Trident Maple Raft /Sineous Root

[alpineart]

This was a collected sapling about 3-4 years old .Growing in long grass the lower branches had tangled and grew horizontal .When collected it was about 1.3m high .I collected this last season and potted it into a styrene box and began the process of ground layering the 2 base branches .This is the only the latest pics as the loss of my albums has left me without other photo's .It resides in a custom made arched tray purpose built for this trainer

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With a season or 2 growing on i should have the makings of a nice unusual raft.Cheers Alpinart

[whereswally007]

haha that looks pritty cool man

[Craig]

Hi Alpine, i like it mate, given a few years and it'll make a raft.Good to see as we don't see enough rafts IMO, keep up the good work mate Craig

[Taffy]

Excellent job Alpine. That's an unusual pot - is it one of your custom cement ones?

[alpineart]

Hi ww007 ,its a little that for sure .

Hi Craig , i was blessed when ifound this one , will only improve over the next few seasons .

Hi Tman , the pot is concave and it becomes a convex tray if you so desire , its custom made using Villa board and Acrylic render then coloured to finish .

Cheers Alpine

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi alpineart,

I like this one too... I am thinking that since trident maples strike root fairly easy, we could actual create something
like this intentionally?

I am interested to hear what you think

Best regards.

[alpineart]

Hi Daiviet , i have a few on the go at the moment , basically using the whips i grew and laying them down to grow on .I have wrapped and strapped several variations of desired finished raft trainers and also buried them .It is basically wait and see if they survive and strike or require some more persisting along these lines next season .Its like all good stock ,if you cant find , buy it , then you make it yourself .Cheers Alpineart

[whereswally007]

is it hard to keep watering them and keeping them healthy??

[alpineart]

Hi ww007 , i hold my finger over the end of the hose and water all my plants trees and bonsai the same .I water up to 2000 plants in about 1 1/2 hours , 75% of those are potted .Never had an issue washing away soil or compacting of any kind , servere heavy rain does more damage .To liquid fertilize takes about 4-5 hours and 70+ watering cans mixed as directed .All the plants/trees are treated the same , pines and juni's are watered quicker/less water and thats it . Cheers Alpineart

[whereswally007]

do you use a tray to keep the water they loss or just let them run out?

[alpineart]

do you use a tray to keep the water they loss or just let them run out?

Hi mate , the majority of my plants sit in sand trays/water beds , either made from roofing iron or black plastic . In summer the more it heats up the less frequent i have to water .For a contruction method take a look in my blog Alpinebonsart. blogspot by clicking on the logo in my profile .This site is now closed and replaced with a new site however the info is still available .Cheers Alpineart

[whereswally007]

thanks for the information, i will check it out and might PM you if i have any more questions for you

[alpineart]

Hi ww007 , the topics a well explained i think?!!!, if you have any questions post them up here . Cheers Alpineart

[alpineart]

Looking at this struggle i decided to slip pot it this morning .

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It should have been done but with so many projects it was overlooked .

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The Trident Maple is a strong grower and the custom tray was literally root bound .

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I jimmied it out of the tray and cut a few of the longest roots were cut back and slipped it into this tray .

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It should recover as the mat of finer roots is very healthy . This will settle for a week or two and then i will defoliate it to expose the trunk lines and trim it to shape .

Cheers Alpineart

[alpineart]

This in drinking like a fish out of water so it is in need of a good trim .

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We're heading for another scorcher so a quick trim will reduce the water need

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, it never received a root prune over Winter like most tree's here . I will work a few potted Tridents over today , way too hot out there in the sun .

Cheers Alpineart