Yes, I know the thread title is strange, but it has become a recurring question in the beginner's mind when I see two very different pictures of the same tree in the gallery forums (In this case Inaba shidare). Although it very much varies by specimen and location, I often find myself drawn more towards the tree like form instead of the bush/shrub look. How is the tree-like look achieved? Is this the basic difference between a high and low graft look? Is this the result of "staking the leader"? Although I know there is no subsitute for experience and practice, can anyone point me to book on basic training and pruning?
for many years this question was my question... for me the only form of maples was up rigth and i use stick (bamboo) and several prune for this form.today i love natural forms that the maple have in nursery or in wild ..but last mounth i have correct the form of Oliverianum,because up rigth form occupy small space...ciao alex p.s. you read the link about international year of potato?
Not initially, then I went back and read it, and then noticed the same link to the side of the forum. Is this an issue particulary dear to the UBC Botanical Garden/Maple Society?
yes dear (i reply for me not for maple society or ubc)because this link remember me that many people worked soil for eat and not for hobby..like me..
Even if one has been staked up a couple of feet higher, the training may fade into the past, after a few years pass anyway. Many of these trees become short tree forms with time anyway. Not the same variety - but I've pruned some with similar form, that have become as high as 13' tall with age. The ultimate pruning is to thin from the underside, and allow the top to build on itself. It's a slow process. But after 20 to 40 years of more, the trees become big enough, that the height of the original stem seems to become almost inconsequential. The stem height seems obvious initially when the plants are tiny and undeveloped. 80% of the ones I see planted, are put in too confined of an area, for this reason. Meaning that people percieve them as the small specimens they see at that moment in time.
The process of growing a leader does seem different in maples as the opposite buds seem to undermine the process - I have a couple of small plants that are basically growing in Y shape, seeming to demand that I choose a leader if I want them to have one.
