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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20701

  • Mercnik
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Hi,

I am very new in bonsai world. Actually I never had or made bonsai before, but I would like to try and start learning about it.

In local tree nursery shop I found beautiful Acer (Little Princess). It is about 10 years old tree in plastic pot (not grown for become a bonsai). It has about 5 cm thick trunk and its about 60 cm high. On my opinion it is to high, and the trunk its to thin.

My question is:
May I cut almost all the brunches off, and leave only one, to start thickening the trunk? Next year cut it a little higher... Will I fatally damage the tree if I cut about 80% of brunches off? The tree already has all the leaves and it seams like its in good condition.
I really do not want to kill this tree the first year I bought it :)

If it helps, I can stick some pictures of my Acer. I would be very happy to get some suggestions what to do with it.

Thank you for your kind answers.

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20704

  • Auk
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May I cut almost all the brunches off, and leave only one, to start thickening the trunk?


Read this:
www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/bonsai-trunk-creation - especially the first line after "How to make great trunks"

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20705

  • Samantha
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yes read what Auk said,

let's see some pictures, see if there's anything to trim

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20713

  • Mercnik
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Thank you for link. I was asking about "cut-and-grow", but I do not know if Acer is suitable and in my case, I can not find leader brunch (see attached picture).
I've read a lot of theory. I also watched a lot of video tutorials, but in practice it gets trickier :) There are no brunches where I want them to be.
I am attaching picture of my Acer. The trunk was split on half (accident during transport), that's why it is taped together. I belive it will grow back. There are two lead brunches, but the third is partialy dry. The forth one (yellow colored) is growing crazy. I already trimmed that one down.

Because of some dead brunches, I've got it for half prize.

Is there any potencial for making it in a bonsai tree? If not, I could plant it in my garden, where it could grow happilly ever after :)

Thanks for your help.

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20777

  • Mercnik
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Anybody???

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20778

  • Bunsen33
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How long ago did the trunk split? If it was only a short time ago I would wait to see how that plays out before making any decisions. It may be that one side of the split dies off completely and if that is the part of the tree that you decided to keep you will just have a dead tree.

I also suggest doing some research on if Acers, specifically this species, backbuds. Knowing this will help you determine where to cut. Don't expect others to do the research for you.

Either way, compared to a potted tree, planting it in the ground will increase the rate of trunk thickening regardless of what techniques are employed. You will find this stated in nearly half of the threads on this forum (again, do your own research).

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 11 months ago #20779

  • Auk
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Is there any potencial for making it in a bonsai tree?


Every tree has bonsai potential, except when they are 20 meters high, or dead.
You could say a seedling has the most potential of all, as it can go in any direction and is suitable for all styles (depending on the species), while a magnificent, completed bonsai has no more potential left - as the potential has been used for the design.

Enough semantics:
Your tree does seem to have potential.

I would probably cut off three of the branches and make the remaining one a new leader. That is one option.
Not even sure if that's the best option; hard to tell from photos. More photos from different angles would help.

However, I'd let it grow for a very long time now, to see how the split develops.
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Last edit: Post by Auk.

Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 10 months ago #21165

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Last week we had major frost in our country, and my tree did not took it well.
Also Acers I have it in my garden, Ginko, Vine, Hydrangeas,... All new spring foliage is dead :(

What will happen now with all this plants. I hope they will survive. Is there anything to help them to to recover?

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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 10 months ago #21167

  • brkirkland22
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If the trees were in good health, they should put out new growth in a few weeks. We had a freeze around a month ago and lost foliage on a few yard trees (maples, magnolias, wisteria & azaleas). They're back in normal mode now, and putting out new leaves. They'll be fine.
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Acer Little Princess - fatten trunk 7 years 10 months ago #21179

  • leatherback
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Yup, healthy trees should be able to deal with a late frost. It is fairly normal for trees to experience a late frost, as long as they were not kept in a greenhouse over winter, and came out of dormancy too early.

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