trident maple

[jaycraig]

so i just got this trident maple and shimpaku juniper in the mail on friday ( picture below). i wanted to pot them up in 5mm - 6mm perlite but all i had was a fine 1mm-3mm perlite which i bought on accident. so i decided to not wait till i get the bigger grade perlite and pop my repot cherry and use the akadama and lava rock mix i had saved for actual bonsai projects and repotted them today. the thing that kinda concerns me is the trident maple seemed to be an air layer from the mother tree so the root area is rather long and i had a struggle repotting it without any setbacks. i wash 90% of the native soil off and cut maybe an inch off the feeder roots at the bottom to better fit it in my 5 gallon pot, but the thing is there was one root that was exposed so i put a small patch of sphagnum moss on that root to protect. (picture below)

my questions are will the trees but affected in anyway being outside with little to no protection? we just had a snow storm yesterday and its about 17 degrees fahrenheit atm.

how many sunlight do they need?

is it possible to shorten the trunk ( tap root now ig) area that have roots connected to it witHout harming the tree too much or whats a good time to do that?

how sooner can they be repotted again? ik i might take so time but not sure of the waiting period

and what fertilizers are best to beef them up?

 

[leatherback]

Sometimes I am baffled by actions..
Why did you repot if the conditions are mid-winter in your place? Especially considering you did not have the substrate you wanted to use? I see not a single good reason for the steps you took.

The small root on the trident can be clipped off, no worries.

I am not too concerned about repotting mid-winter and the odd frost hitting my trees. But this is next level risk taking. You run a risk of the trees partially dying back. I would protect them from deep frost & wind. You might be lucky and you see no adverse effects.

 

[Shibui]

Not sure of the conditions where you are. Here it is OK to root prune and repot in winter but much of USA is too cold for winter repot. 17F sound too cold for tridents to be outside after repotting so keep the trees somewhere sheltered until weather warms up.
I think the best thing will be to leave these alone until closer to spring then you can repot the trident and do the important root pruning that you did not do this time. There should be no problem unpotting the tree again before it grows in spring. After the tree starts to grow you should leave it alone and wait for next spring to do any more root work.
Tridents are strong and can manage severe root pruning. The picture shows a mass of down growing roots and a ring of horizontal surface roots. I would just chop off all the down roots completely and shorten the horizontal roots that are left then pot up.
No problem chopping off a few roots that are too high and that can be done any time.

Any complete fertilizer will be good for your bonsai.

 

[SeanS]

What did the root ball look like when you were done? There were A LOT of roots on that sapling. You want to find where there is a nice radial circle of roots coming off of the trunk on the same plane, and eliminate all other roots. Your plant should have looked like this after the root reduction.

 

[jaycraig]

Sometimes I am baffled by actions..
Why did you repot if the conditions are mid-winter in your place? Especially considering you did not have the substrate you wanted to use? I see not a single good reason for the steps you took.

The small root on the trident can be clipped off, no worries.

I am not too concerned about repotting mid-winter and the odd frost hitting my trees. But this is next level risk taking. You run a risk of the trees partially dying back. I would protect them from deep frost & wind. You might be lucky and you see no adverse effects.

i had no choice as you can see in the 4th picture they arrived in no pots and the trident maple's root ball was too long to just put in a pot straight away, i did a lil research and they said it was ok to root wash it so i just went ahead and do it. the only yard space i have to work with is my brother yard and atm that's under construction so i had to do something about it. i couldn't leave the root ball just in a bag no?

i tried not to leave it in the open to somewhat protect it from strong winds is there any more action i coud take to protect it?

 

[Nybonsai12]

Keep it cool but above freezing temps. just below 40 is good if possible,

 

[Dav4]

Unfortunately, a bad time of year to both acquire a bare root tree and to root work a tree- washing the roots is actually a bit traumatic- in zone 7 MA. The good news is that tridents are tough. They also love to break dormancy the minute temps stay above 40 F. I agree with everyone above that you shouldn't let this one freeze again, and get ready for it to start growing, even if you have a spot where it stays cool. A good time to remove extra roots/do meaningful root work is when you can see the edges of the leaves unfurling from the swelling buds. Then, give it as much sun as possible... this one wants to be in full sun in FL.

 

[jaycraig]

What did the root ball look like when you were done? There were A LOT of roots on that sapling. You want to find where there is a nice radial circle of roots coming off of the trunk on the same plane, and eliminate all other roots. Your plant should have looked like this after the root reduction.

View attachment 418384

i just cut off maybe an inch or 2 nothing severe but gotcha will work on it next growing season if it does survives, unfortunately it’s too late now i already reported it.

 

[SeanS]

i just cut off maybe an inch or 2 nothing severe but gotcha will work on it next growing season if it does survives, unfortunately it’s too late now i already reported it.

It isn’t too late until it starts swelling buds and growing

 

[jaycraig]

wo

Unfortunately, a bad time of year to both acquire a bare root tree and to root work a tree- washing the roots is actually a bit traumatic- in zone 7 MA. The good news is that tridents are tough. They also love to break dormancy the minute temps stay above 40 F. I agree with everyone above that you shouldn't let this one freeze again, and get ready for it to start growing, even if you have a spot where it stays cool. A good time to remove extra roots/do meaningful root work is when you can see the edges of the leaves unfurling from the swelling buds. Then, give it as much sun as possible... this one wants to be in full sun in FL.

ok so find the best suited spot for optimum sun and also protection from the wind?

might be hard to keep it below 40 F in this climate and my circumstance. it’s at my brothers house which i visit every weekend so then i will search for maybe a better spot

 

[jaycraig]

It isn’t too late until it starts swelling buds and growing

oh righttt, ok this upcoming weekend i will work on it again. thank you!

 

[Dav4]

wo

ok so find the best suited spot for optimum sun and also protection from the wind?

might be hard to keep it below 40 F in this climate and my circumstance. it’s at my brothers house which i visit every weekend so then i will search for maybe a better spot

If you leave this tree outside now, it'll be dead within 24 hours when the root ball freezes. Keeping it cooler- 32 F to 40 F- will slow it's breaking dormancy. Anything above that and it'll be pushing new growth in a few weeks. You don't need to worry about sun exposure until it has new leaves...

 

[jaycraig]

If you leave this tree outside now, it'll be dead within 24 hours when the root ball freezes. Keeping it cooler- 32 F to 40 F- will slow it's breaking dormancy. Anything above that and it'll be pushing new growth in a few weeks. You don't need to worry about sun exposure until it has new leaves...

wait what now?! guess i gotta get to that ASAP

 

[dbonsaiw]

You run a risk of the trees partially dying back. I would protect them from deep frost & wind. You might be lucky and you see no adverse effects.

Are there "adverse effects" that would be discernable in the winter? As our deciduous trees are bare now (and likely covered in snow in various locations) how can one tell if something is wrong with the tree or if it is dying/dead before spring rolls around? Do some trees just not wake up in the spring or is there die-back, loss of buds etc. that would give one a heads' up that things aren't going well?

 

[Dav4]

Are there "adverse effects" that would be discernable in the winter? As our deciduous trees are bare now (and likely covered in snow in various locations) how can one tell if something is wrong with the tree or if it is dying/dead before spring rolls around? Do some trees just not wake up in the spring or is there die-back, loss of buds etc. that would give one a heads' up that things aren't going well?

I suppose you might see shriveled or discolored bark and/or buds. So, here's the thing... if you think there's truly a problem/ the tree isn't isn't doing well, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it as the damage is done. Fwiw, I've never lost a tree during winter dormancy (Ryan Neil has said that trees that die during dormancy were weak going into the fall due to something else. I always killed them during the growing season... and I'm not even kidding! Honestly, wintering trees isn't difficult... cold hardy species can get cold/stay frozen for months if they're sited correctly. Dial your overwintering plans in before next winter, carry them out appropriately, then don't worry about it.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Ryan Neil has said that trees that die during dormancy were weak going into the fall due to something else.

For a first time over-winterer, this is music to my ears. That said, I also did out of season root work (late fall) and did it repeatedly on at least two trees. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I killed them. Question for me is should I trunk chop at the end of winter or wait to see if it recovers and chop in late spring?

 

[Dav4]

For a first time over-winterer, this is music to my ears. That said, I also did out of season root work (late fall) and did it repeatedly on at least two trees. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I killed them. Question for me is should I trunk chop at the end of winter or wait to see if it recovers and chop in late spring?

I'd chop either after the spring foliage has hardened or while doing root work this spring