Hi to all. Can anyone send me seeds for Japanese Red mapple because im my country Albania there is no place to find this kind of tree, because there are no bonsai specialised shops here. Thank u.
My mailing address is:

Florion Kerpi.
Rruga Thoma Kopace.
Pallati 32.
Fier Albania.

you might want to let them grow for a couple of years. When the trunk gets to the diameter you are looking for do a trunk chop. LOL fred

To cut the height down, all you must do it simply cut the trunk. Done and done.

However, to cut it down to acheive the effect that you want on the plant's growth and final design is much more difficult and requires a lot of planning ahead. Like Fred said, on way is to wait until the tree's trunk attains the desired girth (by allowing it to grow, unrestricted), and then cutting it back.

Depending on your final vision for these trees, you should take different approaches. Fred's approach is great for trees which will bud back readily, and also for styles that requires dramatic taper. However, for more "feminine" trees (more flowing lines, not-as-dramatic-taper), such drastic approaches should be avoided.

One method of reducing the height, but not the plant, is by encouraging sharp bends into the trunk at an early age (as they are now). Again, whether you should use this or not depends on the future of the trees that you envision.

For now, it's best the sink the trees into the ground for the winter and to read up on bonsai.

-Audric

KKlopping,

Have a close look at your maples, you will notice the trunks have fine concentric rings encircling the trunk. This was where the old leaves were from previous seasons. If you cut the trees back in early spring it will bud from these rings.

Depending on what sort of tree you want depends on what you do. In bonsai it is a good thing for a tree to have gradual taper, it gives the impression of height and age. I prefer a gradual kind of taper, abnout 1:7 or 1:8 but the ideal is considered to be 1:6,ie, a tree with a 1 inch trunk should be about six inches tall. But it is just a concept. It depends in what you are doing. A tree with 1:12 will look very tall, like a young pine, one with 1:3 will look really odd.

The way a tree grows in thickness is what is being utilized. If you let a branch grow uncontrolled then the trunk below it will thicken evenly along its whole length to that branch, everything above will not thicken. By pruning the trunk back (and you can go back to the first ring) then as the new shoot grows everything below it thickens. The next season you cut the shoot back to a new bud and let grow again.

Do this for a few seasons and you develop taper. If you want a straight tree with taper then you have to wire the buds vertically, or use small branches and wire vertically to become a new leader. If you just cut and let go then it will develop a trunk with movement. You can also rub off excessive buds, letting one particular branch grow wild. If you have more than one branch growing wild it may thicken the trunk oddly.

When people say plant your tree out and let it thicken this is what they are talking about. The mean put it in big pot or in the garden and let it grow. But if you do not prune the trunk back, then the tree will get larger, but without taper, like any garden plant. At this stage you are only concerned with growth and taper, do not worry too much about the branches with deciduous trees. you can grow them again later. Unfortunately, it all takes time. Don't forget that the roots are also thickening, but that's a different story.

Hope I've helped a little bit.

Paul