Growing trident from seed, school me

[Nybonsai12]

When I stratify in the fridge I don't like to use a medium that is the same color as the seeds. Its a guaranteed way to lose them when you are ready to sow. Paper towels in a bag works just as well.
I would also recommend using a heat mat and humidity dome to increase your germination rates. Having done that this spring I have had much greater success than fall sowing outdoors. It means you will have to acclimate them to the outside. Caution! grow them indoors until they have several sets of true leaves, and a stronger root system. Put your seedlings out too soon and they will just shrivel up in a matter of days.

Also as far as a great place to buy certified seeds from. I only buy from Sheffields seeds. and they are local for you since they are based in New York. https://sheffields.com/

Agreed on just about all counts, although I like sphagnum moss a bit more than paper towels.

Since the start of this thread 10 years ago, i've had good success starting seeds indoors during late winter and then shifting outside when the time is appropriate. At this point i've done more than i can remember(cork oak, zelkova, black pine, red pine, trident, several varieties of j. maple, wisteria, E. Beech, flowering cherry, gingko, goji berry). it's a good activity during the winter downtime.

 

[Paradox]

Getting this one ready for a repot. I like this one because it’s grown from seed and has been fun, but as a bonsai it has a number of problems. The large scar is still healing and thr transition to the next section is still awkward. The roots are mostly one sided and I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to coax roots out of the absent side. And the cascading branch has a lousy straight section I failed to get movement into early on. I could remove it entirely, but don’t really like the options left with branching in that area. Open to any suggestions or advice.

Should be able to get roots where you want them by approach grafting seedlings to that side?

I would get rid of the cascading branch. I really like the movement and taper of this image:

 

[Nybonsai12]

@Paradox yep, i'm thinking that is the play...

 

[TrevorLarsen]

When I stratify in the fridge I don't like to use a medium that is the same color as the seeds. Its a guaranteed way to lose them when you are ready to sow. Paper towels in a bag works just as well.
I would also recommend using a heat mat and humidity dome to increase your germination rates. Having done that this spring I have had much greater success than fall sowing outdoors. It means you will have to acclimate them to the outside. Caution! grow them indoors until they have several sets of true leaves, and a stronger root system. Put your seedlings out too soon and they will just shrivel up in a matter of days.

Also as far as a great place to buy certified seeds from. I only buy from Sheffields seeds. and they are local for you since they are based in New York. https://sheffields.com/

The having the stratification soil the same color as the seeds was an unexpected pain for me last week. I just ended up tediously picking through it, so good idea to avoid that.
I also bought mine from Sheffields and the ones that were fresh seed are all growing but not the dry seeds. I started a thread about it so hopefully they all start growing.