Young Trident Maple Help

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Lihingmuii

Seedling
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Location
San Jose, California
USDA Zone
9b
So I just purchased this trident maple as a long-term project and was wondering how I can best take care of it and train it for bonsai? I was thinking of just planting it in the ground to maximize growth, but is there anything else I should do to it? Anything I should do immediately? I also noticed a greyish-black color from where I assumed the nursery pruned it, is this something that I should be concerned about? I was also wondering if putting it in a bigger pot for a little while and then planting it in the ground once it has grown a little more would be better or worse for it? Should I worry about the soil it is in right now? Sorry for all of the questions and thank you for taking the time to look!
 

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What are your general plans for it as in what do you envision?

At the current point of development the possibilities are endless. The grey areas are not anything to be concerned about. You can tell that the tree has started healing because it has developed buds around the cut areas.
 
Plant it in the ground and you could have this in 3-4 years:
IMG_20210224_161521982.jpg

Try to wire some movement into it as low as you can, and plant on an angle too for extra wiggle at the soil line. If not you'll end up with a completely straight trunk that will probably need chopping to get curves in it like mine.

Yours has leafed out so it may be too late (not too late to plant but maybe too late to manipulate the root system a bunch), but if you choose to plant in the ground, maybe you could flatten the root system out and plant on a board to get started on a flatter nebari.

*Edit: mine had escaped its pot 4 years ago; these will explode if they have unrestricted root growth. Mine was 20' tall before I chopped it this winter.
 
Last edited:
Pj86 said:
What are your general plans for it as in what do you envision?

At the current point of development the possibilities are endless. The grey areas are not anything to be concerned about. You can tell that the tree has started healing because it has developed buds around the cut areas.
Click to expand...
I'm not really sure tbh, I'd like to develop the trunk and hopefully give it a good taper, but I'm not really sure how to accomplish this. I would also like for it to develop nice nebari, I have seen posts about people planting their trees on top of tiles to increase horizontal growth in the roots but I'm not sure exactly when to start doing this and when to stop. Thank you for the help!
 
cbroad said:
Plant it in the ground and you could have this in 3-4 years:
View attachment 361646

Try to wire some movement into it as low as you can, and plant on an angle too for extra wiggle at the soil line. If not you'll end up with a completely straight trunk that will probably need chopping to get curves in it like mine.

Yours has leafed out so it may be too late (not too late to plant but maybe too late to manipulate the root system a bunch), but if you choose to plant in the ground, maybe you could flatten the root system out and plant on a board to get started on a flatter nebari.

*Edit: mine had escaped its pot 4 years ago; these will explode if they have unrestricted root growth. Mine was 20' tall before I chopped it this winter.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice! I would want to be as safe as possible so do you think it would be safest to wait until later to wire?
 
Lihingmuii said:
safest to wait until later to wire?
Click to expand...
Technically yes it would be safer to wait, only because the bark can sometimes slip while you're wiring it during spring time (but a lot of that is because of poorly anchored wire).
 
Frank’s right on as usual.

That trunk looks like it’s too wide already to wire up. If you want to wire a trident trunk get a couple young ones from Evergreen gardenworks in NoCal and twist ‘em to your hearts content, not this guy though.

I’m not sure where you are in California from your icon data. California is one big place with varying biomes.

So its not possible to say put it in a pot for best results or stick that sucker in the ground for a couple years.

Can you please be more exact? For example Northrern Bay Area, North Coast near Mendocino, Imperial Valley, Sacramento area, Big Bear lake...etc. Then we’d have a better handle on advising you.

That said, if you are a rookie, I personally would hesitate advising you to air layer your first tree, just saying...

Cheers
DSD sends
 
Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce
 
River's Edge said:
Before you consider wiring or the advice to do so, how thick is the trunk?
Movement is usually wired in to green branches or very young trunks in the first year of growth!
Click to expand...
I wasn't too sure how to measure it, but all the way around it is an inch and a half thick or 3.8 cm, I am not too sure how old it is since I just purchased it from the nursery a couple of days ago. Thank you for the advice!
 
Deep Sea Diver said:
Frank’s right on as usual.

That trunk looks like it’s too wide already to wire up. If you want to wire a trident trunk get a couple young ones from Evergreen gardenworks in NoCal and twist ‘em to your hearts content, not this guy though.

I’m not sure where you are in California from your icon data. California is one big place with varying biomes.

So its not possible to say put it in a pot for best results or stick that sucker in the ground for a couple years.

Can you please be more exact? For example Northrern Bay Area, North Coast near Mendocino, Imperial Valley, Sacramento area, Big Bear lake...etc. Then we’d have a better handle on advising you.

That said, if you are a rookie, I personally would hesitate advising you to air layer your first tree, just saying...

Cheers
DSD sends
Click to expand...
I am in San Jose, California. The trunk is about 3.8 cm or 1.5 in thick all the way around. If it is too thick to wire, I wouldn't mind a formal upright style as I find them quite pleasing! With formal upright's, taper and nebari are really important, right? I assume this would mean that I would need to do multiple trunk chops and planting over a tile or something while paying close attention to the root structure? I'm still very much a beginner and will hold off on air-layering until I have more experience. Thank you very much!
 
If the circumference is 1 1/2 inch then the diameter is roughly 1/2 inch. I would not wire that thick a trident for movement.
Rather I would plan on the normal process of grow out and cut back to create change of direction and taper as this is a very young tree!
Based on the current condition and your climate I would focus on getting it healthy this year and plan on a repot or working the roots properly and growing in the ground for a few years beginning next growing season.
For this year I would clean up the cut made by the nursery and seal it. As the tree grows a bit this year, I would also select a branch near the top and wire it to take over as a new leader. This will promote faster growth and a thicker base, the sooner there is a new leader to take over.
 
River's Edge said:
If the circumference is 1 1/2 inch then the diameter is roughly 1/2 inch. I would not wire that thick a trident for movement.
Rather I would plan on the normal process of grow out and cut back to create change of direction and taper as this is a very young tree!
Based on the current condition and your climate I would focus on getting it healthy this year and plan on a repot or working the roots properly and growing in the ground for a few years beginning next growing season.
For this year I would clean up the cut made by the nursery and seal it. As the tree grows a bit this year, I would also select a branch near the top and wire it to take over as a new leader. This will promote faster growth and a thicker base, the sooner there is a new leader to take over.
Click to expand...
Thank you! To clean up the cut's made by the nursery could I just take my rounded concave cutters to them and seal them up with cut paste? Once I find a good candidate to wire as the new leader, would I just wire it vertically and let it grow like that? Would I need to chop the trunk to where that new leader is? I really appreciate all of the good advice from the community!
 
You’re probably leaning towards formal upright because that’s what you currently see in the tree. But it’s a young straight tree, that needs to be grown a bit to thicken and then cut back multiple times. During that process you can plant it at an angle (creating the start of an informal upright). Then when you cut back or if buds pop low on the trunk before the first cut back you create movement and changes of direction, further developing the informal shape. From there on you work with what the tree gives you in terms of new growth and placement of buds.
Don’t get too tied into what it currently looks like, as said before it’s only 1/2” thick and isn’t fixed at the current planting angle. Have fun and think outside the box, past what you currently see in the tree 👍🏻
 
Look on the forum for threads on growing tridents by @Shibui who does this for a living. Some very good insights on how these develop there.
 
SeanS said:
You’re probably leaning towards formal upright because that’s what you currently see in the tree. But it’s a young straight tree, that needs to be grown a bit to thicken and then cut back multiple times. During that process you can plant it at an angle (creating the start of an informal upright). Then when you cut back or if buds pop low on the trunk before the first cut back you create movement and changes of direction, further developing the informal shape. From there on you work with what the tree gives you in terms of new growth and placement of buds.
Don’t get too tied into what it currently looks like, as said before it’s only 1/2” thick and isn’t fixed at the current planting angle. Have fun and think outside the box, past what you currently see in the tree 👍🏻
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insight! I'll be sure to observe what other people have done and how my tree grows and come up with something then!
 
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