A little over a month ago I started another project with some acers I grew from seed. This time I used 5 2-year-old Acer Palmatum seedlings.

Japanese Maples I started from seed in 2017

I tried to sell these 5 seedlings online and to members of my club but for some reason they didn’t get sold. So instead of just letting them grow in their container for a few more years I decided to use them for a root fusion project.

The idea is to create something like this (yes, I’m very optimistic 🙂 )

Courtesy of http://j-bonsai.com/en/

First thing to do is to bare root the seedlings.

Bare rooted seedling with nice feeder roots already.

Then I prepared the pot and stoneware plate that will be used to create a nice root spread.

As drainage layer I used used baked clay pebbles.

With a power grinder and tile drill I made this out of a nice Portuguese plate. The position of the holes should be assymetric.

I mixed my bonsai soil mix with some extra fine pine bark.

And then filled the container with it…



Next step was to put the pruned seedlings through the holes in the plate and place the entire construction in the container. The idea of putting the seedlings through the holes is that the trunks will grow bigger and air-layer themselves where the plate will cut into the bark. This way a nice root spread will be created.

Make sure that enough soil is placed below the plate so no air gaps are present.

The plate with the seedlings put through it.

All that’s left is to fill the rest of the container with soil so the plate is covered with 3-4cm (1,5″) of bonsai soil.

This is how the tree(s) looks today. Since all 5 seedlings are getting new leaves I guess it’s safe to let them grow for a few months and check for new roots above the plate in autumn.

Picture from today, a month and a week after they were planted in this position.