Trident Maple Ground Layer

[AndyJ]

Hi folks,

I hope you can help me? I bought a yound trident Maple on line last year and when it arrived, I was disappointed at how bad the roots were - all one sided and at about 3-4 different planes. It was rubbish. So, I whacked a cd over it, put loads of sphagnum moss around it, planted it in a deep container and left it for the year. This morning, I thought I'd have a look to see how it was doing, and I'm pleased to say the cd-ground layer worked - I had roots! Quite a few too, all radiating out in different directions. The only thing is, they are all long fat white roots - no fine hair roots on any of them (I should have taken a picture but I didn't think of it at the time) so I didn't separate from the root.

Couple of questions:
1: Should I cut these long roots back and the leave it this year again and hope that the roots branch out?
2: Should I separate now and just leave the long white roots as they are?
3: Should I separate now and reduce the long white roots and hope that the roots branch out??
4: Should I do nothing and leave it another year?
5: Something else?

Thanks all,

Andy

 

[Shibui]

We have no idea how well established these new roots are so hard to give definitive advice.
If the long roots are past the edges of the CD I would prune them. be gentle, young roots are not very well attached to the trunk and can break off at the base if you are rough. Pruning will encourage these new roots to ramify to produce a far better nebari in future. Over here I normally cut new roots about 1-2 cm from the trunk. Branching closer is important and do not worry, trident roots rarely fail to respond to pruning. leave the CD where it is to help keep the new roots horizontal. The CD can stay until the new roots are well established - 3-4 years? Lower roots will still continue to feed the tree for a while longer until they are completely constricted and die.

If these new roots are still really thin they will be too fragile to prune so just plant the whole thing back as it is for another year.

 

[AndyJ]

Thanks Shib. I'll revisit the tree today and cut back the roots to just a few cm's. Should I pack with sphagnum moss around the cuts again? Or just put normal substrate around?

 

[Shibui]

Down here I have not used sphagnum for pruned roots, no matter how short they have been cut. Just straight back into the beds or into pots of normal mix.
I usually pack ground layers with sphagnum around the peeled area though, hoping it will retain moisture for the new roots? Probably not really necessary if you can manage the moisture in the mix properly for several months while new roots grow but it makes me feel good and does not seem to cause any problems.

 

[AndyJ]

Ok I'll give it a go. I'll take a couple of pictures this time!

Thanks again.

 

[AndyJ]

Hi folks,

I had another go at the roots on my young trident and have reduced the roots some. Not sure if I've taken enough off but a bit nervous about cutting too far back.

Before:



After:

 

[Shibui]

That's some CD collection!!
Looks good. Each root will now fork from where it has been cut giving much denser rootage. Shortening all those roots will also hopefully stimulate even more roots from the bare spots.

OK roots sorted - but what are you going to make with that trunk????

 

[AndyJ]

Great - thanks for the tip. Be interesting to see what happens over the next 12 months. I'm guessing repotting again next year would be the right thing to do? And, hopefully, to separate it from the original rootbase?

The original plan with this was to buy a whip and play around with it - use it to learn on, hence the attempt to layer it and improve the roots. Now I've got it though, I'm thinking I shouldn't do that, I should value it and try and do something properly whither it. So ....

..... I've got some bend in the trunk - not nearly enough for a shohin sized tree but if I was growing to grow it out as a bigger bonsai it might be enough. I decided that what I'd do was cut it back hard, get some new shoots bursting low down, and select one of them as my new leader. However, from my reading on BNut, I might have to rethink this as, if I understand correctly, if I just cut it back it my die if there are no dormat buds down there? So, do I just leave it for the next year, as I have done some root work in it this spring? Or do I cut it back to about half its size and hope I get a dormant bud to burst?

Thanks again,

Andy