2010 BonsaiNut Trident Project

[digger714]

Hi Wood. Awesome project you have going here. Thanks for keeping it updated. When doing the multiple trunks, i saw you said the hole diameter is 2"-3"? Do you mean thats the spacing of the holes? I have about 40 seedlings i want to do something with, and this is awesome. Do you have a picture of a tile before putting the seedlings in it? If not, how large are the holes? just large enough to thread the seedling through? Do they fuse on top of the board, or is that just to get the roots to start on top of board, then replanting fuses them together? or do you put several seedlings inside a 2" hole? Thanks for clarifying it for me.

 

[garywood]

Digger, here are a few shots of J. maples showing tiles and hole arrangment. With Trident it's not necessary to use as many. Five will make an impressive base for small to medium size tree. 4" tile with five holes slightly larger than the seedlings, 1\4" or so, arranged similar to the dots on a die(ce). Make sure no existing roots are above the tile. Wood

http://thingsofwood-gary.blogspot.com/

 

[JasonG]

Excellent work on the Tridents Gary! How long you back in town for?

 

[digger714]

Ok, that makes sense now. Thanks alot Gary for the info.

 

[Mikee002]

Digging up an old thread I know... but the sharing of info like this makes me excited about learning and practicing bonsai. Awesome info, makes me want to order some seedlings and start experimenting and learning, not just reading.
Thanks again
Mike

 

[garywood]

Time for another quick update. Alternating years of top growth and root growth maximizes what you are trying to acheive for a given growing cycle. This one had extensive rootwork last Nov. and no top pruning. This year was dedicated to root production. The new work consisted of only washing the surface and pruning surface anual roots and top

pruning to encourage new shoots. The coming year will be dedicated to shoot production to build the final new leader and rampant growth inorder to build strength for next years root reduction.
Wood
http://thingsofwood-gary.blogspot.com/

 

[fviljoen963]

Isn,t coarse soil used to promote fine roots and fine soil for longer tougher roots?

 

[Dan W.]

Does this process of using a drilled tile to fuse roots work on palmatum as well? I'm more interested in a clump style...

My main question is: Do palmatums layer over the tile as well as tridents? Or are other tecniques better suited for palmatum?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Does this process of using a drilled tile to fuse roots work on palmatum as well? I'm more interested in a clump style...

My main question is: Do palmatums layer over the tile as well as tridents? Or are other tecniques better suited for palmatum?

Yes to both. I believe these photos from Gary's blog show the results with J. Maple.

 

[garywood]

Dan, scroll up to post #42. Those are JMs after 1yr. I normally don't disturb after only 1yr but Brad wanted a look. One tidbit of advise, if you do a clump, use cuttings from the same plant. There is potentially a lot of seedling variation which could be bad or good whichever way you look at it.

 

[Dan W.]

Thanks Gary, I should have noticed that. Thanks for the advice. I havn't had any luck with JM cuttings yet...any tips? I seem to be able to get just about tnything else to take but havn't succeded with JM's yet.

What JM cultivars do you grow for sale? I'd like to eventually get a couple of medum/large trees, say Arakawa, Deshojo, Seigen or similar...even a nice mountain maple. Everything I hear about Telperion is good so I look forward to seeing what you have You can PM me with anything as well.

 

[garywood]

It's time for a quick update. My original plan was to cut to the lower leader this year but growing has been slowed by a long cool spring and tridents tend to like a little warmer temp. So I'll wait and see what happens next spring. This is the same tree from the last update.
Wood

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

It's time for a quick update. My original plan was to cut to the lower leader this year but growing has been slowed by a long cool spring and tridents tend to like a little warmer temp. So I'll wait and see what happens next spring. This is the same tree from the last update.
Wood

Good stuff Wood. Reminds me to update 2010 trident maple project thread soon as well.

Here's a question...as arrow-straight as the new growth emerges from a trunk chop, how do you soften the transition to the next section?

Anytime I grow a big section and chop it, it seems to bulge up around it, and the new growth emerges as an unnatural "J" shape.

 

[garywood]

Thanks Brian, I never cut to a spot and expect to use "that" growth. I cut higher and that usually produces buds lower that come out at a better angle. If they don't pop then I cut the new growth and they will come. Anything I grow I try not to use bolting growth for extension. It's great for building caliper but usually too coarse with long internodes to use in a design.
Wood

 

[Dan W.]

Looking great Gary!

Is there any chance you have a list of Japanese Maple cultivars that you offer?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks, makes sense...so the shoots I held back with my hand in the first photo in Post #11 should become the next section of trunk, and I'll cut somewhere 5-6" up from them...

 

[davetree]

That is just amazing. Really nice work.

 

[garywood]

Thanks Dave, what's important, I think, is two differing techniques used in Brians tree and this one and each one is striving for a different goal and they are both going in the same direction. God I love bonsai!

 

[Brian Underwood]

Holy nebari Batman!

 

[garywood]

@ Dan,Not very many cultivars. Arakawa and a few selections Chris and I have made over the years. If you have looked at my blog, the J.maple at the top is one of the selections.
Wood