trident maple seedling

[shibui]

Today the Head Gardener pointed out that one of the trident seedlings that pop up in our garden had got a bit big and I was told to get rid of it.
After a brief struggle it yielded.

garden trident prune 02.JPG

I'm wondering if I can make a shohin out of this one

After a rough prune with the loppers top and bottom -

garden trident prune 03.JPG

Then further refinement to reduce excess roots and trunks

garden trident prune 05.JPG

garden trident prune 04.JPG

The trunk is still a bit tall but I'll wait for it to shoot and recover a bit before shortening it again.

Not sure whether I'll be able to get those roots into a shohin pot though

[Raging Bull]

Will it survive such drastic pruning??

[kcpoole]

Nice work and yes raging bull, With Neils' love and care it should be fine

Ken

[shibui]

Even without much love and care it should be fine. After all, it is a trident maple The real question is whether it will make an attractive tree in future. Currently only a 2 step taper in the trunk and very little movement. can that be converted to attractive
I have been treating Trident maples like this for more than 20 years and have very few failures.

Drastic shortening of the roots is necessary if you intend to produce good bonsai. For a start it will need to fit into a bonsai pot at some stage. I figure it is better to shorten the roots at this stage rather than when I have developed good branches.
Well ramified nebari is highly prized in maples. 4 thick roots sticking out of a trunk is not good nebari. By shortening these thick roots I should get lots of smaller roots growing from the cut ends and maybe even from the spaces between them. That will give a much better nebari in the end.
I'd still anticipate needing to graft or otherwise induce a few roots on this one though.