AusBonsai

There's so many great forest progressions on here so I thought I'd throw another in the mix and start documenting this one.
Its my first trident maple group, there are 31 trees all up all of which are Shibui bare rooted seedlings bought this winter (many thanks Neil)
Roots all given a good trim before potting and potted in equal parts Osmocote cacti/succ mix, 5mm scoria and debco coarse grit.
Advice and criticism welcomed
Bring on spring!

And the finished product displayed on an elegant stand

This has a lot of great potential Beau, nice job of placement and layout. I think it looks "authentic" and already has a nice feel to it. The stand needs work, but you're not the first and you won't be the last to go down that path!
Overall it is a great effort, good structural setup for future development, very nice.

Thanks Ryceman3,
Placement was definitely more challenging than I expected it to be, my only other group has 7 trees and was a walk in the park in comparison, im sure there's much better techniques out there but I ended up making a halo with wire to hold them all in a general shape and stop them from falling over while I arranged them, chaos but it worked.
The stand has been replaced, mostly so I can take the bins out but space is an issue

Well that didn't take long

Exciting times, spring is in full force and everything is coming to life in my small garden, all except 1 of the 31 tridents in this group (there's always 1 haha) after pondering on how it will look without it i decided to remove it rather than waiting to see if it was a late bloomer because I feel that it improves it, distinguishing the gap between the two groups. At the site of the tap root being cut (which i think i went a bit hack with on this one) there seems to be a white fungus/mold growing, not sure if its something to be worried about or if its just because the tree was dying? Not sure Please excuse the poor photos/backdrop I'll take some better ones when it has leafed out in a couple weeks, these are with the tree removed

That white fungus looks like micorrhizae to me, it's beneficial to the tree. If you've still got the tree try re-planting it in it's own pot. I have a maple forest and they opened their buds at various times.
Looks like a good successful planting, but with so many trees so close together you may find they will get a bit crowded in a couple of years. There's also a lot of competition for nutrients, so keep the fertilizers up to them.
Cheers, Frank.

Cheers for the feedback, I did happen to stick it in a pot just in case, I didn't think of micorrhizae i guess I just associate it with pines, guess we'll find out.
I can definitely see how it is going to be overcrowded by looking at some of the trident forests on here and reading about how vigorous they are, its going to be a learning experience.