The tree has several positive points:
1) good ramification
2) apparently very healthy
3) good nebari (at the moment too much for the state)
4) good proportion of trunks
5) good general design for most ( not for me!)
The tree has several faults:
1) trunks have very little taper
2) too much ramification on the top and too little down lower
3) lower branches too thin in comparison to upper ones
4) old-fashioned design (according to my text book)
What ts called a design challenge is really a maintenance challenge. The tree was not maintained well in the past years. The result are faults 1 to 3.
But it is possible to overcome them:
Cut out 50 % of the ramification on the upper third of the crowns right away.
In the next growing season cut back new growth right after appearance in the upper third of the crown; let the lower two thirds grow long; cut back new growth in the middle third of the crown about six to eight weeks after new growth starts, let the lower third grow freely throughout the growing season; cut back the lowest third in late fall or in early spring. The new growth that will appear on then upper and middle third after cutting back will be cut back very soon after appearance again.
Do this for five growing seasons. The tree will look awkward in all these years except in the winter months.This is normal for a well kept collection. The majority of trees in my collection look somewhat awkward most of the time.
The result of this regime will be :
1) trunks will have good taper, lower part of the trunks will be twice as thick as five years before while upper parts will not have grown much at ll.
2) branches will have better taper, lower branches will be much thicker, lie three to four times, ramification will be much better, upper branches will stay about the same
3) design will be the same. It is not a good idea to change the general design, even if one thinks that it is old-fashioned.
The triple trunk will be much better in five to ten years if developed well. The mebari will make more sense and it will look muchmore mature.
Why old-fashioned? Because it is designed according to the textbook. This means it is designed as if it were a conifer. The text books don't tell you how to design a broadleaved tree. The result is that way too many broadleaved trees have a shape that does not fit their character. They look like cookie cutter bonsai, they look like a bonsai and not like a tree. This is NOT classical Japanese design. This is what is practiced in the West and what folks THINK is classical Japanese design. It is a caricature of a tree. and the Japanese call it that.
Here an example of one of my cookie cutter old-fashioned trident maples. In 1993 I did not know better and acquired this tree because I thought the design was very good. Well, it is was cookie cutter/caricature then. But within 15 years the tree got improved still.
See the whole story here:
http://walter-pall.de/maplestrident_maple_nr__1.jpg.dir/index.html
