Sean’s Trident Projects

[SeanS]

your work looks meticulous... i am sure you'll have some super trees in a few years...

@jason biggs thanks for the kind word boet
I’m striving to grow some of the best locally grown bonsai so feedback like this is very encouraging

 

[SeanS]

My large 10 trunk group has started moving so it was time to dig it up. I’ve been really excited to see what this looked like under the soil…



Here’s how it started back in August 2021.
It spend 2 seasons in a grow bed, I lifted it last spring to work the roots before putting it back in the bed.



Lifted




The metal plate still in place




After root work




Potted up. Biggest pot I had, it’ll work for now but I’ll need something wider in the future. I’m building it as a very tall slender group. I want the main tree to be almost strangely tall and straight

 

[SeanS]

Skew photo of a small triple trunk that graduated to its first bonsai pot. Time to start development my some twigs! Grown from seed, 3 seasons old.

 

[SeanS]

My 15 trunk clump got repotted today. 1 season in my akadama based mix, the fine root growth was amazing! I’m seeing the difference akadama makes compared to my coarse grow mix (crushed LECA and coco coir) in root development, not a single thick root in sight!

Back into a terracotta training pot for another season.




After root work and removing the washer the seedlings were started through

 

[SeanS]

This ROR trident is one of the trees I’m most proud of. 3 years old with 2 years in the ground. This past season I managed to grow a section of trunk, start a new leader, and start on the branching, all while still in my grow bed. I’m so chuffed with how it’s turned out!

Freshly dug



Potted up






August last year and 2021 when I started it, using the @Shibui foil method

 

[SeanS]

 

[MHBonsai]

View attachment 504002

Inspiring work! Really nice progress and helpful documentation on what’s possible in a short time!

 

[Shibui]

Love that you are starting some really small ROR. It has taken me years to work down to trying smaller ones.
I spent part of today wrapping new tridents and a couple of JMs on new rocks for the next generation of Shibui ROR.

 

[SeanS]

Another day, another ROR trident dug up and worked.

The small shoots low down on the trunk near the rock are from an approach graft that I performed during the season to add a branch to become the next section of trunk. I did the graft while the tree was in my grow bed and I’m not entirely happy with it so I thread grafted a new seedling today to form the new trunkline and used another branch off the same seedling the add a low first branch. I didn’t take photos after the grafting, will update my thread in the morning.

Photos are before any root work, I cut everything back to within the rim of the plastic disk.

 

[SeanS]

After 3 seasons in my grow beds, my very first trident got shoe-horned into a probably too small bonsai pot

The 3 root grafts that I attempted last spring all got pushed out very early on in the season so I did 4 more to fill the void directly in front of the tree. 2 thread grafts and 2 approach grafts in the callous directly under the trunk which I learnt from a @markyscott trident thread, thanks Scott!




I also thread grafted a branch in the middle section of trunk to add a back branch. I plan to build a almost comically small crown on top of the tall straight trunk



How it started in September 2020

 

[MGTT]

I’m really enjoying your progressions, thanks for sharing.

 

[SeanS]

October 2022



Did it work?

 

[pandacular]

awesome results. do you think the the washer or the cement performed better?

 

[badatusernames]

October 2022

View attachment 504456

Did it work?

View attachment 504458
View attachment 504459

Ok I’m going to overcome my own fears of being a dum dum by asking this

When you do that, or use a washer, are you burying the washer? Or are you tying it swell over the constriction and THEN covering it?

Photos always seem to show it above the soil, and no one seems to explicitly say - I’ve been assuming it was meant to be covered from the get go.

 

[SeanS]

awesome results. do you think the the washer or the cement performed better?

They both work. I only use cement in this case. Once the trunks swelled a bit I cut a girdle above the cement, applied some hormone and let the tree do its thing

 

[SeanS]

Ok I’m going to overcome my own fears of being a dum dum by asking this

When you do that, or use a washer, are you burying the washer? Or are you tying it swell over the constriction and THEN covering it?

Photos always seem to show it above the soil, and no one seems to explicitly say - I’ve been assuming it was meant to be covered from the get go.

I’ve done both, covered from the get go and left uncovered until I had some decent swelling. Roots only really start once there’s constriction so it doesn’t seem to matter if you cover immediately.

This was more a case of getting the cement in place and then doing a regular ground layer above the cement, using the cement only to make sure the resulting roots grew horizontally.

The washer is more for doing both: constriction and forcing lateral root emergence

 

[badatusernames]

I’ve done both, covered from the get go and left uncovered until I had some decent swelling. Roots only really start once there’s constriction so it doesn’t seem to matter if you cover immediately.

This was more a case of getting the cement in place and then doing a regular ground layer above the cement, using the cement only to make sure the resulting roots grew horizontally.

The washer is more for doing both: constriction and forcing lateral root emergence

Perfect, thank you!

 

[SeanS]

The tree above this morning

 

[SeanS]

A few ROR updates

Big one from earlier with the new seedling grafted




New ROR, 8 seedlings




New one, 4 seedlings



The rock

 

[SeanS]

Another big ROR dug up today. I just wish the rock was a darker colour, hopefully in time the roots will lighten as the tree ages.

I potted this one in a big training pot to grow out the trunk and build the branches, will post a photo tomorrow morning.

The future trunkline and first branch on the left are grafts performed earlier last season. I want the trunk to emerge directly from the roots so a graft was needed as the original trunk was dead straight and the first set of buds too high