Tridents Galore

[fiveoffive]

It allways makes me think about buying some land when I see your place alpine.

[alpineart]

Hi Fiveoffive , mate you should have a block in the country , with a house and a garden to keep you off the streets and out of trouble .

If i had a little block i would create tiered gardens on wheels to move around during the seasons along with roof top gardens . Heck i would block the gutters up , fill them with scoria and use them as aquaponic grow beds on the roof , carports and garages would have growing area's up there on the roof sections as well .

There is actually 3 times more lawn and paved area here than garden grow beds including the large terraces.

Cheers .Alpine

[alpineart]

Well its trimming time again and they certainly need it ,

P1080621.JPG

these have powered on since the beds were re-worked .I hope to have all the Tridents finished in a week ,

P1080623.JPG

P1080626.JPG

P1080629.JPG

P1080630.JPG

P1080631.JPG

P1080633.JPG

P1080636.JPG

P1080637.JPG

P1080639.JPG

P1080640.JPG

then continue with the other grow bed material .

Cheers Alpineart

[Josh]

Mate, they are really coming along. They look very healthy too Even looks like you have the weeds under control as well

Josh

[alpineart]

Hi Josh , mate these are weeds and very healthy at that , I can't bring home weeds like olives and have real weeds growing in the garden . Mind you its time to get into the old routine and keep on top of things around here . They have taken well in the new beds and with good fertilizer its paying off .With some fine weather coming up it will be good to get them knocked over .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Well unfortunately i knocked these back and the have bounced back twice as good as expected .

P1080741.JPG

These are the fusing trunks from 30mm to 120mm bases

P1080739.JPG

P1080742.JPG

. I selectively trimmed these a while ago and stripped the side branched of the foliage . Now it time to strap them down to get the side growth flowing at the right angle . Using tent pegs and copper wire it rough and ready but very effective

P1080744.JPG

.

P1080745.JPG

Basically all the side shoots will now become sacrifice branches hopefully completing the fusing process of the trunks this season . With the temps heading for 40 today i will need an beach umbrella to finish the job .All the grow beds have been top dressed with horse manure and stable straw , this will aid in retaining the moisture in the beds rather than sun baked ground of previous seasons

Cheers Alpineart

[alpineart]

Well there's no stopping these buggers

P1080849.JPG

. With some of the sacrifice apexes reaching 1.5m-1.8m high i decided rather than chop them off i would open pot layer half a dozen at this time

P1080846.JPG

P1080847.JPG

P1080848.JPG

to see if they take root on rigorous new growth . Nothing venture nothing gained and all in a days work . I will do a few more in another month if they keep growing like weeds just to see if they too will grow roots this late in the growing season . All the side branches on these apexes are growing at right angle to the trunks so it should be a good start to a trainer for the future .

Cheers Alpineart

[Meagi]

Hi alpine
Waste not want not they say eh .Just what you need a free more trees mate last time I was up you seemed short a few .

Best of luck mate keep us posted .

[alpineart]

Hi Meagi , mate i need more tridents like a whole in the head , but it's a good test to see just how late a layer can be set . I prefer not to waste , rather to use , even if they don't work its worth the effort . I certainly don't need any more compost at this point in time either , and yes there's always a vacancy in the stock area , some of the benches are looking a bit empty of late .

Cheers Alpine

[redtearsblackwings]

Alpine this thread is breath taking, even more so because I'm new to the bonsai (and gardening) world. It's been great to see so many pictures and the growth of the trees. I must say you've got more energy and drive then I do lol. I didn't even realise you could fuse tree's the way you have so it's also been hugely educational
Keep up the fantastic work.

[alpineart]

Hi redtears' , mate I'm glad it has been helpful . There is many things i don't know about tree's hence that the reason I'm here to continue to learn and in the process help others . There i a lot of info out there but with a forum like this its all here in the one place .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

With all the extreme heat over with I hope , these have had a major trim to remove the burnt foliage and hopefully get a bit of growth to enable me to begin the training of the future branches

P1090058.JPG

P1090059.JPG

. Plent of dead material

P1090057.JPG

but thats life in the extreme heat , couldn't have done much more to prevent it .I did mnage to cover some of the beds with shade cloth and it save the majority from being burnt to a crisp

P1090060.JPG

.The front grow beds are serverly burnt however i see this a a natural defoliation , i trimmed them back 2 weeks ago and they have bounced back quite well . Next year i will definately be prepared for the extreme heat . Some very nice trunks in amoungst this lot and no doubt some fine narebri to be had .

Cheers Alpineart

[Matthew]

Alpine
according to local weather records it was the longest prolonged heat over 40 degrees here on record.Not nessasary the hottest day on record but the most over 40 and boy i felt it. All my trees pulled through ok bar a larch or two. My power bill from watering (large pump) and the A/C. im pretty sure im not gonna get change out of 2K . I hope your right about the extreme heat gone!!! Man you must have some material. puts my little bed to shame

[fiveoffive]

yeah I hope the heats over now as well.

I was thinking about coming to see you alpineart but with all the photos I might not need to lol.

your going to have some great stuff soon.

[alpineart]

Hi Mathew , mate it's been the worst heat i have ever experienced and it shows on the crisp tree's , 4 weeks over 40 and 5 days over 50 .We don't need any more thats for sure . I do have a few plants here , enough to keep me off the streets and out of the pubs .I'm thinking of cutting in another 60-80 meters of new grow beds

Hi fiveoffive , there is some very nice material developing here .With the loss of some old material i guees i will be left with all this new stuff to hack , and that i will do .

Cheers Guys .Alpine