Bonsai Experiment

[Matt Markworth]

Hi All,

My neighbor has a Silver Maple and the helicopters really fly. I let some seedlings grow in a mulched area in my backyard and have used some of them (152 to be exact) for a Bonsai experiment.

Matt

[Joe]

I don't know much about bonsai, but I like what you've created. I've always like the foliage of silver maple, if not the tree itself. I'l'l be interesting to see how it develops.
Joe

[mdvaden]

I can imagine where you are headed with this.

Like the concept.

Would like to see the stages of development ... and I'm sure you will be photographing.

...

[edfrank]

Matt,

I am intrigued by your experiment. I wonder of these small shoots will graft themselves together , or whether or not most of them will simply die off. Silver maples do commonly form fused stem multitrunk specimens, so I wonder if there is a minimum age for the process to begin.

Ed

[Matt Markworth]

Joe - Thanks, I really like silver maple leaves as well.

Mario - Thanks, I'll photograph it at least once a year.

Ed - Out of the 152 seedlings, 33 remain alive and are producing leaves. There are only a few that have noticeably larger girth compared to a year ago. There's no evidence of grafting, but it'll be interesting to see if that develops over time.

Matt

[mdvaden]

Nice.

And spruce in the background?

LOL

[Matt Markworth]

Nice.

And spruce in the background?

LOL

And Colorado blue too!

Matt

[Will Blozan]

Matt,

Are you root pruning as well?

Pretty cool!

Will

[Rand]

You plan on doing all the pruning and training with wires to make it look official or are you just kinda going to let it go?

[Matt Markworth]

Will, Rand,

I haven't done any root pruning or training, other than tying a silver maple stem around the middle. I think I'll let it go for a couple years, and then use some wires to try to imitate a big, spreading open-grown silver maple.

Matt