Silly trident seedling

[bonsaidave]

I was repotting things today and had this scrawny trident seedling. It had few roots and I had this tiny Chinese pot. So here is a silly little trident. Hopefully I can keep it alive and it can grow a little in this tiny pot.



Cheers!

 

[Bavarian Raven]

I did a similar thing with a hemlock seedling in a rock that had a natural hole the size of a shot glass. Kept it alive for three years before it dried out and died when I was on vacation one year. :/

 

[August44]

Is that moss going in there with it?

 

[BackyardBonsai]

The trunk will not grow any bigger in that pot. ?

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

The trunk will not grow any bigger in that pot. ?

It might double faster than you think. Measure it please...?

 

[0soyoung]

The trunk will not grow any bigger in that pot. ?

It will, but slowly.
The leaves will stay smaller than they will become in a larger pot.

I to love doing this, growing seedlings as mame, in very small pots, @bonsaidave. Great fun!

I assume that it goes without saying, that I, for one, want to see this little guy in leaf and to follow its progress through the coming years.

 

[bonsaidave]

Is that moss going in there with it?

I was concerned about the soil (fine akadama) drying out too quickly so I added some yard moss on top. It is not that bright green any more.

The trunk will not grow any bigger in that pot. ?

I figured it wouldn't grow a lot but as I said this one was kind of weak anyway. It was the runt of the 20 or so I was grew last year. If I get lots of leaves and a couple branches I will be happy with it this year.

It will, but slowly.
The leaves will stay smaller than they will become in a larger pot.
I assume that it goes without saying, that I, for one, want to see this little guy in leaf and to follow its progress through the coming years.

I will post updates when it gets full of leaves and letter in the year. If I don't kill it, I will continue with updates in the future.

I really like mame and hope to get some going in the future. Hopefully more than just bended sticks in pots too.

 

[0soyoung]

I will post updates when it gets full of leaves and letter in the year. If I don't kill it, I will continue with updates in the future.

I really like mame and hope to get some going in the future. Hopefully more than just bended sticks in pots too.

I find these are much easier to keep if sat atop wet sand (or similar). I have a bunch of old humidity trays that I put substrate fines/sand in and sit minis like this atop - just water the whole mess (it doesn't matter particularly if there is a little standing water).

 

[jonathanvperth]

Hi ?

Where did you get that pot?!

 

[Wee]

I like the idea of putting smaller pots on sand or fines.....I may have to try that during the hotter months.....I'm away from the house 12 hours a day and no automatic water system step up.

Brian

 

[bonsaidave]

Where did you get that pot?!

I found it on Ebay. Search: mini zisha bonsai pot

I got a couple at $4.49 USD each and that's a pretty decent price. It looks to be standard Chinese pot quality. It took over a month to get here so it probably came by boat.

I like the idea of putting smaller pots on sand or fines.....I may have to try that during the hotter months.....I'm away from the house 12 hours a day and no automatic water system step up.

I read that also from other posts about mame. I have seen several pictures of tiny pots half deep in sand. Automatic water systems are really nice. I have a $40 timer that turns water on and off set to a schedule. Some tubing, some micro sprinklers, and you're done. I use it for a short 10am cool off shower in summer and for my vacation water system. Shade cloth also helps a lot if your temps get over 100f.

 

[bonsaidave]

5 months later and it is now summer. I am pretty pleased as this seedling was a very weak grower last year. Several green leaves and moss is looking pretty good. I have been applying small amounts of hard fertilizer at the edges just under the moss.



I keep this trident somewhat covered under one of my larger trees. It gets extra humidity from the large pot and at least a couple hours of direct light. Earlier this year I was keeping it just on the bench with other smaller trees, it was drying out too quickly once the temps got to 85f. That's when it got moved to the current home.



Another update to come in the fall. Hopefully it will be like last year and we can see some pretty colors.

Until then.

 

[Nanuk]

Looking good.

 

[bonsaidave]

Well it's almost time for the big winter sleep for this little trident. A few lower leaves have already dropped. It has grown quite a bit this year for being in such a tiny pot. I had to rewire three times in 8 months and still had some minor wire marks. Fall color was not as bright as I was hoping for.
Grown from seed, this was the weakest of all my trident seedlings started in winter 2017. Given it's initial weakness, and my pot choice this year, I am very pleased with the progress.

Plans for next year: I will check the roots but not sure I will do a full repot or not. It just depends on what this tree needs.
For wiring, I will try to increase the bend on the lower half just a tad and put some movement in the top half.

Note: In retrospect I should have wired the top in late spring/early summer.

Cheers

 

[AlainK]

That's the right way to go...