Root over rock Trident Maple

[alpineart]

This has been in the making for around 7 years , starting as a seedling with a plan , it was ground grown for 5 years to develop the root mass over the rock and trimmed after each season to produce the required Roots and Trunk . It did get severely burnt on the roots 1 years with extreme temps well over the 40"s but I managed to salvage it with a few scars .

P1120313.JPG

P1120314.JPG

P1120311.JPG

P1120312.JPG

In training for the last 2 seasons in this pot is has been trimmed back hard in the effort to build the canopy which has a very basic structure of just 2 branches and the apex .

It has had numerous trims this season and I'm now in the process of developing an apex with a few more finer branches . I will allow the new sacrifice leader to grow on unhindered until the desired thickness of the apex is achieved which should be done by seasons end .The pot is 400 mm x 300 mm , planning to finish the canopy at around 400 wide 300 deep and around 200-250mm high .

Cheers . Alpineart

[boom64]

Nice work Alpine, great looking roots in pics one and two. A quick question , in the future will the gap between the base of the trunk and the rock close ? Not being picky but have one similar. Cheers John.

[Ryceman3]

Beautiful.
The roots in that first pic are pretty special... Good vision and implementation of a plan - well executed.
Very nice indeed.

[alpineart]

Nice work Alpine, great looking roots in pics one and two. A quick question , in the future will the gap between the base of the trunk and the rock close ? Not being picky but have one similar. Cheers John.

Hi Boom64 , mate because of the time and growth over the 5 years in the ground the base of the trunk lifted itself up off the rock . This can only be rectified by carving another piece of scoria ans slotting it into the cavity or splitting thr roots open and forcing it back down onto the rock .

The trunks were allowed to grow to around 1.2 - 1.5 meters in a season then cut off and regrown the next year to produce the roots required hence the root base elevated with the larger trunk height . The last season in the ground the trunk was 400 high and around and the canopy was about 600mm in diameter . It was cut back to 2 stubs and has had several leaders removed during the 2 years in this pot , the current leader isn't perfect but its close enough for me , still a work in progress just progressing along the lines of the original plan now .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Ryceman3 , mate some things take "time" and don't I hate that filthy 4 letter word , I want it now doesn't always work out the best even for a hacker and chopper like me .

Still learning and will continue to learn as long as I give it a go .

Cheers . Alpine

[Pearcy001]

Looking great alpine, I too love your chosen front. It will be looking great once you get the branching and apex sorted.

I recently started a trident ROR at the end of this winter. I put it in a deep pot and it appears to be having a blast chucking on plenty of girth (deep pots seem to be much better than wide pots).

Can I ask how thick your trunk is? Mine has already grown alot for a pot as I don't have ground room, but I'm curious of the difference in growth rates.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[alpineart]

Hi Pearcy001 , mate the trunk on this is 35mm at the base and tapers to 25mm . When I set this up I used an undernourished smallest seedling from the grow stock as the internodes were closer than most of the healthier material . All the little shoots were rubbed off and just leader left to grow , as they re sprouted they were rubbed off again not cut off .

I wanted a slender trunk not a sumo hence the first couple of years the development branches were above 600mm . It was semi developed at 400mm but the plan was to have a 120-150mm high trunk so it was cut down to 2 shoots at around 100mm high before being potted into this pot .

The sister trunk of the same configuration was sold a couple of years ago , I must chase it up and see how the development is going .

Cheers . Alpine

[shibui]

in the future will the gap between the base of the trunk and the rock close ?

Trees, and roots, grow thicker in all directions so that gap will close up Boom but as Ian says he is always impatient so adding rock to fill the space is a quick way to deal with it.
If you were to allow the tree free growth again for a year or 2 that space would probably disappear. There is, however, the risk that the trunk would also thicken more and then look out of place on that rock. It is also very difficult to train any branches while trees are growing fast so that aspect would also need to be put off for those years while growing is happening.
If you had patience the roots and trunk will still thicken while the tree and branching is developing but it will be far slower than when the tree is growing lots. The gap would still close but might take 5-10 years while the tree was being trained.

[bodhidharma]

Not much to say except, I like it root over rock is always a juggling act and difficult to get right. When you first start out you say "I am going to grow a tree over a rock" but it proves more difficult than that. Rearranging roots as it grows, and is it in the right place, Etc etc! Look forward to future posts Alp's

[alpineart]

Hi Bodhi , mate the sister tree was set at a 45 degree sloping style rock . This is one of the best I have done , pity about the sun burnt roots . Not many in the pipeworks here unfortunately , should have stuck to my tried and tested method .

Cheers .Alps

[alpineart]

This was re-potted yesterday into a shallow pot

P1120875.JPG

P1120876.JPG

P1120877.JPG

P1120878.JPG

root prune was done but the trimming will take place later . Hopefully the pics are clear .

Cheers alpineart

[Ulf]

This has a really beautiful flow. I love it. Oddly enough I think the gap in the root base actually enhances the tree overall.

[melbrackstone]

I really love the smooth trunk, Ian! Rubbing off those new growing points has worked a treat.

I've seen a person using a glue gun to fill the gaps....they used dark coloured material which can then be roughened up, and it also compresses in time as the tree grows... I guess it'll only work for the photos, not for exhibition...lol

[Matthew]

Coming along nicely Alpine . A few years working on the branching etc and it will be a very good tree. I reckon you may go through several pot changes over that time . I find getting the right pot for ROR combos can be a difficult one to match. A lot of things to consider (height, angle of rock , species ie autumn and spring colour )

[Ray M]

Hi Alpine,
Do you think a shallower oval pot may work?

ROR-2.jpg

Regards Ray