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3-May-2008
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#1 |
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Greybeard
 
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Trident Maple; A model Species
The trident maple is probably one of the most forgiving species in bonsai for a beginner to work with. The look good, heal well, bud well, grow well and above all are just plain hard to kill. Along with the elm all beginners should have two or three of each to work on all thru the year. They grow almost year round in most of the US and both look good year round even in dormancy. Spring and summer show each to their leafy glory and winter shows a delicate tracery of twigs and trunk.
I wish to share some of the projects I have tackled this year and the previous couple of years on one in particular. I aquired this one trident as a larger tree. It was about 9 feet tall and about an inch across at the soil. It was chopped back hard at around 18 inches tall and went on to develop into an informal tree. The branches came along pretty well and it was well ramified. The problem was the terrible nebari. It had large roots crossing over each other and would never look good even with years of work on a good canopy. I decided to layer off the terrible roots with a ground layer.
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Trident Maple; A model Species |
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3-May-2008
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#2 |
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Greybeard
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The layer responded with a small cup full of roots to comb out. The ugly bottom was severed off and the tree was planted out in a grow box. At this point with it in the grow box and being able to step back and take in the tree it was clear that even with a new bottom this was never going to be a good tree.
The trunk was almost the same size the whole way up and the branches did not come off the trunk in good positions. At this point the tree could have been re-chopped (and should have  ) and could have gone on to make a good shohin tree. The branches could have been all re-grown and a pretty good tree would now be ready to show. I felt I could save it and so I worked on it for a couple more years. (stubborn ole fool  )
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#3 |
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Greybeard
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As the couple of years passed it was clea that the best part of the tree might be the top. I could see a shohin tree there and I might be able to also take that part and salvage at least a good shohin tree out of it.
It was the beers fault An unfortunate accident with a pair of concave cutters and one too many brews seen the going away party for a couple of key branches in the top of the tree. What was I thinking by removeing them. The next day in the sobber light of morning I saw what I had done and said; "Time will fix all wounds" Hah! Whoever said that must not have worked on bonsai. Well that time passed and it was decided to try and salvage what I could from the top of the tree. The layer was done last year and the top of the tree now resides in its own pot. It is happily growing along now on its own roots and I am just going to let it grow for a season or two and will continue its saga at a later date here.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#4 |
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Greybeard
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Now this year.
So far our story encompasses about 5 years or so. The left over tree in the same pot now had a terrible cut off stump at the top of the tree. I decided that the carcass was right for the new chop. I felt that the nebari that I tried so hard to achieve was really starting to take shape. The roots had grown quite nice and were pretty evenly distributed around the trunk, and were looking mature and barking up nice. I started by removing all the branches in February. They cleaned up on the bottom with a sterile grafting knife and prepared as cuttings. Most of the branches were about 3/8 across at the attachement point at the trunk. I had no idea if they would root or not but they were so well ramified and shaped so good I hated to lose them. I felt that if I could get them to grow they would make a hell of a shohin trident group for a slab or something. I soaked them for ten minutes in dip and grow and prepared a pot for them. Over the pot I placed a clear container like pretzels come in. About a gallon size plastic jar. This made a sort of hot house for the cuttings. I can say they are clicking along and growing leaves like crazy. I will give them a couple more weeks and then take off the dome. I should have roots by then and they should be ready to go.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#5 |
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Greybeard
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This week
I started Tuesday by cutting off all the branches again except one which would be the new temporary leader. Even though these tridents are bullet proof, you can over work them and cause them to just shut down. They might not die but they will seem like it and the uninitiated will throw them away thinking they are dead. What I mean by temporary chop is that by chopping down about half way from where I want to end up and taking off all the branches I can send the tree into survival mode and it will bud low where I want it to. I need to chop this down to about 2.5 to 3 inches above the soil to get shohin tree. Right now its about 6 inchs above the soil.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#6 |
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Greybeard
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With all the branches removed and the top looking pretty good I decided to go ahead and move the tree to a better container with better room to work on the nebari. Normaly I would not do this to a tree like this but since removeing all the branches I in essence turned back the clock on this tree about 60 days and decided to bare root it in April. Still safe due to cooler weather now.
All the roots were cut back hard, the roots had encircled the pot about 5 times. It was a solid mass 1 inch thick. There was only soil about 1/4 thick at the top of the roots on the surface! Here you go, what I worked so hard for three years. Suface nebari. I still had some crossing roots that had to be dealt with and a few that emerged two high on the trunk. I just snipped these off with no ill effect to the tree. There is a lot of roots here that had to go since I only have one small leader to grow with. These raw cut roots that are pencil size will grow new root hairs fast with the emergence of all the budding the tree will do.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 3-May-2008 at 03:43 AM. |
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3-May-2008
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#7 |
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Greybeard
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The root mass was cut down to fit the clay bulb pan and my standard juniper trident grow out medium is filled in. 3/8 lava and plain ole sand. Miracle soil!!!
Now this project is done for the time being as the tree needs to bud and I will let them go. I may prune some of them once during the season but I need roots and strength and that comes from unbridled growth. This poor thing has no idea whats coming next! Bwah..ha ha ha...oh sorry, I lost my head there for a minute.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#8 |
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Greybeard
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This trident is also posted here but I have some new plans for it so I've included it here just to keep the trident thing all intact. This tree was purchased from a friend that is dissolving his collection. I helped him do the first layer which gave him the monsterous base on what is already a pretty small tree. About 10 inches tall.
I decided that there was a wasp waist area in the trunk near the top. Voila a perfect place for a layer and take out a shohin tree 5 inches tall with a 1.25 inch trunk at the soil.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 3-May-2008 at 03:37 AM. |
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3-May-2008
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#9 |
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Greybeard
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The layer was started with soil (akadama) and plastic wrap. I decided that I needed moss on the layer because the soil stayed too moist and the tree seemed to stall. I took off the plastic and cleaned up the wound and filled a cup with moss and retied it on. The layer was started on March 5 and should have had root tips by the end of march. I did not so did the moss thing and had tips in two weeks. Go figure!
You can just make out the small white tip of the roots pushing out from top of the cut.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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3-May-2008
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#10 |
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Greybeard
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Now about this base that I am going to be left with. I purposely left two rather large branches on the base of the trunk under the moss cup. After the layer is cut off I plan on building a sumo SUMO trident from whats left.
I think the first picture and the configuration of that branch may be the front of the tree. What say you?
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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