Tridents in development

[bonsaiwood]

Starting a thread to document the progress of my three field-grown trident maples. I'll post older photos at different points in time along with current and future updates in one thread and may, eventually, split off each into their own thread.




2/13/2024: The three trees fresh out of a local grow field.




Closer view of the tree on the far right with green tape (1st photo) after a few chops and root pruning.






Planted into 50% pumice, 50% organic pine bark mix with some lava fines. I made slats at the bottom of each box to allow for better drainage, and so far, this has worked out well. Also, I kept the soil line to about halfway up the depth of the box to keep the roots growing horizontal, the same way an Andersen flat can achieve.






4/24/2024: Early spring growth.






5/21/24: Lots more growth, trees are quite vigorous. Feeding with fish emulsion every other week and applied 2nd dose of osmocote today. Time to invest in some tea bags/baskets.

 

[PonderingSage:]

Looks like a good start… just put some in growbags so l will follow your progression with interest
Do you know how long they were in the field.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Thanks, I can't find a better way to start off a tree to bonsai than acquiring quality material with a decent base and trunk movement already established. Probably saved me 5-7 years of growing out from seedlings. I'll follow your growbag progression here.
Grower planted them in the field in 2020.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Explosive growth in just 5 weeks on Trident #03. This one has the thickest base and trunk out of the three.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Amazing to see how quickly wire bites into a branch. I has been five weeks since I wired most of the branches on my tridents. In hindsight it would have been better to remove the wire after 2 or 3 weeks (credit to Shibui for that nugget of information) although I'm not too disappointed knowing all branches will be cut back in winter. Branches are holding their bends firmly.




And continued to apply wire to some young shoots.

 

[bonsaiwood]

I realize now what a poor job I did 'not' updating this thread... I had to dig through and re-shuffle tons of photos to keep things somewhat organized by date.

July 2024: #2 lost its leader during a strong wind event... I should have staked and tied it. Hopeful that new buds will form near the break.



A few more from last year:

#1



#3
(The leader on this guy grew to about 9ft)

 

[just.wing.it]

Awesome!
I need some Trident Maple in my life.... maybe this is the year I'll look for one.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Mid-summer update:

I performed partial chops on each tree removing about half the mass of those sacrificial leaders. The shoots on each tree have received two cutbacks so far and the trees continue to push healthy growth. I have completely removed the ones coming out at bad angles back to the trunk to start over. No wire so far this season, but I may add some tomorrow to re-direct desired branches.

Tree #1




Chopped this one a little further to leaving a stub above the open buds below.



Bifurcation of the lowest branch (which I am considering possibly making this into a 2nd trunk). The branch has thickened quite fast and there are some good options to create a sister trunk.







More scare healing to do on this one. Scored up the edges and applied cut sealer (Kiyonal). I am discontinuing the use of the puddy, I find it messy and does not adhere as well as the sealer.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Tree #2

The best way to describe this one might be, thick n' curvy.

The leader that began growing last season reached almost 9ft this spring. I chopped it to about 2ft and allowed the laterals to extend further before cutting them back to control the growth. My intent here is to keep adequate energy up top to provide to the transition where it meets the trunk. I'd like to see this area thicken more before chopping the leader further. Any thoughts/suggestions are much appreciated.







This large scar from the earliest chop will need time and energy to heal. All the more reason why the growth above the chop will be key to speeding up the healing.

 

[bonsaiwood]

tree #3

I honestly don't know where this one is headed in terms of design. The trunk has a very obvious S-shape but beyond that I don't see any interesting characteristics from this, yet. It has gradual taper and a good start to the base. Perhaps it could have made for a decent ROR way back when. This one defintiely needs a new plan.