Trident Maple Clump production

[alpineart]

This was a simple method of producing some clump style Tridents for the the future .Using a piece of 10mm Villa Board i simply drilled a series of 6mm holes at varying placements and threaded the whip through .Where the seedlings were loose i just added a couple of extra's to ensure they a tight fit in the holes .

Over the next growing season i expect these to fuse and grow together .I have seen this method done with a tile however i wanted several dozen so the cement sheet was used . Less effort than drilling tiles for sure .

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.A good use for unwanted seedlings .Cheers Alpineart

[ozzy]

Thats awesome ... You're a bonsai "mad scientist"

[Jarrod]

I would perhaps suggest splitting each group from the board. The ones in the middle won't get much water and when the roots start coming from above the board it will quickly be a tangled mess. Other than that, love your creativity.

Cheers

[alpineart]

Hi Ozzy ,got to produce some good trees out of this lot .Cheers

[alpineart]

Hi Jarrod , i have several dozen clumps in training . These are in pots or the ground as individuals . I hope these will do alright where they are , watering with a hose will keep them wet , competition from the roots will slow them down a little but they wont have to expand very much to fuse .

As for the tangled mess they competed very well in the garden bed amongst the Japanese water Irises with which they were growing .It was actually harder to remove the irises than the Maples .Each clump should have around 150mm of root spread before interfering with the others .When Winter comes back around i will simple cut the sheeting with a saw and root prune from there .I understand where you coming from , some of these may end up as group planting clumps just to be different .I haven't actually seen one but hey . i might as well make one .Cheers Alpine

[nealweb]

I would perhaps suggest splitting each group from the board. The ones in the middle won't get much water and when the roots start coming from above the board it will quickly be a tangled mess. Other than that, love your creativity.

Cheers

Ah i think i get it. I was wondering how you will get it all apart again with the roots below and a chunk of board around the trunk but you are actually waiting for the trunks to fuse and roots to appear on top of the board then ?? and then chop it off above the board? Soooo...does the board cut into the cambium as it expands and it just kindof strangles and layers itself off and is forced to produce roots from above the board?? Very interesting anyway!!

[alpineart]

Hi Nealweb , They will grow a new layer of roots and fuse above the board .It may take 1 or 2 seasons to end up with the desired result , but i'm in no hurry .The snug fit between the base and the hole is firm , so growth of 1-2mm will see the cambium basically ring barked and the process of root growth will take place .It may take 2 seasons for them to fuse , i don't know this is just one more experiment .Give them several seasons and i will have some excellent clumps to play with .Cheers Alpine

[Jamie]

nice Alpine

as you said you might put them in groups, have you considered growing a few of the groups close together, say a group of 3 or 5 in the near vacinity of the groups so there roots all fuse up and become a raft forest?

nice work

Jamie

[nealweb]

Hi Nealweb , They will grow a new layer of roots and fuse above the board .It may take 1 or 2 seasons to end up with the desired result , but i'm in no hurry .The snug fit between the base and the hole is firm , so growth of 1-2mm will see the cambium basically ring barked and the process of root growth will take place .It may take 2 seasons for them to fuse , i don't know this is just one more experiment .Give them several seasons and i will have some excellent clumps to play with .Cheers Alpine

Wow great technique. With them on the board you will get nice flat nebari and then could strap the trunks together further up to fuse them into one big one, grow it as a multi trunk tree or just prune a few out later when the bases are all fused. Brilliant. Be good to see them in a season or two.
Good luck...
n.

[alpineart]

Mate now come on ,i have only just started , where's the hidden camera .I've got a lot of damaged whips and they are making all sorts of arrangements . I have close to 200+ crab apple whips that i dug this morning after completing this set-up . Now i have to sort into fused trunks , rafts , groups and anything else i can think of , then its onto the Japanese Maples , back to the tridents , then elms , then pines .Called an R.D.O "Required Day Off" to catch up on the much needed jobs , lucky i'm the boss .Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Nealweb , the possibilities are only limited by our imagination and availability of material .Cheers

[alpineart]

Progress was disappointing due to the fact that the villa -board didn't stand the test of being buried and constantly damp . Mind you we had some serious rain this last season , however the clumps that didn't break loose due to the pressure from the expanding trunks have progressed into a nice entanglement of new root bases .This pic show the typical growth of the whips that stayed together

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and didn't crumble the board .Success rate was about 50% the others simple crushed the wet board . the good ones had a quick trim and are back in the ground for another season .

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Next time i will try a piece of 8mm thick form ply . Cheers Alpineart

[alpineart]

Well a few worked out but a more stable base material would be better .

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There's enough for my use that's for sure , i trimmed them back to various configurations and now they will grow on unhindered to see what another season can produce .

Cheers Alpineart

[alpineart]

Well this has been part of my day , sorting these clumps out

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. While the grow bed was freshly turned i have placed all 18 into a line

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in the middle of all the other trunks

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. As with all things some are better than other but the method and theory worked and could be implemented into a grow box situation where space is limited . The trunks were cut back hard but the roots were only trimmed slightly , this should make for a good growing season .

Cheers Alpineart .

[Josh]

All I can say is WOW. Actually I can say more. That is unreal. My daughter bought me a pile of old CDs a while ago so made a few will end up like this. All I have to do is find some whips. Do you think my girls will notice if dig up the rest of my yard I used to own an acre down in Gippsland, oh I long for more room. This is great forward thinking for the future Alpine.

Josh