chansen

I ourchased a trident maple around the beginning of April. I was very exicted, since this was my first 'real' pre-bonsai stock. I brought it home along with a japanese maple, waited a couple weeks and repotted them both into spacious bonsai pots to begin branch training.

Just my luck right after the root work we had a cold snap, so every night I was covering them in dried leaves to help protect them from the cold, and I uncovered them during the day to bask in the sun. The japanese maple has done wonderfully well, lots of leaves and new growth. The trident on the other had has struggled. The buds stopped extending after the cold, when a few buds did break, only black leaves appeared, damaged from the cold.

Today, (I'm "working from home"), I went out to check on the trees. The trident had quite a lot of scale once it warmed up, so I've been looking after it to keep the critters off. Low down on the trunk I saw a little hole, about the size of the diameter of a paper clip. The other side of the trunk had a pile of saw dust and a hole under the bark. Borers. I've scratched the bark down low, no green, but there is some higher up. I think this one is a goner, which really disappoints me.

The lesson...? Don't do trident root work right before a cold spell. I've read it in books, but now I've experienced it. Won't do that again. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time, I really want a nice trident.

Christian

Advertisement