work. I vaguely remember they might have suckered a little, maybe not. My apple tree nearby is awful. Don't get a Jonadel like I did. They are good but not as good as Jonathan imo. I wish I had more room for fruit trees. I have an old apricot tree that has just budded out and next week the temps are supposed to dip to 33. I seldom get any, but when I do they are wonderful. Moorpark. People had some hardier ones with much smaller fruit, but nobody likes to bother with the messes any more. They would rather steal mine if I get any. My mother used to adore white peaches when people would let her have some (nobody has those any more I know of), and canned them. I wish I could have those, grapes, peaches, one pear tree, more varities of apple. I have a farm and can't live on it by myself. I tested the waters on that, planted things, couldn't get back to water them, and all died but one, no fruit trees that time. It's 50 miles away. My dad had the same trouble, one apple tree he planted still bore fruit, but all his cherry trees died from neglect. My dad would have loved to live on his farm; I feel bad that he was never able to, used to talk about setting up a trailer and spend weekends there, I think my mom wanted no part of it. It's frustrating to have a passion for something and not enough room and no one to share it with and making posts that are too long.

hey steve... i have no clue what to advise you in SoCA ... its a foreign land as far as i am concerned in z5 MI ... lol but i hoped you learned one thing.. buying bug IS NEVER advised ... if budget is a concern ... buy the biggest thing you can get in the car/truck .. and in 5 years time.. it will be bigger than buying big.. and waiting for them to get re-established ... you will pay 1/3 the cost.. and avoid the crane .. and it will be much easier to take care of all the variables .... smaller root ball... smaller hole... etc .... and as noted way back when ... TIMING is everything in transplanting ... do it at the right time ... and you avoid a lot of problems with leaf burn.. etc ... the leaves fell off every single tree in my yard in the last two weeks.. up here its called winter ... cant help you with leaf trouble down in nirvana in winter.. lol .. good luck ken

I'm not exactly an expert on trees, but I do have 2 Japanese Maples, a Redbud and a couple of cherry trees, so I'll put in my 2-cents' worth (anyone, please feel free to correct me). Firstly, you do not mention what kind of maple tree seedlings you have. If they're Japanese Maples, you might want to coddle them more, for nothing more than the fact that they're expensive. I think there's no problem transplanting them into a larger pot, but you should only go to a pot which is no more than 2 inches in diameter larger than the pot they're in at present. If you have any of the hardy native maples, I would transplant them into your garden right away. Be sure to pick the right spot so you won't have to put undue stress on the saplings by having to transplant again later on. I would put a plant ring, trellis or other protection around them so that no one steps on or runs over them with a mower. Other than that, I don't see a problem. As for earth and fertilizer, just any good garden soil with some added compost, add some bone meal when transplanting, and thereafter, a good high-nitrogen fertilizer (e.g. 30-10-5) or organic fertilizer or compost. Keep well watered well into fall. I don't know exactly what you mean my the 'oil' in regard to your peace plant, but if you have some kind of bug in the soil, now is a good time to transplant as plants are now well into their growing phase. When transplanting, you normally do not want to disturb the roots and therefore just pull up the plant with soil attached and place in new pot and soil; but in your case, I would go outside and wash off all the soil and maybe spray the whole plant with a hose (not too vigorously), especially if you see any bugs on the leaves. Then I would use a new or (bleached) clean pot with some nice prepared indoor potting mix, or sterilized soil which has been amended with peat moss, and vermiculite and/or perlite. Since you say your plant has been malingering for the last six months, I would also add some bone meal and starter fertilizer (0-52-10) to give it a boost. If at all possible, keep outdoors for a few weeks in a protected area in the shade and away from the sun. Hope this helps.