So here’s another episode in my Acer Palmatum bonsai from seed 2017 saga.

The next 2 seedlings are 3 years old now. Last year I put them both through a hole in a tile so they would layer themselves and roots would start to grow right above the tile. Now one year later they both had a nice rootspread above the tile so I was confident enough to remove the roots below the tile and put the seedlings, let’s call them trees from now on, in a wooden grow box.

Project 2

I based project 2 on the Maple book from Peter Adams.

This is the idea for this particular project.

The tree and growbox at the start.

The growbox prepared with soil and wire.

Pretty good rootspread below the tile, well… saucer in this case.

Removed the saucer and roots below it and gave it a good cutback. Only the new leader was left.

Securing the tree in the growbox and putting it in the right angle.

Final result: Wired the new leader. On the right side of the stub are some new shoots coming up. One of the will become the 1st branch.

Project 3

The next project tree was a bit more vigourous. The rootspread above the saucer was very very good. Tthis on is going to be an informal upright. Or that’s the idea.

The tree before the repotting.

Some good pruning.

Preparing the box. Some big particle soil covering a big space between the wooden boards.

Good root growth above the saucer.

The bottom of the tree after cutting of the roots below trhe saucer. Nice root spread!

The amount of roots that grew in 1 year.

The remaining roots also got pruned.

Securing the tree in the pot.

The end result. Now it can grow for another year.