Hi,

I acquired this tree a year ago and left it this past season to gain vigour. When I was happy it was growing well I decided to check it's roots and it had encircled the pot so time for a trim & an opportunity to improve the nebari. Here's some pics ... I'd love people to say what they'd do given this nebari & why

a) what would you prune first & why ? b) what % of the fibrous to keep c) methods used to make further enhancements such as splitting / spacing roots for best radial placement. d) anything else you deem relevant / interesting (tips)

The aim really is to try and get into the head of more experienced members - their thought processes, logic & time scales and see if I'm on a similar wavelength (I've written my plan down in word so I'll copy and paste it in later).

I have great respect for a lot of posters on this site so I am looking forward (hopefully) to hearing how they'd attack this nebari. Now some pics ...

Pic 1 ... combed out (the backside of the nebari). As you can see there are 2 thick roots here as well as a lot of fibrous healthy root.

Another angle...

Directly from above - back side

Side on profile - from the front

Looks like you've done quite a bit of root work and arranging.  Are you looking for a large pancake-map-of-the-world?  Multi-trunk?  Can we get a shot of the full tree?

Also, maybe a location in your profile?

Here's a full shot of the tree. Initially it had 3 trunks but one died and had to be removed (hence the cut putty at the 'back'). The main trunk is very straight and it will be very difficult (I would imagine) to bend it low down. At present the tree stands 21 inches tall and is about 3 inches at the base (5 if you extend out using the big side roots shown in the pics).

A related thread about the (straight) trunk is here .... http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?9775-Maples-tips-amp-advice (Owen it mentions Bjorvala as a reference!). What an amazing series of videos you guys produced... I know you're back in the states but these vids are an INVALUABLE knowledge resource to thousands of us... I hope you have plans to do more! What a great advertisement for talent & also shows something a book can't ... a fun personality. Anyway, enough of the gushing

Here's 2 pics that show the trunk straight and inclined forward...

A gorgeous JM on Peter Tea's blog: http://peterteabonsai.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/apprenticeship-and-a-japanese-maple/

Bears some similarities with the trunk line here .... straight bottom portion of the trunk then movement above. It's obviously much more ramified and mature and I do like the nebari too..

An old thread but I'd chime in on that too, rather than using cuttings you could shorten your time even further by layering portions of the top two trunks.  Even if the layers are one sided(as they do often are if you forget to rotate!) they'll be perfect to graft onto the base at gaps in the current nebari.
RyanB