Bonsai Tree Care

A very often met tree in Central Europe and not only, you can find this tree in Germany, as an example, almost everywhere. In the autumn, its color, yellow-orange, is very beautiful, this making the field maple one suited tree for a Bonsai.

The field maple may be shaped in any size from 4-40inches/10cm-1m height. You can use small leaves by putting the plants in the sun. You can find maples in every good nursery. Of course, you have to consider that the tree will have a powerful wooden fiber. The root should have aprox. 0.3inch/1cm diameter in order for the young trees to have a firm shaped stem.

Soil:
The field maple is very easy to be taken care of. All soil mixes can be used. For the younger trees, you should use a softer soil. For the more mature ones, a harder soil, in which should be mixed a lot of sand and clay.

Nutrition/Sustenance:
Every Bonsai fertilizer should be successfully used. The nutrition should be applied starting with April using liquid fertilizers. 4 weeks later, you should use solid fertilizers. Use one spoon of fertilizer dust in a 3×4inches/10×12cm pot (monthly, until August). Fertilizers should be put in small quantities and at different locations in the pot every time.

Winter:
You don’t need to provide special protection to field maples. A plastic foil or some protective glass should be enough. Still, the younger plants should be covered with loose soil, sand, peat or foliage. The layer for the winter should be well stamped so that mice will not reach the root or stem.

Wiring:
Field trees grow naturally in a very strange and bizarre shape. This is why you really need to tie them up in order to achieve a good looking shape. The plants should be tied up early in the spring and untied in the summer until winter. The wire should stay on the plant 3-5 months. Be careful with the younger stems, since the wire may cut in it and therefore should be removed. In the autumn, the wire on the main branches should be removed and, if needed, you could continue wiring them next year, in the spring.

Cutting the branches:
This can be performed the entire year but it is more appropriate to do this in the January-March period, when there is no pith to flow from the wounds. More, the leaves-free plant is a lot easier to be cut and shaped. The thin fresh stems that are born in the summer should be quickly removed, in order to shape the tree in the right direction. The wounds should be treated with wax or special balm.

Cutting the leaves:
You should not cut the leaves every year to a field maple. This means that the plant is not to be available every year to be shown and processed. This is why you should make a schedule of all activities related to the tree, several years ahead.

Placement:
Small field maples may be often found in sunny forests and in parks, and they do not have problems with the shadows. As a Bonsai tree, yet, the field maple needs a lot of sun light, in order for the leaves and their tails to remain small. Still, if you place the tree in a place with partial light, you should regularly turn the plant to light, so the tree would not be too lop-sided.

Transferring:
The right time for the field maple to be transferred from one pot to another is in the spring, from March to the end of April. This is because in this period of the year, the field maples undergo more easily the cutting of the root.

Style:
A field maple can be shaped in any style you desire, from elegant shapes, to dynamic and bizarre ones. You should be warned, though, cascade style creates some problems. Semi-cascades are possible, but the inferior branches eventually sear out. The height of the field maple Bonsai tree may be from 10cm (grouped Bonsai trees) to 60-80cm (lonely trees). The big field maple Bonsai trees are rarely met, though. The ones found in nature are so full of flaws, that it should be a lot better for you not to try using them.

Field maples may be shaped and designed in some valuable and great looking Bonsai trees. All you need is to be patient and very careful.

Hoping that this will help you achieve a good looking Bonsai tree, please, don’t forget to send us pictures of your works.

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