2 tridents from Shibui's 2023 winter seedling sale

[PWC]

I picked up these 2 tridents from Shibui's Winter seedling sale last year as I had nothing with significant trunk size to work with. These were the XXL seedlings that had trunk diameters of around 5-6 cms. As expected there was no touble at all with the quality of the supply and condition on arrival and they both thrived and grew stongly.

Trident #1 the thinner of the 2 I potted up as it came to see if it would produce growth for future development. I was hoping for something lower down to cut back to this year.

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Most of the new growth came from the top as it usually would so I let it grow on, but was lookingf or a smaller tree and did get 2 new shoots lower down. This year I cut it back again with the expectation that it should again shoot near the new cut site. This I hope to use as a new leader and let the 2 lower develop as the first branch one will eventually go to avoid a bar branch.

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Trident #2 Has a larger base and root flare, it was reduced as soon as it arrived as it already had growth lower down giving me options for a potential new leader and branching.

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This year I tried my hand at carving and removed the dead portion above the branching and attempted to create a transition that over time will heal over and look ok

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I appreciate having access to affordable good quality stock from Shibui and encourage any othe newbies that might like to experiment to keep a look out for this years sale, If you do and like me a prone to disasters it will not have cost too much and if its a success that's a bonuss

[BirchMan]

The cut on the second one looks in a good spot. Are you going to let the three branches run to help healing?

[PWC]

Yes that's the plan for this one, I may be able to use them in the final design after I decide where the eventual apex might be. The first one i expect will throw a few options for a future leader just below the cut site I can see a couple of dormant buds that should shoot . I didn't want to cut back to close incase it died back a bit.

[legoman_iac]

I have a big issue with the stock I've bought from shibui, each year I promise myself not to buy more ... then I end up buying more, so addictive, and some of my strongest growing in my collection. 1000% agree with the quality and price!!!

Great to see others experimenting!

[PWC]

One year on and definitely proving to be a challenge, Trident 1 I have decided to grow taller of the two and has been planted in the ground. The roots on this as on the second are pretty ugly. Not sure of the best way to address the problem.

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Trident 2 put on good growth and has been cut back, the scar from the chop had not healed as well as I would have liked so it was reworked and cut paste applied. Not sure if it ever will, if not may need to take a more drastic approach an open the truck up! Not my preferred option but can certainly wait another 5 or so years.

[Promethius]

My 2c regarding your root concerns - better to be aggressive and deal with them soon, probably with aggressive pruning and removing anything crossing or going straight down. I don’t think they look that bad though, so hopefully it won’t be major surgery. Tridents are tough and can take a hard trim, but if you don’t address the roots, they won’t fix themselves.

[PWC]

My 2c regarding your root concerns - better to be aggressive and deal with them soon, probably with aggressive pruning and removing anything crossing or going straight down. I don’t think they look that bad though, so hopefully it won’t be major surgery. Tridents are tough and can take a hard trim, but if you don’t address the roots, they won’t fix themselves.
[/quote]

You are right, I should have gone harder initially. My lack of experience with material of this size led me to be more conservative than I needed to be. The main offender is the large rapping root that has an old scar that has cut paste in place at the base of the trunk.

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I feel that removing this root would lead to a scar that might compromise the ability of the original scar to heal and the possibility of reducing the sap flow to that side of the tree that has the new leader.

[PWC]

Decided to bite the bullet and have a go at improving the worst of the two. On line I saw video of the Ebihara method, so thought it looked like it might be worth a try. First I tackled the large rapping root, as you can see it was not that healthy.

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I removed as much as I could while trying to maintain a reasonable profile with the surrounding trunk and root planes.

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Then placed it on a board to organise the roots more radially, I used screws rather than nails for no particular reason.

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Then it was back into the ground to grow on. I'm confident it will be ok just the concern regarding the sacrifice branch as it also where the new leader is growing.

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Not sure if it would be better to remove the sacrifice above the leader now or wait and see how it responds. My deciduous trees are only just starting to move, just starting to get into the mid 20s in the last week or so.

[Promethius]