I picked this up today at a local nursery. It is 36 inches tall from the top of the soil. The width of the maple is only 1 inch.
Obviously this tree has many years ahead of it before I will place it into a bonsai pot, however what can I do now to best thicken the trunk and prepare the tree for bonsai? I am assuming that this process will take at least 5 years.
I have some spare 8 inch tall by 6 inch width basic plastic pots, would it be beneficial for trunk growth to re pot (without cutting the root ball back) in modern bonsai substrate or should I get an even larger pot and simply plant the tree in some sort of soil mix rather than bonsai substrate?
Secondly, if it is possible I would like to double my chances with this tree by air layering at about 13 inches up from the base. There is a perfect spot about 12 inches from the base where I believe (hopefully I'm using the correct terminology) I could cut the tree and provide a new lead branch to take over as the top.
Any recommendations, tips or information is appreciated!
Full shot
Base of the tree
Mid section of tree about 1/3 of the way up from the base where I would like to cut the trunk and air layer. I used RED to indicated where and sort of how I would make my cut to start a new lead branch. I then used the GREEN to indicate the new lead branch and its chutes. Finally I used BLUE to highlight the area of the tree where I would air layer.
If it was my tree, and I was going to airlayer it, I would go up one more branch.
Because you are girdling your tree to create an airlayer, Give your self (and your tree) a good chance to survive it. More importantly to you for both halfs to have a good set of terminal leaves both above and below the wound.
If the airlayer takes, you can always later (like next year) cut as short as you wish.
I would only slip pot (as in pot into a larger vessel) this year under the One insult rule*.
*One insult rule; older smarter bonsai guys than me started limiting how hard they remodeled trees. To only one major cut per tree per year...
Because you are girdling your tree to create an airlayer, Give your self (and your tree) a good chance to survive it. More importantly to you for both halfs to have a good set of terminal leaves both above and below the wound.
If the airlayer takes, you can always later (like next year) cut as short as you wish.
I would only slip pot (as in pot into a larger vessel) this year under the One insult rule*.
*One insult rule; older smarter bonsai guys than me started limiting how hard they remodeled trees. To only one major cut per tree per year...