Hi there!

I just bought this awesome Japanese maple senkaki (or so the tag reads).
It has an awesome shape with good growth on the lower part of the tree.

I want to layer the trunk above the graft to produce nebari.
And at the same time, removing the not so good looking graft.

I've looked at different methods, such ring-bark, and tourniquet / ground+air layering.

It is currently early Spring in Australia, and the leaves haven't grown yet.

My approach as it stands is:

- Wait until leaves harden.
- Apply tourniquet above graft section as a ground layer.
- (How long typically does it take for roots to grow for a tree this size? = 6ft)

- Then possibly air layer one of the branches to create another tree.. Because I do want to prune the higher growth off to bonsai the base.


I am leaving all the growth as it stands to really boost trunk growth for tourniquet.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have posted pictures, and am happy to post more from different angles

Thank you so much in advance!

And here is the close up of the grafted section

For me, I would not use the tournitquette but just ring-bark it. And I do not wait till the leaves harden off. Just start the layering process now.

Note that not all japanese maple varieties do well on their own roots.