Winter Cutback and future Plan

So i cut back most of the growth to better placed buds closer to the trunk. I will cut back the lower branches more and the parent thread grafts in spring once I see the growth:

Here is a closeup of the grafts that have taken nicely. You can also see the one that did not take as it was shaded out over the growing season (the parent branches still have a bit of wire on them):

 

And my goal for this tree. A few options with how the apex will end up. I think I may reduce the top to fix the scare but not sure yet (pic 3):

Autumn Colour 29th October 2016

This year this tree showed some interesting colour. Throughout the season I kept the top in check and just let the lower branches go:

Spring 5th May 2016

After repotting, the thread grafts set in and this years spring leaves:

 

Repotting 2nd April 2016

I was not impressed with the results after cutting windows in the sides of this roots trees. I only found one decent root that had grown. a lot of finer roots had grown from between the roots which I left untouched.

I thread grafted 3 branches onto this tree on Saturday the 12th March 2016:

Spring 2015

This pic was taken 19th April 2015:

Since this picture was taken I have let the bottom branches extend and kept the top in check. The more ramified the tree gets the smaller rye leaves are becoming.

To improve the nebari on the 30th May 2015 I decided to cut groves in some of the root splits to hopefully have new roots fill the gaps. I used a grafting knife to clean cut the top of the dremel groove and coved with rooting gel, I then back filled with akadama:

Japanese Maple bought at Auction

I bought this in a auction down in wales in NOVEMBER 2014, here is the tree when I brought it back on my bench

 

And here it is a few weeks later with a bit of wire applied