Field-grown trident

markyscott

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Four root grafts later.
IMG_7678.JPG

Comb them out, then back into the pot.
IMG_7679.JPG

Work the soil in with chopsticks, level it out and water it in.
IMG_7682.JPG

Seedlings are wired up to the trunk - they should be allowed to grow freely this season.
IMG_7681.JPG

All good - ready for another couple of years of growing.
 

markyscott

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Have you ever considered doing video tutorials? Like a YouTube series? I think that a ton of people, myself included, would benefit from it if you did...

Thank you Joe. That's very nice of you to say. I haven't considered doing video tutorials, but I'll think about it.
 
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markyscott

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...That's quite a nice trunk!!

And Joe - this trunk is easily had by anyone. I purchased this as a nursery tree at one of those 80% off sales when the nursery was clearing inventory for Christmas trees. I brought it home, chopped it down to 8" (I wish I would have chopped lower now), bare rooted it, removed the tap root and did some preliminary root work. Then I planted it in the ground. The rest was a successive series of trunk chops trying to follow Brian Van Fleet's and Smoke's instruction on their blogs over about a three year period. Then it's as you see. Total cost for the tree was probably about $40.
 
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JoeR

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And Joe - this trunk is easily had by anyone. I purchased this as a nursery tree at one of those 80% off sales when the nursery was clearing inventory for Christmas trees. I brought it home, chopped it down to 8" (I wish I would have chopped lower now), bare rooted it, removed the tap root and did some preliminary root work. Then I planted it in the ground. The rest was a successive series of trunk chops trying to follow Brian Van Fleet's and Smoke's instruction on their blogs over about a three year period. Then it's as you see. Total cost for the tree was probably about $40.
You're right, it's not a difficult procedure at all to create a good trunk. But the big factor there is time- a trunk can only be made over time. And I get a little impatient sometimes lol but I'm getting there
 

JudyB

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So you have two holes to run the seedling thru? Or is the only hole the attachment point to the seedling on the opposite side of where you placed the roots? I'm just wondering, as then your roots are not actually attached to the side of the tree that they will appear to emanate from. What happens then when you go to repot? How will they continue to stay on that chosen side? I also have not seen it done this way, but it is interesting. Thanks!
 

petegreg

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That's exactly right. This way there's no scarring associated with the graft. Everything is happening below the soil level.
Cool, I'm 99% sure the nebari will be significantly improved by grafts... and all the seedlings used will be saved with their own roots on next repotting.
 

markyscott

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So you have two holes to run the seedling thru? Or is the only hole the attachment point to the seedling on the opposite side of where you placed the roots? I'm just wondering, as then your roots are not actually attached to the side of the tree that they will appear to emanate from. What happens then when you go to repot? How will they continue to stay on that chosen side? I also have not seen it done this way, but it is interesting. Thanks!

Hi Judy. There is one hole. The entrance is where I'd like the roots to come from on the side of the nebari. The exit is beneath the trunk. The stem of the seedling was run underneath the tree and above the soil on the opposite side of the tree. When the roots fuse, the stem of the seedling will be cut off, leaving the roots.
 

markyscott

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So you have two holes to run the seedling thru? Or is the only hole the attachment point to the seedling on the opposite side of where you placed the roots? I'm just wondering, as then your roots are not actually attached to the side of the tree that they will appear to emanate from. What happens then when you go to repot? How will they continue to stay on that chosen side? I also have not seen it done this way, but it is interesting. Thanks!

Judy - here's a sketch of how it works.
IMG_5440.JPG

When the seedling roots (black) fuse the stem of the seedling (green) will be cut off - everything below the drilled hole (blue) will be gone leaving the grafted seedling roots on the left side of the trunk. I've had very high success rate on this type of graft. However, this is a bit different to how I've done it before. In the past, I've drilled straight through the trunk so that the seedling emerged from the trunk above soil levelon the opposite side of the tree to the roots. Although the fusion happened, this also left an ugly scar on the trunk above the soil. This is way better, in my opinion, because there is no wound above soil level that could be seen later.

Anyway - I hope that helps.
 

JudyB

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Yes thanks I get it now, I thought you were saying to send the roots under and to the other side! Thank you for the clarification.
 
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Judy - here's a sketch of how it works.
View attachment 130517

When the seedling roots (black) fuse the stem of the seedling (green) will be cut off - everything below the drilled hole (blue) will be gone leaving the grafted seedling roots on the left side of the trunk. I've had very high success rate on this type of graft. However, this is a bit different to how I've done it before. In the past, I've drilled straight through the trunk so that the seedling emerged from the trunk above soil levelon the opposite side of the tree to the roots. Although the fusion happened, this also left an ugly scar on the trunk above the soil. This is way better, in my opinion, because there is no wound above soil level that could be seen later.

Anyway - I hope that helps.

Any special treatment of the portion of the seedling threaded through the existing trunk?.
 
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Do you remove all side branches other then the leader when buildng the trunk?

Great tree. I got myself three tridents to play with as well although mine will have to grow in a pot.
 

sorce

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Any special treatment of the portion of the seedling threaded through the existing trunk?.

I personally would parafilm it or the like, where it is beneath the soil.
Maybe even thread it through a plastic tube or something..

To keep it from rooting into the base, or down, and to make it easier to find and remove later.

Downfalls balanced against that ounce of prevention.

Sorce
 

markyscott

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Do you remove all side branches other then the leader when buildng the trunk?

Great tree. I got myself three tridents to play with as well although mine will have to grow in a pot.

Hi Gustavo. I just cut them back occasionally. Once the leader takes over they won't grow so much. If they started getting too big I cut them off.
 

Bart99

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So here goes nothing.

View attachment 100060

I like the new line. As we discussed before, when you cut, try not to go over a 45 degree angle - the size of the cut will grow, causing it to take longer to heal. And you'll end up with a flat spot on the trunk that will look unnatural. Also, be generous with the cut - you don't want to remove too much with the saw. Once it's gone, you're done, but if you leave a bit too much you can work it down with the knob cutter. We're going to do that anyway.

After you've made your cut with the saw, you'll want to work it down with a good quality pair of knob cutters.
View attachment 100066

I rough it in by removing the excess wood left over from the saw cut. Then work the center, making it slightly concave. And then go carefully around the edge and cut across the edge of the cambium like in the picture above. You want a nice clean cut with a sharp exposure of the cambium.

Then cover it with cut paste - I use top jin, but whatever is your favorite.
View attachment 100067

Wired out and cut back, but leave all of the growth on the new apex. We'll want to let that grow strongly for the next year to establish the new trunk line.

I have a couple of neglected (mostly) field grown maples that have a long, straight trunks with nothing happening until about a foot above the soil line.

Should I do a 45 degree chop and then seal it, or should I do the "digging out" step you mention above? Also should the seal go all the way to the end of the cut and sort of fold over the edge? I think that's correct to prevent drying out, but I want to be sure I'm not inhibiting new growth.

Also, one of the trees has long, narrow wound/scar going down one side. Any thoughts on where to make the chop? My inclination would be keep the chop in line with the wound on the tree so the existing wound sort of merges into the wound from the chop. But I'm not really sure if that's exactly right or exactly wrong!

Thanks for this thread!
 

Adair M

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Make it initial chop straight across. You don't know where the chopped trunk is going to pop out. Once you do get new buds popping, then you can decide on how to angle it.

If you angle cut it to begin with, there's a possibility that the trunk will die back all the way to the roots on the lower chopped side.

Yes, do seal the chop.
 
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