Japanese Red Maples or Acer Palmatums are one of bonsai's most desired species. When ramified properly, a maple bonsai tree is one of the most beautiful things to see. The ultimate goal when shaping your maple tree is to develop a full pad layer. This consists of many developed branches that branch out from the primary branch. Luckily, maple bonsai trees are extremely easy to work with.
Maple trees bud new growth very easily. The bulk of which occurs during the spring. Cut your branches before spring to plan for the new shoots. When the new shoots start to emerge do not prune them back immediately. Let them grow freely so that the wood develops inside the the center of the branch. This occurs only if the branch is allowed to age. Once the wood develops, new shoots can develop at the cut. Continue to do this with all your secondary branches.
The easiest method is to select two branches to work with for every growth period. Over each new season, you can select another 2 shoots from the original 2 shoots and continue with each season. The ramification progresses quickly after two seasons as the branches will multiple exponentially with each progressive season. At some point, you will need to start eliminating branches to push the growth back and keep it from getting too leggy.
Maple trees bud new growth very easily. The bulk of which occurs during the spring. Cut your branches before spring to plan for the new shoots. When the new shoots start to emerge do not prune them back immediately. Let them grow freely so that the wood develops inside the the center of the branch. This occurs only if the branch is allowed to age. Once the wood develops, new shoots can develop at the cut. Continue to do this with all your secondary branches.
The easiest method is to select two branches to work with for every growth period. Over each new season, you can select another 2 shoots from the original 2 shoots and continue with each season. The ramification progresses quickly after two seasons as the branches will multiple exponentially with each progressive season. At some point, you will need to start eliminating branches to push the growth back and keep it from getting too leggy.