AusBonsai

Hi All,

Another post from me asking for help / advice. One day soon i'll join a local club and get to a workshop. But for now i'm just trying to learn as much as possible.

I bought this small maple to develop my skills and would appreciate any advice regarding it's care and styling.

The front at the moment is in the first picture but i think the second picture is a better option. Apart from that i draw a complete blank with this one.

Cheers.

Nebari - base of tree - is indeed better in 2.
Unless you are aiming for a broom style tree, trident maples and many other deciduous trees are usually styled with horizontal branching. The vertical branches on this one speak to me of a young sapling rather than aged tree.

Since the purpose of the tree is to practice your skills not grow it on, then I would suggest acquiring some wire and practice putting some movement in the branches and selecting their leading shoots. At this stage they are easy to shape, next season not so much but still more than do-able, they will be thicker and more brittle when hardened off.

Perhaps try to bring the foliage out/down a tad, not towards the ground but spread it a bit.
Nice tree you have there, can't wait to see it in leaf, keep us posted.

I was considering planting it out into a larger container to help it grow. And i will get some wire to work on it before it shoots in spring. Thanks for the idea.

Also, is there a good way to promote growth of new shoots so that i can develop some horizontal branches lower down the trunk?

Not sure of it's age but i guess that it's not very old.

Good feeding and hard pruning is the most reliable way to get shoots to sprout. Otherwise resort to grafting.
I think you will find the existing branches already too hard to bend at the bases. They also have rather long internodes from growing quickly so will never make convincing branches on a small tree (may be ok for broom style though). I would probably cut most off and grow new ones from the smaller shoots growing around the base of the branches but that would be hard to do for a newer bonsai grower.

My advice is use it to learn watering/wiring then call shibui for one of those nice field grown tridents.

I was just looking at those pictures of the field grown tridents. Nice plan.

I would probably cut most off and grow new ones from the smaller shoots growing around the base of the branches but that would be hard to do for a newer bonsai grower.

I myself am new to bonsai, can you perhaps elaborate on this a bit more please? I have a trident which is very similar in age and "style". I have re-potted it today into a "grow-box" (a foam fruit n veg container) but I need to do something to with the branches also. Any advice or links would be appreciated.
Thanks
Luke

Fast grown trident branches are typically very straight with long internodes ( the spaces between buds where no shoots will ever grow). As the tree develops the long, straight sections in the trunk and branches look odd and awkward. Wiring can put some movement into the straight sections but IMHO never really look natural and you will never get buds to sprout so branching will always be sparse unless you resort to grafting.

The answer I have found is to cut off all shoots that develop long internodes. New buds will usually sprout from the base of the branch - often several of them. Choose the ones that have shorter internodes to make the new branches. Allow them to grow then cut back to 1 or 2 buds to force more buds to create both movement and ramification. It will take a few seasons to develop a branch and the apex this way but the result is well worth the extra time.

These processes are much easier to demonstrate than describe but hope it makes some sense.