How To Grow And Care For A Japanese Maple Bonsai – Part II

In my previous article we addressed the proper fertilizing, watering, light, and humidity requirements for the Japanese maple bonsai. In this second article on how to care for your Japanese Maple we are going to concentrate on when and how to re-pot, root-prune, and branch-prune your Japanese maple, and some tips to look after it through the winter.

Pruning Your Japanese Maple

Among the methods that you’ll give your Japanese maple bonsai it’s form is through well planned branch pruning. You can prune leaves, branches and roots with additional internode pinching. Although you could also prune your Japanese maple in the spring they have a tendency to bleed a great deal and will lose lots of sap. Fall is usually a better time of year to prune your tree. This bleeding tends to be minimized if the tree’s roots are pruned before. All wounds resulting from pruning the tree’s branches ought to be covered with a wound dressing available at your local garden store or nursery. If you’re going to prune the tree’s roots and do some branch pruning the very best time of year will be to do both in the fall.

Superior bonsai specimens feature delicate branches. The method to produce fine branches is to prevent lengthy internodes. The space between one pair of leaves and the next pair of leaves on a branch is call the internode. Do this by pinching back any new growth throughout the growing season. Pinch back all new shoots to only two sets of leaves. Pinching back the new shoots can lead to the following shoots having shorter internodes, which is desirable for greater density of the foliage.

Pruning the leaves on your Japanese maple (removal of leaves during the growing season) , also referred to as defoliating, can be done each alternate year at the beginning of summer to encourage smaller leaves. Defoliating necessitates the removal of all of the tree’s leaves, but leaving the leaf stems intact on the branch. The effect on the tree is that it creates a false “autumn”. The tree will then produce a second set of leaves which are smaller that the leaves that had been removed. Defoliating really should only be carried out every two years, and you should not defoliate your plant during the same year that the tree has been repotted.

When to Re-Pot Your Japanese Maple

As a general rule most bonsai trees ought to be repotted every couple of years. After two years of growth the roots start to get somewhat overcrowded. The optimal season to re-pot your bonsai is in the fall. The primary reason for re-potting is to give you an opportunity to prune the trees roots. This tends to stimulate the plant and result in healthy new growth. Once you have carefully removed the tree from it’s pot you can rinse off the roots with running water.This will make it easier to prune and to re-pot. Any dead or damaged roots need to be removed to avoid root rot. A preferred potting mix includes 1 part loam, 1 part peat, and 1 part coarse sand. For all styles except a cascading style, you should use a shallow pot. This will compel the roots to spread out which enables it to create a stable root base.

Root Pruning

The pruning of your Japanese maple’s roots should always be accompanied by branch pruning so that the root system is not over-stressed seeking to supply water and food to the plants branches and leaves.

Before your Japanese maple is better established you need to prune it’s roots every autumn. Once established it will only need to be done every second or third year.

Pruning your trees roots will cause the tree to lose some of its ability to carry nutrients and water all through the rest of the tree. That is why root pruning needs to be undertaken during the times of the year that the stresses brought on by the pruning can be lessened. Those times of the year that these conditions are perfect are late fall and early spring.

The Japanese maple will typically have stopped providing it’s leaves with water by late fall. The roots of the Japanese maple will continue to be active long after all of the leaves have fallen off, as long as the temperature remains above 55 degrees. The roots will still have an chance of new growth if you have pruned them and the temperature stays above 55 degrees.

Winter Care for Your Japanese Maple

Water the tree thoroughly as the last few leaves drop off in the fall. Move your tree to an area where it’s going to be sheltered from extreme winter winds. If not protected, the dry winter winds can cause extensive damage to your Japanese maple. The soil in your bonsai’s pot will quickly dry out when subjected to the winter winds. Your Japanese maple bonsai doesn’t need to be watered on a regular basis during the winter, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to check on it now and again. Give it a drink of water when it looks to be drying out, typically once a week will do. Bonsai plants, because they grow in small pots, can suffer from root freeze very easily. You can protect the roots from freezing by setting loose straw over the bonsai pot. This would also protect it from frost.

Resource

Bonsai gardening is a hobby that is fascinating, affordable, and easy to get involved in. Bonsai can be enjoyed by people of all ages, and can last a lifetime. Click this link to learn more about growing your own amazing Japanese maple bonsai, and sign up for your FREE 7-part introductory mini-course on how to grow miniature bonsai trees. Or, to get started growing your own bonsai trees right away check out the highly regarded “how-to” bonsai book “Beautiful Bonsai Secrets”.