Hedge Pruning a Trident Maple

BonsaiMatt

Shohin
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USDA Zone
7a
I purchased this trident maple online, and am not sure why ...

Upon receiving it it has more faults and issues than good qualities. Lots of ugly scars, a one-sided nebari, and some nasty reverse taper. The only thing going for it is that it's big and unique looking. I am not sure it will ever make a good bonsai.

I was thinking of hedge pruning it for a few years, what do you guys think?


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That's what normally happen when you browse ebay and such before your bedtime. I didn't think it looks all that bad. Root graft if you want perfect nebari. I appreciate beautiful nebari but I also accept the one with fault.
 
That's what normally happen when you browse ebay and such before your bedtime. I didn't think it looks all that bad. Root graft if you want perfect nebari. I appreciate beautiful nebari but I also accept the one with fault.
True lol

I will prob just live with a one sided nebari on this tree, but we’ll see.
 
Top is alright for a naturalistic look. Base may need work, maybe a ground layer sorts it out.
Yes, I was thinking a more naturalistic style for this one. I like the first angle as well when looking at it in person.

Poking around, there are a few thicker roots under the surface, we’ll see how it looks when I repot. I’ve had bad luck ground layering tridents, they tend to callous over before they produce roots.
 
Can't see the nebari so can't comment on whether it's OK or not but there are several possible paths to improve nebari on trident maple. You just need to add 5-10 years to the project.
I don't think the scars are too bad and not unexpected in field grown tridents. On the plus side, tridents do heal relatively quickly. During the root and branch development time you could have most of those healed.

Wondering what you hope to achieve by hedge pruning? It is a technique to control growth but does not do much for developing good branching and any pruning at this stage will slow down wound healing and root development. Hedge pruning tends to develop thick and awkward branching so you will need to do some occasional selective pruning to make sure you don't actually ruin what you already have.

I'd be making a plan for development, step by step. maybe concentrate on getting the wounds closed and some better roots first. That could take the next 4-5 years depending on your growing conditions and experience.
It may be possible to start some primary branching during the first phase but often the rampant growth used to heal wounds and develop new roots is not suitable for final branches. At some stage you'll need to select and position some primary branching, usually using young, flexible shoots. When set in position, they then need to grow to thicken - more growth but a little restrained this time. After that comes grow and chop over several years to develop secondary and tertiary ramification.

Good luck with this one. I think it has more potential than many other field grown tridents I've seen posted here.
 
I guess I was feeling a bit cheeky when I created this thread, I kinda expected folks to trash talk hedge pruning haha. But everyone was respectful and provided quality feedback.

I have to come clean - the pictures from the first post are from 5 years ago, and I HAVE BEEN HEDGE PRUNING FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS.

The results are as expected - relatively fast development while sacrificing some fine details.
 
I carved out the wounds and stained them black a few years ago:

trident_uro.jpeg

The nebari was not as bad as I initially thought, although it is one sided. A rock now lives on the lacking side:

trident_nebari_stone.jpeg
 
Nice start on this tree-- I like material like this and all the challenges. Looking forward to seeing it continue. :)
 
What is hedge pruning technique exactly?
In general hedge pruning is the act of pruning new shoots of deciduous material back to the tree's silhouette multiple times over a growing season. It is done quickly and without precision. In the fall, right after leaf drop, you go back in and prune with precision correcting any issues that arose during the growing season. It is a much faster technique for creating lots of ramification...Walter Pall is primarily responsible for giving it a name and demonstrating how fast trees can be developed using it. Of course, some folks are skeptical and refuse to consider it as a viable technique.
 
If you start doing some wound maintenance now and plan out your root grafts this can be a very nice tree.
 
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