Is Sycamore A Good Tree For Bonsai?

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) is a tree that grows anywhere and everywhere. You can very easily find these trees for free as they seem to pop up everywhere and they super grow fast. They are almost like weeds, but unfortunately when it comes to bonsai, they are dreadful. They just have all the wrong attributes.

I have a couple of them and they are fun, but they are also one of the most frustrating trees you can own. They give you the feeling that you can maybe be the one who can finally tames them and turn them into something great, but in reality, you are fighting a losing battle. (You can see how one of my trees is doing in my Sycamore Bonsai Progression.

Is Sycamore A Good Species for Bonsai?

If you are new to bonsai they can be okay. Just know that they are never going to make a good tree.

If you want something that you can easily find for free (usually popping up in your garden) and something you can practice on, then they are perfect. You can hack away at them and practice techniques and if you mess up, it’s not the end of the world if they die, although, you probably won’t kill them.

They are very much a species that you should not go out of your way to get …but if you happen to find one in your garden, go for it. Just use it as your training tree/ the tree you will abuse.

The lessons you learn from wrestling with this beast will serve you well for your other more suitable species.

Is A Sycamores Foliage Good For Bonsai?

The foliage is one of the sycamores major downfalls when it comes to bonsai. It is just the opposite of everything you would want from it.

Leaf Size

The leaves of sycamore are huge. I have managed to get them down in size, but they are still relatively big for bonsai use. They will probably be acceptable on a larger bonsai, but I think trying to get them small enough for a mame is going to be too difficult, probably impossible.

The frustrating thing is that when you look at other Acers, the leaves will reduce significantly. Look at any Trident, Japanese or field maple, they have pretty big leaves when fully growing in the ground, but when they are brought into bonsai they reduced down to a really small size.

It just seems like this reduction gene isn’t spread equally throughout the Acer family as sycamore can’t get as small as the rest of them. 

Internode Length

For me this is the main issue. While the leaf size is annoying, you can just about manage their size. When it comes to internode length, you can’t hide it. The species is a fast, course grower and this results in quick bursts of growth and shoots with long internode lengths.

This is frustrating in summer but you will really notice in winter when the leaves are gone. When you are developing a tree you want a tree ramification and you want everything to be short and compact.

The long internodes produce the opposite effect. This makes producing a small tree with dense foliage very difficult.  In a tree with short internodes you might have 3 or 4 branch divisions in an inch, where as in a sycamore you will just have one straight length of an inch long branch before it divides, it just isn’t want you want. Maybe you can get away with it on a larger style tree, but it’s still not ideal. 

Is A Sycamores Growth Rate Good For Bonsai?

The speed at which sycamores grows is pretty incredible. I have seen seedlings absolutely rocket over a season. They are very vigorous growers and are not too fussy about their environment, which is probably have they have become so vastly spread across Europe.

Response To Pruning

Being a deciduous and of course an Acer, they respond well to punning. They can be pruned in the normal way and even defoliated.

I have also been using the bud pinching technique that is normally reserved for Japanese maples. This is where you wait for the buds to pretty much open, once the first set of leaves have unfurled you come in and snip the remaining bud before it has a chance to turn into a full shoot.

This technique is normally done to help ramify a Japanese maple but I have found it can knock some of the vigour out of the sycamore, which has resulted in it having shorter internodes and smaller leaves. It’s still not perfect but I think it is as close as I am going to get to taming the sycamore.   

Back Budding

Sycamore will certainly back bud, arguably not in a good way. I have found that pretty much any internode will produce shoots, but an obscene number. You will easily find 4, maybe even 6 shoots or more at any one internode.

If you leave this alone, you are very quickly going to have a tree covered in thick ugly knuckles and really just a big mess.

Back budding is usually a good thing to have on a tree; it can give you options and allow you push your growth closer to the trunk. However, when it’s this aggressive you end up spending more time fighting against it than using it to your advantage.      

Ramification

Being a fast grower that responds well to pruning and back buds, you are going to be able to build ramification. The problem is that it is also a fast grower with large internodes.

You can easily build brand divisions, but it can be hard to get this really compact. A lot of people suggest you just try your best, but really focus on the outer silhouette when the tree is in leaf. If you can keep this to a good shape your tree might look alright.

I would somewhat agree with this approach but I hate that your tree will look dreadful in winter.  If you aim to grow a slightly larger bonsai you can kind of disguise that the ramification is a little too spreading and not super tight, but it’s still not perfect. 

Is A Sycamores Styling Ability Good For Bonsai?

Being a deciduous tree you will want to style a sycamore in this way. This means you can use a combination of wire and clip and grow to build the shape that you want.

As I’ve mentioned already you will want to keep your tree large so it can mask the large leaves and internodes and everything will then hopefully look a little more to scale. I am trying to grow one as small as possible, but it really isn’t ideal.

Wiring

You can wire a sycamore with no problem. However, you need to pay attention. They will very easily start to bite in as they are such fast growers. You may be better to use guy wires if you are worried about wire bite.

Is A Sycamores Fall Colours Good For Bonsai?

Sadly the sycamore will not give you a glorious autumn show like its other Acer cousins. The leaves just sort of go yellow and brown, then dry up and quickly drop.

Of course it has it has its own beauty, but it’s really nothing special especially when compared to what can be possible from an Acer.

Is ASycamores Winter Silhouette Good For Bonsai?

Being a deciduous the sycamore is going to show you its full structure during the winter. This can be okay at times, but you will also really see those long internodes stand out and you will start to see all those annoying clumps of back buds starting to form all down your branch structure.

Is A Sycamores Bark Good For Bonsai?

The back on sycamore is pretty nice. Shoots seems to brown up pretty quickly and turn woody. I have also found my trunk is starting to get some nice texture. My trees are only a few years old, so there is still a lot I have not found out about this, so we will see what the future brings. 

Wound Healing

I have found sycamore to be pretty good at healing. This is will of course be from the fact that they are fast growers.  

Deadwood Opportunities

Deadwood is not really ideal on deciduous trees, you will find it rots off very quickly and you are actually better off carving these parts, rather than trying to preserve it. I feel that sycamore can be a gnarly, rugged looking tree and having some carving on it would look pretty cool.

I don’t think they have the same elegance as a Japanese maple, so I think the more scars and signs of hardship actually suit the sycamore more.

Are Sycamores Roots Good For Bonsai?

Based on how aggressive the top grows it is probably going to be no surprise to you how aggressive the roots can get.

The amount of roots than can grow on these trees is pretty intense. I repot them yearly just to try and keep them in check. I usually find any pot they are in gets rammed full in this time, I would not feel comfortable leaving them unattended for longer.

The good news is that you can absolutely hack them to bits and they will not even notice (of course all the usual repotting recommendation apply)

They are extremely strong and can really take some serious abuse. I am slowly seeing signs of a good root system starting to emerge. I am seeing more and more fine root development each year and my trunk flare and root spread is really starting to look pretty good.

I just feel like it will never slow down and is always going to need a good amount of work each year to just keep on top of it, but hopefully after a number of years it will start to calm down.

Is A Sycamore Easy To Care For As Bonsai?

Sycamores are very easy to care for, you can’t really mess them up. They are extremely hardcore and if you manage to kill them you must have really done something wrong.  I have a more in-depth guide on how to Care For Sycamores that you can read.

Conclusion

Sycamore may not be the best tree for bonsai, but they are still fun and you can learn a lot from them if you are a beginner.

You will never be able to tame them but you will get a lot of lessons about how trees work and how they respond by playing around with them. I wouldn’t go out of your way to get one and I certainly wouldn’t buy one, but if you find one, they can be fun to play around with.