Here's a new photo of JM 'Tiny Tim'.
I really love this little guy, but the new growth is very angular so pruning the middle out in the fall will be interesting. I put him up on a little plant stand I was using for a bowl planter so that I could see him better. I so badly want to pinch off the tips of some of the new growth to keep it even at this stage of growth.
Laura
There is nothing wrong with pinching back the new side growth as you may get some growth redirected back toward the center, or at least keep in in proportion. If I remember you had to prune back the top this year so it could be a couple of seasons before you see any real recovery in the top. Keeping the sides under control will help the process or rebalancing the growth. With many Japanese maples, especially dwarf types, it can be a slow recovery if we have to drastically prune an area. Sometimes we get new growth below our pruning cuts, but it is more likely that we see redirected growth, especially after topping, in the side shoots.
Thanks, Some of the side shoot growth was due to it being under lights early in the season, I think. The side closest grew disproportionately to the other side. I'll just prune back a couple of sets of leaves on the longer side branches to encourage it to fill in more.
I'm surprised at how angular the new growth is. It is also discussed as being a bit "brittle", which is true. The new branches are very stiff, and I can imagine if it were in a trafficked area that it would be easy to break them off.
I do like the colors on it, though. The newer leaves seem more even in the length rather than having a shortened center "finger". Also, the flowers and seeds grow at the tips of the branches rather than under the leaves or further back.
Diminutive leaves (seems some are still shorter).
I have fairly small hands.
Trimmed up my kooky JM tonight just a little bit. In addition to clipping back a couple of those left branches, I also opened up a couple of cross over branches in the interior.
Nice Laura. Are you sure that it's a Tiny Tim? I know that you said that it was growing too fast.
It does match the photos here as best I can tell.
http://www.worldplants.com/tinytim.htm
Laura
Interesting..The photos from world plants do seem to suggest a rather unruly dwarf ...You can sort of see how the growth is a bit uneven in those photos some branches growing more than other unevenly...I think this is the perfect tree for you Laura...it looks to need constant trimming ;>) ( your plant and the photos at world plant suggest a nice lookin' plant BTW)..David
It has rather grown on me. Here is a closer shot of the branches, you can see what I mean about the angular growth. The photos on the World Plants site show similar growth as best I can tell.
If it continues to grow like this, it will look a bit like Bart Simpson's haircut in a year or two.
Laura
