One of the club members brought this Acer Campestre to the meeting last night. It’s an old tree with signs of maturity in the bark. To me it looks as if its been weak for a few years. This year it has barely managed to open a few buds.

Weak buds.

A few branches looked dead and after a quick scrape, this was confirmed and I removed them.

This branch is actually a bud that has opened year on year but never extended. You can actually see the the tiny rings from each year. I have seen this on yamadori Hawthorn, but never a field maple.

It has obviously been kept as a bonsai for many years. This is the original chop wound that is now completely healed over.

I have popped it into the magic Poly Tunnel to attempt a revival. I put another weak one in there a week ago and I can already see signs of vigour returning. However, this one will be a harder task. I think the cause of this trees problems are root related due to a water logging last year. Bad advice given to the owner. Now that he’s joined the club, we have him on the straight and narrow 🙂