Huge Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree | 100 year old Bonsai Acer palmatum

Introduction: A 100 Year Old Bonsai Japanese Red Maple Transformation

Welcome to today’s feature, where we’ll be diving into the world of bonsai with a special focus on a magnificent, century-old Japanese Red Maple Bonsai (Acer palmatum). In this video, Lloyd—our seasoned bonsai enthusiast—takes us through his process of working on this extraordinary tree, which he has lovingly cared for over the past 20 years. When Lloyd first acquired this bonsai, it was already an impressive 80 years old, imported directly from Japan. Today, the tree continues to grow and evolve under his expert care.

Lloyd walks us through a meticulous process of cleaning, pruning, and refining the bonsai, offering viewers a close look at the delicate artistry involved in maintaining such a revered tree. From cleaning the intricate root system, known as the nebari, to trimming the thick twigs that disrupt the bonsai’s natural shape, Lloyd shares his techniques and insights with a passion. Hopefully you will find it enjoyable to watch and find it relaxing.

If you’re curious to see how a 100-year-old bonsai is brought back to its full glory, join us as Lloyd demonstrates his process, from root scrubbing to careful pruning. There’s also plenty more to come—future plans include a major pruning and repotting in early spring, so stay tuned for more updates on this spectacular Japanese Red Maple Bonsai!

Transcription of this Video about the 100 year old Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree which Lloyd is working on.

Hi everyone, I’m Lloyd and in this video we’re going to be taking a look at this fantastic Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree (Acer palmatum). As you can see, it’s quite a large bonsai. I’ve had it for about 20 years. And it was about 80 years ish when I bought it. It came in from Japan. It was a beautiful tree then, but it’s still growing on. Still getting better. I’ve got a bit of work to do to it today, a little bit of refining, and I’ve done some cleaning down here.

And on the trunk. I’ve given it all a good scrub up so it looks really pristine. And I’ll put those together in little clips, and you can watch that in a minute. And so from now, I’m just going to turn the tree around. I haven’t done any pruning on it. You can see it’s a little bit out of shape. We’ve got some twigs sort of grown out there. A little bit of extension there. And you can see a few around. So I thought we would prune those together. So let’s just have a good look. The colour at this time of year, it’s absolutely superb.

Lloyd continues to work ….

So let’s get cleaning. I carefully scrape away the top soil and then use a chopstick to clean around the roots. With a bonsai scrubbing brush (you may know it as a toothbrush) and some clean water, I wash the roots. Getting deep between the roots, brings out their beautiful shapes.

Now for the trunk. And last but not least, the pot. The finishing touches …. a careful sprinkling of fine graded akadama. A coir brush is perfect for working the fresh soil into the exposed fine roots. Its great for sweeping as well.

The transcription continues ….

Well, that was a bit of fun. And cleaning the trunk and around the roots is important to me. It keeps everything clean and allows me to see all of the details in those amazing roots. The Japanese, by the way, they call this part of the bonsai the nebari, which means root flare. Back to the top of the tree. Let’s have a look and see what needs pruning. This is what I’m looking for today. These thick, heavy twigs, which are on the outside of the canopy. I’m just going to trim them back in, to allow this particular branch to back bud further inwards, which will then form better canopy later on.

I’ll finish off trimming these heavy shoots, and I’ll put a few close ups on, for you to watch while I’m doing this. There is a lot more work to do in the new year, so around about February March time, depending on the weather. Really? Just before the buds start to swell, I will be doing a lot more pruning on this bonsai. I will also be repotting it as well. So if you’d like to see a video of that, press the subscribe button thing. And do whatever you need to do with that. And I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. I certainly have and hope to see you soon. Take care.