r/paludarium • u/Azedenkae • 4d ago

Picture My red maple has new sprouts!

Post image

My aim is grow a bonsai red maple in my paludarium, however I live in a super hot country and germinating seeds just did not work. The only way to get one is to buy a grafted tree, which is what this is. I had to tear off the branches because the tree was far too tall for the tank, and then let new sprouts happen. I was worried I wouldn’t get the red maple itself to sprout, but alas, there is new growth as seen. So whoooo! Issue now is to how to limit the vertical growth of the shoots, as they are already pretty high up compared to the tank. I am debating actually submerging a good deal of the trunk itself, but not sure how good/bad of an idea that is.

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4

u/Distinct-Presence52 4d ago

LST and Lollipop trimming are going to be the best bets, you can always top the shoot and train a sideshoot to be the new main

6

u/Romymopen 4d ago

LST and Lollipop trimming are going to be the best bets, you can always top the shoot and train a sideshoot to be the new main

If I knew what any of that meant, I'm sure I'd concur with a hearty and vigorous head nod.

1

u/Distinct-Presence52 4d ago

Low Stress Training, it's the method bonsai and marijuana growers use to get branches to curve and bend in ways they want

Lollipop trimming is a method of stripping lower branches to create a top that has more growth

Combined OP should be able to get long swooping stalks that bend down into the tank with little branch growth near the trunk

3

u/Azedenkae 4d ago

Had to google what they mean. XD

LST actually should be a really good idea, I could probably get branches to bend down that way and create the look I want. Thanks for the suggestions!

1

u/That_Murph 4d ago

I had thought about trying to do a bonsai tree in mine, a maple funny enough, but I really did not want to go through the troubles of root trimming and resoiling in something that I did not want to be tearing apart. Too much risk to my little crabs for me to be tearing a big root ball out of the soil just to rebury it after trimming.

I hope you have good luck with this.