Aced palmatum “Bloodgood”

Beginners
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So the neighbor down the street had this beauty sitting at the curb. Don’t know if I want to plant it in the yard (and do some air layers)

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or make a really big bonsai. It would be a lot of work maintaining this guy. It measures 6’ tall and the base is 8” wide. Owner said it’s roughly 45 years old. The root ball came out of the ground perfectly flat on the bottom and is about 35” wide and 8” deep. I tossed it in this fabric bag till I decide what to do with it. Any ideas?

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It’s tempting to jump right in and start reducing this beast down, but if it were me (and I could exercise the patience), I’d plant it in the bag into the ground to keep the roots in check, but then feed the heck out of it and see where you get back budding. Since it’s so big with no real secondary branching, I’d see what kind of secondaries you can get going before air layering, or making any really big decisions.

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Awesome find! I would chop it down to where you want to start developing and let it grow this season.

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Yes, give it to me. :laughing:

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@Crnagel Does the bag allow sufficient drainage and can the roots grow through it? If so, I would plant in the ground and let it grow. The more you let it grow the more air layers you can have before you decide to prune down ready for styling.
Patience is prudence I think…

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What do you want to get out of this tree?
It’s massive. Do you want a massive tree? I do, but maybe you do not. I don’t see a lot of great parts to air later off, but maybe they are indeed there. I think the trunk on the left has merit and I agree with @rafi that cutting back to the parts you want to keep is a good idea. I would not recommend putting this in the ground if you want a bonsai. This tree is already huge! Get a large pot, and reduce the roots a little more. Pot it up and let it grow for a year or two.

Ryan

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Give those roots a good cleaning, discover the base, plant in ground (in a bag) and let it cover. See if it backbuds then make a game plan for next year, or maybe the year after if it needs to recover longer.