I copied the Fonz's copy of Smoke's 5 Trees in a Hole

[misfit11]

My copy wasn't without shame however. I'm deeply ashamed of myself, but what are you going to do....

So last year I stumbled upon Fonz's thread about his attempt to copy Smoke's (AKA Al Keppler) Five Trees in a Hole Project. That thread can be seem here https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/i-shamelessly-copied-smokes-5-trees-in-a-hole-project.36971/

Anyway, I thought it was a fantastic way to develop a clump/multi-trunk Maple and I thought I'd give it a go. I had a bunch of Trident Maple Seedlings that I had gotten for doing root grafts. I then drilled a Hole through a terra cotta catch tray and stuck 5 seedlings through. I wired them into position and potted them up in a pond basket.

Today I removed the planting from the pond basket and was pleased to find that the five trunks had already fused.


While the trunks had fused nicely, it didn't result in as many roots forming above the catch tray as necessary to separate it from the roots below. After trimming the roots back considerably, I decided to leave it on the terra cotta for at least another year in the hopes that enough roots sprout to support the clump. I then planted it in a Anderson Flat. I hope with feeding it well and allowing unchecked growth, it will result in nice radial roots forming at the base of the fused trunk.

Let me know what y'all think. It's definitely a fun project. Thanks for the idea @Smoke !! Hope you don't mind me stealing

 

[MrWunderful]

Great start! Did you remove all the roots above the tile? In the past when I didnt remove all the roots above a choke, it caused the two roots I didnt remove to get huge. Even after I pruned them back.

 

[Shibui]

I do a lot of these but using sheet metal instead of the terracotta. Some great trees have come from it. Not every one works but it is certainly worth giving this one another year to develop some more roots. Tridents are really good at making new roots and chances are you should get a better result. Just make sure you have not buried the root zone too deep. Tridents are prone to develop roots right at surface level and it they are too deep the new roots grow too high on the trunks and spoil the whole thing.

Any overly large roots can be managed by more selective root pruning next year.

 

[misfit11]

Just make sure you have not buried the root zone too deep. Tridents are prone to develop roots right at surface level and it they are too deep the new roots grow too high on the trunks and spoil the whole thing.

Thanks for the tip Shibui!

 

[misfit11]

Great start! Did you remove all the roots above the tile? In the past when I didnt remove all the roots above a choke, it caused the two roots I didnt remove to get huge. Even after I pruned them back.

No. I left all the roots above. I will do root pruning on those later.

 

[misfit11]

Did some root work on this Trident today. The base is coming along. One of the trunks had died so I was left with four (the number of death in Japanese ). I tried a thread graft to replace it but it didn't take. I took this as a sign that it didn't want to be a five-trunk clump, so I chopped the right hand trunk to make it a triple trunk.

Today I placed it on a board and did the Ebihara thing on the roots.



Then I put it back in it's Anderson Flat home where it will be for yet another year of growth. I've been allowing it to escape into the ground so it puts on a ton of growth each year.



Here's to hoping this year is a good one for this guy!

Cory

 

[HamburgerTrain]

Hmm, this gives me an idea. I wonder of this would be a quick way to build a fat base for a single trunk. Just prune back to one trunk after they all fuse. I may have even seen it done before and just forgot. Cool project, thanks for sharing

 

[Shibui]

Hmm, this gives me an idea. I wonder of this would be a quick way to build a fat base for a single trunk. Just prune back to one trunk after they all fuse. I may have even seen it done before and just forgot.

Not so much the fat base of a trunk but can develop those pancake root bases
This strategy works well in many cases but beware of large scars that can take a long time to heal.

 

[SeanS]

2.5 years from seed, threaded through a washer

(Please ignore the fungusy looking foliage, I’m winning the battle)

 

[BobbyLane]

Cool projects!