I bought this small Japanese maple today that’s growing to one side a bit. Is this okay and will it straighten on its own, or is it better if I straighten it with a stake? Advice is appreciated!
Good morning @crvxv, and welcome to the maples forum, IMO it has quite a nice shape forming already, so I would leave it as it is. But if you want to stake it, then do so now while the growth is still flexible. Training a shape when young is always best, rather than trying when the wood is hard. The one thing you may not be doing is turning the pot to allow for the sun to approach from different sides of your maple. They will reach for light, hence why this one is leaning. Do let the forum know what you decide to do, with a photo or two.
Thank you for the reply! I just purchased this today, and all the others with it had a similar lean so I think it was that they were all growing toward the sun. I would prefer to let it grow on its own as I do like the shape it already has. I'm very new to anything garden related so I wasn't sure if it would be something that would improve on its own or would get worse and become a problem later on. My plan is to keep it in a container so I was afraid it might eventually lead it to tip over. I live in Southern California so I'm going to set it out in the sun in the mornings and then move it back to the shade, so I'll rotate it a bit each time.
IMO that would be perfect. I look forward to seeing how your new maple grows. So please update us all on the forum over the coming years. Glad to have another enthusiastic maple lover on the UBC community.
Twists and turns to the main stem can add character and beauty. You can train a maple to whatever stud tire you want, perhaps look at what it’s trying to do and enhance its profile over the years. If you want a uniform standard, then tie into a stake.
I received some advice elsewhere that the graft didn't look very strong yet and so I did put a small bamboo stake with some not-too-tight twine to keep it sturdy since it's been a little windy lately. Here are a couple pictures of that and another with a second tree that I bought that's already a little more established.
That was the right thing to do, until the graft is firmly sealed. ;-) Personally, I would let the top develop the way it wants :
Agreed, exactly the right thing to do. But watch the growth as it is surprising how tight that will get and quickly.
