The trident experiment

[19Mateo83]

I’ve been looking at how people fuse seedling tridents together to form clump style trees or to improve nebari. So I figured since I have several baby tridents and more seeded I may as well try an experiment. I know some of you are going to chime in about this not being the appropriate time of the year to try this but the tree is going inside under lights to break dormancy. I’m going to attempt to fuse 5 seedlings together and create a nice evenly spread nebari at the same time. I’m not sure if anyone here has any experience with doing this type of thing but I figured I’d give it a try. I created a notched spacer out of wood to evenly hold and space the trees and also direct the tap roots away from the trunk. The trees are wired in place and wired tightly together just above the spacer. I’m hoping all 5 trunks fuse at ground level. We will see. This is my first time attempting this type of thing. The only reason this isn’t in a mesh bottom basket is I don’t have the space inside for one.

 

[rollwithak]

Hey I’m doing a Trident experiment too!!! Looks like a pretty sweet setup brutha!! Keep us posted!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Interesting set up.

Yet you are correct with my thoughts.

Anyways what you have shown on top where you’ve twisted the wire firmly around the trunks looks to me like the tourniquet method of creating surface roots on trees. So likely in a year or so, you are likely to have the start of a nice nebari, and maybe a fusion given all trunks are firmly fixed together with another root system below where your spacer is. There also ought to be a nice swelling above the wir.

To get a much better chance of the trunks fusing at the base, likely without the swelling … take the grouping apart, scrape the inner trunk surfaces so these match up as well as possible with each trees cambium, line these up, then firmly wrap parafilm or grafting tape around the lot, finally seal the center of the grouping…. cut paste/tape or whatnot to seal that area.

Anyways, my two bits. Love to see the final results.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[19Mateo83]

Interesting set up.

Yet you are correct with my thoughts.

Anyways what you have shown on top where you’ve twisted the wire firmly around the trunks looks to me like the tourniquet method of creating surface roots on trees. So likely in a year or so, you are likely to have the start of a nice nebari, and maybe a fusion given all trunks are firmly fixed together with another root system below where your spacer is. There also ought to be a nice swelling above the wir.

To get a much better chance of the trunks fusing at the base, likely without the swelling … take the grouping apart, scrape the inner trunk surfaces so these match up as well as possible with each trees cambium, line these up, then firmly wrap parafilm or grafting tape around the lot, finally seal the center of the grouping…. cut paste/tape or whatnot to seal that area.

Anyways, my two bits. Love to see the final results.

cheers
DSD sends

The wire isn’t going to stay in long and I’m glad you mentioned grafting tape I forgot I had it and am probably going to switch the wire out for it.

 

[fredman]

Memories....I grew this from seed 7 yrs ago. I just tied them together with garden twine...even left it on to long. Today it don't show much evidence of scarring.

 

[SeanS]

Here’s one I started with some 1 year old tridents in spring (August 2021). 15 seedlings, fusing has started

 

[19Mateo83]

Those are awesome! Thank you for sharing your experiments!

 

[John P.]

Cool! I’ve done several over the years. This one is from 2013-ish. I definitely gave up on it too early. Threw it out because I didn’t see a path forward.




Old blog with related content here:

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Just another WordPress.com site

frankenbonsai.wordpress.com

 

[leatherback]

The wire isn’t going to stay in long

I think it will have to stay on longer than you how for it to fuse.

 

[SeanS]

I think it will have to stay on longer than you how for it to fuse.

This is true, wiring trunks together for fusion isn’t the same as wiring movement into a plant. The trunks really have to be forced together for a while and under a fair amount of pressure for them to actually start merging and becoming a single plant. You can see in my photo of the seedlings through the washer that they’re starting to fuse but the washer is also starting to cut into the outer seedlings. It will take a few seasons for them all to fuse completely, in which time the base of the fused clump will also start widening outwards away from the hole in the middle of the washer. That widened base will then be used to start a new nebari above the washer, and the old roots below the washer will eventually be cut off and discarded

 

[19Mateo83]

Update
all 5 saplings have broken bud and are starting to leaf out nicely. Only took them about 10 days to wake up. They are under a 6500k T5HO fixture and seem to be liking their winter home. I decided to add another one to the trident experimentations. I’m going to see if I can develop a windswept style trident. Not really sure how this will be long term but since I have seedlings I figured what the hell, no guts no glory right? Here’s the plan and here’s how it’s going.

 

[leatherback]

I’m going to see if I can develop a windswept style trident.

You realize windswept is hard to get convincing right?

A few pointers:

- Are you growing a tree that happens to be in a storm, but normally grows freely, or are you growing a tree that is in a position with a clear dominating wind direction, which forces the whole tree to grow in a certain direction. THis will dictate whether you have a normal tree, with only part of the canopy blown to one side, or whether the whole tree needs to lean in a certain direction

- In your case the main trunk is bent. This for me is a tree that is permanently exposed to a certain wind-push. As such, I cannot explain why the base of the trunk leans against the wind and then follows the wind.

 

[19Mateo83]

You realize windswept is hard to get convincing right?

A few pointers:

- Are you growing a tree that happens to be in a storm, but normally grows freely, or are you growing a tree that is in a position with a clear dominating wind direction, which forces the whole tree to grow in a certain direction. THis will dictate whether you have a normal tree, with only part of the canopy blown to one side, or whether the whole tree needs to lean in a certain direction

- In your case the main trunk is bent. This for me is a tree that is permanently exposed to a certain wind-push. As such, I cannot explain why the base of the trunk leans against the wind and then follows the wind.

I don’t think I will ever get it as an actual representation of being wind swept. I’m just experimenting with different ideas. Who knows, it may end up being some type of raft-ish looking thing.

 

[19Mateo83]

1 month update! So far so good. The trees are growing healthy and strong and I got a peek at the roots from underneath yesterday and they are all growing very vigorously in a perfect radial pattern. As soon as the weather warms up these guys are going outside into an Anderson flat. Don’t mind the jungle they are in the middle of

 

[19Mateo83]

Update. The 5 clump is fusing nicely. I pulled the copper wire off that was holding the trunks together and biting in. I replaced it with grafting tape and thicker aluminum wire. I also buried the nebari more to encourage shallow roots. Almost complete fusion in 6 months

 

[19Mateo83]

One year update and repot. The trunks have fused and fine roots are everywhere. The developing base will be nice and even once the tree gets some age on it and the roots thicken into a nebari. I trimmed it to fit in a plastic bonsai pot and away it goes for another year.

 

[19Mateo83]

This one I’m not sure where I’m going with it but I do plan on keeping these bend pattern going. It may make something interesting in the future.

 

[ChristianDGreat]

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wow this looks nice!! just need to put soil on top of the washer, so when it flares it will create roots.
I

 

[Eckhoffw]

One year update and repot. The trunks have fused and fine roots are everywhere. The developing base will be nice and even once the tree gets some age on it and the roots thicken into a nebari. I trimmed it to fit in a plastic bonsai pot and away it goes for another year.
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Right on man! Looks like your having fun.
That’s most important. Nice results as well!

 

[Maiden69]

I also buried the nebari more to encourage shallow roots

Late to reply but if you want to encourage shallow roots the best thing to do is to add a thin layer of sphagnum moss top dressing. Also, if you were to place this into a grow box or Rootpouch, the growth will accelerate and they will fuse faster. In a bonsai pot everything is at a s l o w p a c e . . .