Trident Maple Forest [Ryceman3]

[melbrackstone]

Yes Mel. Let the tall, thick ones grow more and keep the smaller trees trimmed harder. There are a couple of things to watch though:
Trimming will encourage more branching. More branching can also = more leaves and therefore more thickening so as well as regular trimming to keep them smaller you may also need to thin out the resulting shoots to keep the smaller ones restrained in bulk as well as height. Hope that makes sense.
As mentioned earlier, trees on the outside of a group sometimes grow faster because they have more root space so watch out for that as well while allowing group plantings to grow.

If all else fails you can still cut a group apart after a few years and rearrange the individual trees or clusters of trees into a better arrangement.

Thanks Neil, that's a great help, and yes, it makes sense.

Cheers Ryceman.

[Ryceman3]

Just an update really ...

Last week I gave this a thin out and cut back (the second one this spring)
I'm getting good growth from all the trees in this group, and I have tried to take on a bit of the advice above and concentrate on ensuring the outer trees don't overtake the central ones by cutting these back a bit harder and allowing the middle ones to grow on. All in all I am happy with the way it is shaping up, given it was only planted a few months ago.

There is a bit of an anomoly in this trident group ... I'll let those with sharp eyes see if they can figure out what that is ...

[squizzy]

A crabapple?

Squizzy

[Ryceman3]

A crabapple?

Squizzy

Bingo!
What they are I'm not too sure exactly (there are two) - I had a punt at Crabapple too although I have contacted shibui and he seems to think they may be Chinese Quince. Whatever they may be I will leave them in place until next year and shibui has told me he will replace with a couple of tridents... gotta be happy with that!

Forests are full of surprises I guess!

[Boics]

IMO I'd not be too quick to cut.
Personally I'd be trying to let this group go wild and add some bulk to some of the tree's.
Keep up the documenting - it's going well!

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

A crabapple?

Squizzy

Looks a little bit like sakura - Cherry Blossom?

[shibui]

That's what you get for purchasing stock from disreputable dealers
There are both flowering cherries and crabapples growing in the area so it could be either of those - leaves are superficially similar to each other. I don't think they look like Chinese quince now that the leaves have opened up a bit more.

I have found a few more seedlings of the bipinnate leaf plant but we don't have any mature plants with those leaves so I have no idea what it is or where they are coming from You could try posting a picture and see if anyone else has any ideas.

[Ryceman3]

That's what you get for purchasing stock from disreputable dealers

Not at all!!! I think a disreputable dealer wouldn't be interested in acknowledging the mistake and help with ID and rectifying it. To be fair when I received the 30+ trees I didn't blink twice when I looked at them, there wasn't a huge difference between these 2 and the tridents... It was only after they leafed out that I noticed subtle variations in the trunks (and obviously the foliage). I imagine bundling and sending out vast numbers of these tridents... easy to see how this could happen.
I will also say that every single one of the bare rooted seedlings I received was viable. They all leafed out and have not looked back since I planted them. 100% success rate, that's impressive!
Don't sweat the small stuff, it worries me not and like I said, I'm happy with the way this group is heading, even with the rogue additions.

I'll post a few detail pics of the other trees and see if a definitive ID can be found, might try and take some better ones than those I showed shibui to make the job a bit easier.

Thanks for all your help to date with it Shibui

@ Boics: I think I'll grow out pretty much from here for the rest of the summer. I wanted to try and get some close internodal growth close to the trunks before I let it go crazy. Hopefully then when I cut right back next winter I'll have the foundation for some branching/trunk options. At least that is my theory.
I probably should join a club one day and speak to those in the know rather than postulate with my own ideas...I'd most likely get ahead a bit quicker....

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

That's what you get for purchasing stock from disreputable dealers

Disreputable dealers are the ones on ebay trying to flog off the very "rare" Electric Blue maple seeds (also come in Bright Purple!) Getting them to germinate depends on your growing conditions so they can't be held responsible once sent.

blue maple.jpg

Also lets not forget the "very very" rare "Pokémon" rose.

pokemon rose.jpg

Shibui you are definitely not disreputable by any means (but just in case you have got some rare Pokemon roses - I'll take a dozen )

[Ryceman3]

As promised, here's a few pics of the mystery trees ... it's not vital but if anybody has any ideas re: ID I'll be happy to hear them.

complete.jpg

leaf detail - tree 1.jpg

leaf detail B - tree 1.jpg

trunk detail - tree 1.jpg

leaf detail - tree 2.jpg

leaf detail B - tree 2.jpg

trunk detail - tree 2.jpg

It's hard to tell, they may well be the same species but there do appear to be small differences in leaf shape between them - that may just be natural variation though ... I don't know!
I think it's pretty clear to see how without foliage these could easily be contrued as tridents.

[BB Brian]

amazing Forester planting. happy to follow this one over the years!
thanks for sharing!

[Ryceman3]

Just an update... Going nuts!

[melbrackstone]

Crikey, how do you keep it growing with the heat you've been getting in Melb?

Looks very happy, I must say!

[shibui]

I've just been through the garden looking for possible matches with your rogues. Closest I can come is apples. There are several crab apples growing through the garden and there are some self sown seedlings. They have similar toothed margins on the leaves and also often have those distorted leaves at the tips.
Seedling variation would probably explain the differences in the leaves even though they are probably both crabapples. They may also have different species in the parents which would further complicate the seedling issue.

They certainly seem to be enjoying the rooftop growing area.

[Ryceman3]

I've just been through the garden looking for possible matches with your rogues. Closest I can come is apples. There are several crab apples growing through the garden and there are some self sown seedlings. They have similar toothed margins on the leaves and also often have those distorted leaves at the tips.
Seedling variation would probably explain the differences in the leaves even though they are probably both crabapples. They may also have different species in the parents which would further complicate the seedling issue.

They certainly seem to be enjoying the rooftop growing area.

Thanks for the continued investigation shibui. I think I'm happy to settle on crabapple for the minute until some definitive evidence may prove otherwise. Whatever they are, they're taking off along with the maples (maybe even more vigorous - I have continued to trim them just to make sure the tridents don't get overtaken). It seems they all like the growing conditions on my roof!

Hi Mel, it has been a bit warm down here but not crazy for days on end so relief from temps has been good. To be honest though if it had been a bit cooler but windier I would have found it more difficult - the wind seems to adversely effect my trees more than heat itself... They're pretty exposed on the roof so drying out with the wind is a big issue. I'm super happy with the growth rate of these, they seem to like these conditions!