[Shane] Trident maples

[Shane]

I'm going to attempt a little trident forest with these seedlings.
Source: purchased from the YVBS sale a couple of weeks ago.
Cost: $10 for the seedling tray +$2 for the larger tree.
Height: The seedlings are already 250mm tall so that'll be a challenge. The taller trident is currently 66cm tall.

[Shane]

So I'm sharing the veggie patch with my good wife! Planted out my trident maple seedlings on April 1, on top of some old tiles, concrete and various rocks; anything I could find as the sun set. Pea straw to keep them warm and Seasol to keep them tipsy. The aim is to get some width on the trunks.

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[lackhand]

I've always loved maples and forests, so together . . . well, let's just say I'm really excited to see how this goes for you.

[kcpoole]

Mee too like them.
I pot one together lat year my self from a bunch of 2 years old seedlings.

The shallow tray should be OK with trees this young

Ken

[KyBonzai]

Really look forward tohow this one goes
i'd really like to make a trident forrest of my own but i only have one small trident maple that im going to let grow heaps and take layers/cuttings from it

[Shane]

shaneforest_winter.jpg

The seedlings are still there, but having dropped their leaves for winter they are thinner than chop sticks!

[Rory]

$2 for that trident... wow, nice buy. If you cut the trunk right at that first clip of plastic at the base of the trident, that would start to be a magnificent specimen in years to come.

[Shane]

So the tridents have been growing, but you'd only know it from the photos above. Dosed them up with a bunch of pellets and fish emulsion last night.

shanetridentforest_sep2013.jpg

[Shane]

The problem with growing tridents so close together like this is that they're not branching sideways. So I have started to thin them out by taking some to do root-over-rock and root-in-rock side projects. Neither side project will likely be in the comp, due to the heights of the rocks. The remaining trees remain very thin, although the roots have been growing sideways over the items buried beneath them and growing quite long.

bonsai was meant to keep me away from the computer

[Shane]

Ever planting out tridents for a year to make a forest? Don't cut them short at the start, let them grow first.

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[Shane]

Winter is here. Little sticks.



The single root-over-rock side project carked it. The multiple root-in-rock now has only 3 trees alive, and all are tall and thin.

[Shane]

On Saturday, I finally took the plunge and planted out these tridents into a forest arrangement. My first forest, actually. And my first go at muck. There's still si many things to try in bonsai, it never gets old.

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Trimmed down to 25cm height. I think I will almost certainly let this grow taller in future.

[Shane]

Final pictures for my trident forest. Two days after planting; 18 months to grow slightly thicker sticks.

Unfortunately, after planting this forest on Saturday, we went out on Sunday without watering it, and leaving it in the path of severe winds. Not the best receipe for a newly planted tree. So, now the leaves are burned. It should recover...eventually. Daughter was happy to see it outside her window though.

Here are the final photos then, and you'll notice I had to trim even more off when I put the ruler to it, because trident maple leaves like to curl upwards when they burn.

shane_tridentforest_sep2014[1].jpg

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Best of luck to all still in the comp.