Root over Rock Tridents

JBP_85

Yamadori
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Hi Everyone,
Things are finally warming up here in 7A and my baby tridents just started putting on their first leaves. I was inspired by @Shibui and his root over rock method and use of polystyrene containers for this purpose. Below are some pictures I took along the way capturing the process.

Step 1:
Cut out drainage holes in the container. For this I used a pocketknife and a circular template (~1.5”). I forgot to take photos of this process until after the fact but I cut 5 main drainage holes and added a few smaller holes in between them for good measure. I also cut some vertical slots up the sides to provide some more drainage and ventilation. As you can see in the below I screened the drainage holes and made some staples with some wire to hold them in place. After this was done I added a thin layer of gravel at the bottom to help with drainage.
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Step 2:
After this I added a layer of soil. After researching this I went ahead and went with regular garden soil with some compost mixed in since this is for growing purposes only. Then I began prepping my rocks and trees. Below you’ll see the rocks I went with and their accompanying tree. Thanks to everyone who helped me decide on this in my earlier post.
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Step 3:
From here things moved very deliberately as I didn’t want to keep the roots exposed for very long. After removing the trees from their containers I got them into position on the rocks. Below captures the general positions I placed them in. I removed some roots after the placement in photos but in my haste didn’t get pictures.
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Step 4:
From here I sprayed the roots with a spray bottle to keep them moist and then wrapped the roots tightly in place with aluminum foil leaving space between the bottom of the foil and bottom of the rock for the roots to eventually emerge. Below are the wrapped trees and rocks with the trees in position.
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Step 5:
From here the rest of the process was just adding soil and giving them a good watering.
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The plan now is to let them do what they do for the next growing season or two and go from there. A big thanks to @Shibui for documenting his process in such detail. It really gave me the confidence boost I needed. Thanks to every one else who gave feedback on my rock selection and trees along the way. I look forward to hearing from everyone and get your thoughts on how I did or if I missed anything.

Cheers,
-JBP
 
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Are the roots actually in the soil, or is there a layer of tinfoil between them and the expectation is that they will grow down into the soil below, along the rock?
 

Shibui

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Great to see more people trying new techniques. Good luck with these new ROR. Fingers crossed that the soil mix you have used works OK. I suspect you may need to monitor water more closely than most because of the garden soil and compost mix but a lot will depend on what sort of soil is in your garden and what the compost is like.

Trident roots grow rapidly. There is no problem if they do not stick out of the wrap provided there is an opening at the bottom for them to grow out into the soil and space at the top for water to enter and keep them alive while they grow.
Step 5:
From here the rest of the process was just adding soil and giving them a good watering.
Trident maple is also really good at growing new roots from the trunk just under the surface. I would advise brushing the soil away from the trunk so the foil is clearly visible above the soil. A root growing over the foil will grow faster than any that are going down and can ruin the whole thing in just a single year.
 

Pitoon

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Good job! My tridents probably have another week before they leaf out.
 
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