hey guys i have had this maple for three years now, when I bought it as a pre bonsai everyone was so helpful on this forum. i repotted it last feb. it looks so good this time of year. i post this message simply to ask where I should focus my attention this spring/summer. it was my 33rd birthday yesterday keep on keeping on!! xxx

Cool tree!

Were this mine.. I would focus on 2 things for now:

- What to do with the large cutmark, getting this to close over
- Look into the branching. Right now, the 4 lowest branches are all positioned as opposing pairs. I would prefer to not have branches to be so clearly opposing, which creates too much symmetry to me.

thanks leatherback, you were one of the people helping me with this tree a few years a go. i agree about the branches the top left(of the bottom four) will certainly go at some point, I'm considering also removing the bottom right down the line to break up the symmetry, but my worry is that it would leave a massive gap betewwn the nebari and first branch on the right hand side.

the large cutmark in the middle is an interesting one, i asked people advice before about cutting the edges with a blade, or carving it a little, just suggestions i have heard elsewhere, everyone here categorically said no leave it alone to do its thing, two years later it has hardly moved a millimeter, absolute best guess i would say the diameter has decreased 2mm. is this normal? it feels like at this rate it could take 20+ years to heal.

Looking at the cut, it seems to be walling over?

I try to think about copper-brushing or knifing the edges of these sort of wounds in spring, then cover with cutpaste to get better responses..?

This is between may and december on a regular A Palmatum, which I hope to get to close in 4 more years: