Is it too late to repot trident?

[Balbs]

Hi all, I was traveling and just got home to my trident, ready for spring! I did intend to repot this one this year. I’m growing it out in an Anderson flat and it’s been three years or so, so I expect it to need some heavy root work. Am I too late?

 

[SeanS]

Looks good to go to me

 

[Colorado]

Prime time

 

[Taste]

Realistically it is never too late to repot, so long as proper after care follows.

In this case you're in perfect time!

 

[Balbs]

Awesome! Thanks everyone. The tree is about 8 feet tall. The plan was to leave the height and continue growing until the trunk is bigger. That sound like a reasonable plan? Is there any reason to reduce the top while reducing the roots?

 

[Taste]

Awesome! Thanks everyone. The tree is about 8 feet tall. The plan was to leave the height and continue growing until the trunk is bigger. That sound like a reasonable plan? Is there any reason to reduce the top while reducing the roots?

I would only reduce the top if you have the trunk at the size youre looking for, and then begin working on taper of branches and beyond. Or if the cut is to avoid an aesthetic mishap occurring like a bulge, inverse taper, an unwanted scar in the future, or for redirection. Planning to ground grow it a bit, or in a nursery can for some time?

 

[Dav4]

Yep, good to go!

Awesome! Thanks everyone. The tree is about 8 feet tall. The plan was to leave the height and continue growing until the trunk is bigger. That sound like a reasonable plan? Is there any reason to reduce the top while reducing the roots?

A chop at re-pot is a good idea if you're looking to create some movement and taper, versus letting the top grow wild and chopping when the lower trunk hits your goal size wise- this will get you a bigger trunk faster but will have larger scars to heal. I've done it both ways and would lean toward more frequent, smaller chops while growing out the trunk.

 

[Balbs]

Yep, good to go!

A chop at re-pot is a good idea if you're looking to create some movement and taper, versus letting the top grow wild and chopping when the lower trunk hits your goal size wise- this will get you a bigger trunk faster but will have larger scars to heal. I've done it both ways and would lean toward more frequent, smaller chops while growing out the trunk.

It’s straight as an arrow right now, so getting some movement is what I was thinking about. I was reading BVF’s thread on his trident, and he was talking about chops later, mid growing season, versus doing them early spring, if I understood correctly. When do you usually do yours?

 

[Balbs]

Planning to ground grow it a bit,

I wasn’t planning any ground growing. It’s really rocky here so digging would be a challenge. I could move to a nursery can. Are you suggesting this because it would be faster than the Anderson flat?

 

[Taste]

I wasn’t planning any ground growing. It’s really rocky here so digging would be a challenge. I could move to a nursery can. Are you suggesting this because it would be faster than the Anderson flat?

anderson is a good choice as well. out of curiosity and a love for tridents, whats the trunk look like?

 

[Dav4]

It’s straight as an arrow right now, so getting some movement is what I was thinking about. I was reading BVF’s thread on his trident, and he was talking about chops later, mid growing season, versus doing them early spring, if I understood correctly. When do you usually do yours?

I chop either when I re-pot or after the first flush of leaves have hardened off through mid summer. I think the main benefit that I see with a mid summer chop is that the subsequent callus formation isn't as prominent. The benefit of an earlier chop is that your new leader/trunk section will be more vigorous and have a better growing season.


I lived the metro Boston area for 40 years. The soil is about as rocky as it gets... but... your trident will grow much faster in the ground than in a container. You'll still need to work the roots every 2 years or so but it'll be worth it. Tridents are great material to work on, so have fun!

 

[Balbs]

Hard to get a good picture where it’s stored. If I repot today I’ll take abetter one.

 

[Balbs]

I chop either when I re-pot or after the first flush of leaves have hardened off through mid summer. I think the main benefit that I see with a mid summer chop is that the subsequent callus formation isn't as prominent. The benefit of an earlier chop is that your new leader/trunk section will be more vigorous and have a better growing season.


I lived the metro Boston area for 40 years. The soil is about as rocky as it gets... but... your trident will grow much faster in the ground than in a container. You'll still need to work the roots every 2 years or so but it'll be worth it. Tridents are great material to work on, so have fun!

If I do ground grow, can I transplant it now? There’s still some pretty cold nights coming our way.

 

[Shibui]

I would definitely trunk chop that at transplant.
Regular trunk chops will give much better trunk in long term. I do hundreds of these each year and am not convinced trunk chop and root prune actually slows growth. Even if there is some reduction in thickening earlier chops will save you years in the post chop phase when you need to grow a new apex and heal the cuts.
I also trunk chop when doing the root pruning. Here that's from mid winter through to spring because we don't have cold winters.
Not sure how cold it takes to affect transplanted tridents. Mine cope fine with temps just below freezing after major chop and major root reduction.

 

[Balbs]

I got after it last night. The box was packed with roots. I got it as flat as I could, which meant taking off a lot of roots. For me, an uncomfortable amount.

 

[Ben in Kzoo]

Looks like a job well done

 

[Balbs]

Looks like a job well done

Thank you!

 

[Shibui]

The box was packed with roots. I got it as flat as I could, which meant taking off a lot of roots. For me, an uncomfortable amount.

Uncomfortable for you now but still plenty of roots to carry this one over.
I would usually cut off the down roots to get the same flat nebari but also chop all those horizontal roots back to 1 or 2 inches long and tridents still all survive and grow.

 

[minkes]

If you will go for trunk chop later, maybe you could first try to airlayer top section to have next tree with decent trunk instantly.

 

[Balbs]

Uncomfortable for you now but still plenty of roots to carry this one over.
I would usually cut off the down roots to get the same flat nebari but also chop all those horizontal roots back to 1 or 2 inches long and tridents still all survive and grow.

I watch a bunch of your threads and I’ve seen how comfortable you are with removing roots on tridents. Honestly that was what gave me the courage to go as far as I did. I was worried about the really strong root getting even stronger and considered cutting it harder, but I decided not to. What do you think?