Field-grown trident

fredman

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Scott. Thanks a million for the info on the saws. Just the response I was looking for. Good man ;)
I'll order a medium one and then get a fine replacement blade extra. That way I have two saws.
Man that Gomboy 240 is one impressive looking saw. Enough to give most people a small saw complex ... :p
 

sorce

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eight feet tall!!

That disabled feller from the other thread doesn't even have to walk to that show, if he can just hold onto MarkyScotts leg.....!

Lol!

@markyscott I think it's awesome you getting that feller out to the show!
In the serious sense. Hope you all have a good time!

Sorce
 

markyscott

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After a spring of growing, here's the woody weed.

image.jpeg

These trees grow like crazy in the Houston climate. They love the heat and sun. It's almost like you can see the wood moving. I wired the spring shoots and cut back once, but left the apex to grow. It put on a good four feet in spring. When it was in the ground, the leader would extend 8-10 feet in a single growing season. But we're not building trunk so much anymore - we're building branches. Time for a bit more work.

Scott
 

Stickroot

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After a spring of growing, here's the woody weed.

View attachment 112956

These trees grow like crazy in the Houston climate. They love the heat and sun. It's almost like you can see the wood moving. I wired the spring shoots and cut back once, but left the apex to grow. It put on a good four feet in spring. When it was in the ground, the leader would extend 8-10 feet in a single growing season. But we're not building trunk so much anymore - we're building branches. Time for a bit more work.

Scott
Nice antenna! A very important part of healing that chop fast.
 

markyscott

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After a bit of cut back and branch selection
image.jpeg

These were all spring shoots - they were wired back in April and the wire was removed 6-8 weeks later. Now we can cut back - cut back the branches that have grown thick enough and remove the ones that you don't need. Then do the normal pruning - cut any downward growth. Cut back the branches to any STRONGLY growing interior shoots. If you don't have interior shoots growing, don't cut back into last year's wood - cut back this year's growth only. The time for cut back into old wood is during the fall cut back. And finally thin to two horizontal branches. Keep some of the upward facing shoots as well.

Scott
 

markyscott

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That apical growth is thick enough too. We'll cut back that - there'll be a bunch of new shoots we can let extend for the new leader. When a tree has grown strong like this, you can cut back with confidence in prolific back budding.

image.jpeg

See how those lower branches are thinner than the upper ones? They need to get thicker. So we're not going to cut those back. I'll let them continue to extend this season.

Here's the same tree a couple of weeks later. When your tree is strong, it'll bud back without issue. The way to get it strong is to let it grow.
image.jpeg

Those new shoots aren't strong enough to wire yet. Let them continue to extend a bit - once they have 8 to 10 leaf pairs it'll be time. We can go in and direct the new growth.

Temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90s all month. Trees slow down a bit, but I haven't experienced any true "summer dormancy" in which the trees have stopped growing altogether. Maybe it's the humidity.

Rinse, repeat and you have a tree. Doesn't take too long - a few years in the ground and a few in the pot. When you're building branches, though, it takes a bit more attention as you have to make a few interventions during the season to wire and cut back. The mistake I see a lot of people make is to continually pinch the new growth when they're making branches. You'll never get good branch structure that way - let grow, wire, and then cut back.

Scott
 

thumblessprimate1

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Scott,

In post #23, I noticed you wired the leader. Is that to prevent the leader from growing too vertically?
 

markyscott

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Scott,

In post #23, I noticed you wired the leader. Is that to prevent the leader from growing too vertically?

Hi Thumbless - that's just anchoring a wire for a side branch. Much to small to shape the leader. Also unnecessary as very little of that will be kept for the final apex.

Scott
 

Adair M

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markyscott

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The seedling should exit below the trunk - run it underneath and up to the soil surface on the other side of the trunk
IMG_7671.JPG

Make a chopstick wedge and insert it into the hole above the seedlings roots. Firmly press it into the gap, forcing the roots against the bottom of the hole.
IMG_7674.JPG

Cut of the excess
IMG_7676.JPG
IMG_7677.JPG
 

Eric Group

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The seedling should exit below the trunk - run it underneath and up to the soil surface on the other side of the trunk
View attachment 130381

Make a chopstick wedge and insert it into the hole above the seedlings roots. Firmly press it into the gap, forcing the roots against the bottom of the hole.
View attachment 130382

Cut of the excess
View attachment 130383
View attachment 130384
Never done it like that- making it exit under the tree... is that so there is no scar visible?
 
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