AusBonsai

This update was inspired by Daiviet's thread . I know i should post more but its not always that easy of late , numerous methods as in plaited , braided spiral wrapped and twisted each having a different result .These are some of the tridents that are 2 years into the process .This is a Japanese Maple plaited With every success there are numerous semi fused or non fused trunks ,these were slap happy wraps from last year notice i didn't say failure as this is an on-going process.

Hope you enjoy , and yes where are all those whips i sold , 1500 plants and not many topics , i'm sure there was a gentlemen's agreement in place with the purchase of the whips , come on fella's i want to know what the heck has happened to all these plans .

Cheers Alpineart

This was the update I was waiting for alpine.

Looking great

Cheers

Squizz

Hi Squizzy , mate short term memory loss restricts the updates .Some of them are very nice , while others need another season its all a learning curve that's for sure .

Cheers Alpine

I'm going to try and give this a go after seeing them at your place. But on a much smaller scale.

Hi Fiveoffive , the best trunks are done with 2-3mm x 150-200mm whips in the first season . In the second season they have completely fused together . Plaiting holds them firmer for a better finish as they dont push apart although i do like the spiral twists , it gives the trunk more uniform character. Slaters are the curse here as the get in between the trunks and major die back happens . The big multi whip trunks have not faired well due to these little critters and the hemp string decayed , definitely not monitored close enough , bit like the rest of my material over the last 9 months . There's always tomorrow to repair and damage or head in a new direction with the majority of these that didn't work well .

Cheers Alpine

G'day Alpine, they sure fuse quickly, I reckon you need to cut the tops back really hard and then let some of those little branches down low run so you get some taper going in them. The lower down the trunk the better.
Craigw

Hi Craigw , mate these were 5 foot high 2 months ago , i trimmed them hard down to 350 -400 mm then , just as the leaf drop had almost finished . I have just been out there lifting them out , root pruning and slimming them down a bit more to around 150-300mm , great minds think alike . All the side shoots will remain as sacrifice branches and there are plenty of low down buds on these trunks so it should be a good season . I did managed 10 ROR with some single trunks today , i still have about 50 in the ground so another day or two and then its onto the other few hundred ground growing plants .

Cheers Alpine

Nice work alpine! i started lifting some of mine today. some are coming along well others far behind eventhough same age and root pruned the same way. Here is one of the better ones 2 years old and root spread about 70mm across. Has three sacrifice branches in good spots.Took some more off the bottom than put it back in the ground for another year.

Alpine you would have to be one of the busiest bonsai people on here ... simply amazing

Hi Matthew , mate it amazing that some do very well and right next to them another will struggle . My guess is the better root system gets the nutrients and it robs Peter to feed Paul .

Hi Barry1, not as busy as i should be , that's for sure . I keep out of trouble most of the time , playing catchup lately .

Cheers guys . Alpine

I had some spare time today so i finished off one of the single trunk beds these have began the new life as ROR and , the fused Tridents went back into the same bed grow beds . These are the last of the good fused trunks .I have removed them trimmed and put them back in the bed Rough and ready for that scoria i plan to bring back from Melbourne shortly . I'm not worried about the gaps in the bases as i plan to fuse a few whips into the voids to fill and increase taper , this will be done just prior to bud burst so the string won't decay in the mean time , I'm happy only another 70 odd to go , bugger me i thought i had less than that . I did manage to get all the Japanese Maples trimmed and root prunes as well , but thats another story .

Cheers Alpineart.

well if you ever want to lighten the load, I'm sure we could find a few people happy to take some of your extra's off your hands

Will these be for sale at some point??? I'd like a ROR if possible

Hi Phoenix 238 , there are plenty here and i'm sure they will sell well one day .By the time i use the non fused whips on these that will reduce the amount of trunks by 20 %. Its a good way too lighten the load for this season .

Hi V.S , these will take a season to clasp the rock then i will part with a few of them . Shibui should be able to help you out with a good ROR , quite certain he will have some .

Cheers Alpine

Well this has been a marathon task , lifting , root pruning and securing a few of them together then planting them back out in various situations . I have bagged quite a few of the big trunks , potted up ROR and placed a lot into the ground for further development .These will be monitored quite closely for branch placement and development . The trunks range to 100mm bases on older material . Plenty of fused material has worked well and quite a bit has been re-secured for another season , making sure the bugger don't push apart . Now the trident are done , the Hornbeams are completed , Japanese Maples are finished its onto the Crab Apples . Then i had better do some serious re-pots if i get the time .

Cheers Alpineart