AusBonsai

I'm impressed, even the trunks look like they've thickened up a fair bit in that short time! (Or am I just imagining it.)

I have a couple that almost look like this, should I be looking to prune it back too? Or should I wait for the leaves to harden up a bit?

Yep - I reckon this is going to be a ripper over time. I was just checking out the replanting that you conducted earlier this year and the addition of the replacement trees have added to the story, particularly the thicker one on the middle of the left side grouping. I know it is all thickening up remarkably quickly but I think part of the is perception and quiet art of deception too; the magic of adding a few slightly older trees somehow 'ages' the whole forest. I look forward to seeing this forest progress.

Also, I'm learning from this Forum (among other things!) just how aggressive experienced growers are in the context of cutting stuff back. I am getting there... but I still have to take some concrete pills to harden up ...

Gave the pines a rest today and did some maintenance on this when I had a second. It looks a bit dishevelled but there's method to the madness. I'm growing out a few leaders to thicken them up, the rest got a cut back and thinned out the shoots/leaves to let a bit more light into the middle. All the trees are looking healthy and are growing on well, I'm happy with it for now.

Quick update - growing on as it does in summer so I gave it a chop back today, was happy with the way things are thickening up - I'll be getting close to focussing on some branching etc. in the next year or so which should hopefully take this forest up a notch. Tridents love summer at my joint!

It's very clear you have the touch with those trees!

Thanks for the update R3. It is clearly a very healthy forest. I don’t know if you feel the same but there’s something pretty satisfying about giving a forest a haircut. You end up with a heap of cuttings and you can almost hear that forest sigh in relief that so much light is now allowed in. Keep up the good work.


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Holy sheet.
Lots of trees!!

Thanks Mel, MJL & Boics,
Very happy with the progress on my tridents, they are good fun, very responsive ... a fantastic tree for the impatient bonsai grower as you can always find something to do with them if you’re looking for a job!
@MJL : I do like opening up the forest with a big prune - it’s becoming one of my bigger jobs - can be daunting if you leave it too long but it feels like you’re doing real bonsai when you spend a bit of time on just the one project. Without it I would be worrying about the health of the inner trees. Not only in terms of light, but water access when the growth is pretty rampant. If you don’t pay attention they will get overtaken by their neighbours that reside closer to the edges. Shibui warned me early in this thread about outer trees taking over as they get the best of the conditions, never a truer word spoken...

I picked up a handful of trident seeds at one of our bonsai meetings last year and about 40 little buggers sprouted so I guess I'll be trying a group soon.

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gnichols wrote:I picked up a handful of trident seeds at one of our bonsai meetings last year and about 40 little buggers sprouted so I guess I'll be trying a group soon.

You should!

I saw this the other day....something to use seedlings for. Shohin group!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvPkGAq21Uc

melbrackstone wrote:I saw this the other day....something to use seedlings for. Shohin group!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvPkGAq21Uc

Lovely little video that MelB - cheers. [THUMBS UP SIGN]


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Just to keep the thread updated, I gave this a repot over the weekend and did some minor tweaks to the compostion. I was happy with the growth under the soil ... lots of healthy roots which were cut back in the usual manner.
I looked to raise the left side of the composition a bit to get some more differentiation in ground level. I also shifted a smaller tree in closer to the main trunk and moved around a few that were adjacent to try for a bit more randomness in placement. I'm happier with how they sit now ... but looking at the photos I may need to re-adjust a bit more to keep the angles flowing nicely from the front view. I guess there's always something to work on, particularly in a group planting!

Coming along very well indeed. I was half tempted to repot one of my tridents over the weekend, but felt it was too early. No issues doing it this early in winter?

TimS wrote: ↑July 8th, 2019, 1:12 pm Coming along very well indeed. I was half tempted to repot one of my tridents over the weekend, but felt it was too early. No issues doing it this early in winter?

Hi Tim,
I have no issues repotting tridents now at all. I think last year I did it in mid June with this forest and it never had any issues. I also did some Chinese Elms on the weekend and I'm super comfortable they will all be fine. Both species are very forgiving (as you know!). I should also add that I am very close to the CBD and in the 20+ years I have been here I remember maybe one frost ... and even that was mild in it's severity so that might be something to consider, but even so I think I would still feel OK about doing root work on tridents at this time of the year around Melbourne. I expect no issues at all.