trident maple nebari and cutting back

[Shills]

Hi all,

Just I have taken the moss off my bonsai to see what the nebari is like and I am pretty happy with the form. I attribute this to always having the root base on top of a flat object. Of course I want it to get more pronounce and older looking but it looks like its on the right track, unless you think otherwise??

What I am concerned about is the reverse taper and what to do with the branches that might be causing it. (See pics) What would you guys do to further the growth of this tree but avoid too much reverse taper, and losing nebari? Is it time to cut everything back to first branch and starting the easthetic stage or should I continue growing its trunk size?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!!

[treeman]

Shills, I would just let it grow without doing anything for the moment. In late winter, you can cut the root ball nice and short with a tomahawk, wash the rest of the mix off, cut a couple of feet off the top and then have a good look at it with large size cutters in hand. You can then plan out exactly how and what you need to do.

[shibui]

Tridents are relatively forgiving and you can usually prune to remove any offensive bits and regrow the tree from the good bits.
You seem to have a reasonable handle on what is what so if you are worried about reverse taper developing just prune off the branches that are causing it. You can do that any time of year.
I prefer to prune my tridents so they have plenty of leaders growing from the trunk. I find that several smaller pruning cuts heal up better than 1 large one and several smaller leaders will give just as much trunk growth as a single large one. In addition, many leaders will give you far more options for trunk line and movement when you come to reduction pruning.

I think it looks like a root growing up near the base of the trunk. Is that what you mean when you say you are happy with the nebari? I would have that off before it gets too much bigger.