Should i retrim now - Trident maple

[bonborn]

I picked up this maple at the ausbonsai market. Pretty leggy with foliage foliage further up the branch. I cut it back a lot during winter. It has started to backbud now. Moving closer to the base of the branches. I was wondering if i should retrim this particular branch again to push further backbudding.


Full tree



This is the branch. Very straight. No movement at all. Was thinking of cutting it back to the second bud or maybe even the 1st bud. However the first is facing the back.



This is the nice foliage coming up on the other branch.



The whole tree is a nice pleat of 3 individual plants.

[Bush bunny]

Inter-est-ing? Best of luck.

[Guy]

unsure about that wrapped trunk-----

[alpineart]

Hi Bonborn , mate if it was mine i would strip it of all branches leaving a short 5-8mm stub at the trunk . This will insure a new shoot will grow from that point , and give you even balanced branches over this season . These new branches can be left to grow to 4-5 sets of leaves then cut back to 1-2 depending on the internode length thus giving you movement and taper along the new branch .

It will take a few seasons to re-grow but there is no easy fix . It should have been left to run riot for another season to fuse together trimming evenly up the trunk . You dont want 2 thick straight branches and all the rest new thin shoots either straight or zig-zag.

I'm assuming you want to hang onto the length of the fused & fusing trunk line .

Cheers Alpineart

[GavinG]

Because the trunk is not fully fused, and could maybe do with a bit more meat, you might consider growing a couple of shoots from the trunk long and thick, to get some bulk. Time to worry about ramification and branching later, for me. Mind you, I'm no expert on tridents.

Gavin

[bonborn]

Hi Bonborn , mate if it was mine i would strip it of all branches leaving a short 5-8mm stub at the trunk . This will insure a new shoot will grow from that point , and give you even balanced branches over this season . These new branches can be left to grow to 4-5 sets of leaves then cut back to 1-2 depending on the internode length thus giving you movement and taper along the new branch .

It will take a few seasons to re-grow but there is no easy fix . It should have been left to run riot for another season to fuse together trimming evenly up the trunk . You dont want 2 thick straight branches and all the rest new thin shoots either straight or zig-zag.

I'm assuming you want to hang onto the length of the fused & fusing trunk line .

Cheers Alpineart

Thanks Alpineart. Seeing your Trident Galore thread of yours, you are the man to go to with advise on this one. As you've suggested i will cut it back to the trunk. If it dies i am sure you will be sending some of yours my way

And i also agree with you GavinG. I don't want this tree to look like a racing track which is what it looks like right now. I will select shoots from the top and allow that to grow wild while at the same time working with the other shoots and building ramification on the top.

I hope this is a good plan. At this stage i am also looking at planting the entire tree with the pot in ground. Is this a good idea.

[kcpoole]

Yep whack it in the ground pot an all.
Either that or repot inot a lower profile pot or just in the ground on a tile.

Ken

[alpineart]

Hi Bonborn , mate if your going to put it in the ground ,remove it from the pot , a quick trim of the underneath roots only then remove the thick branches as suggested and let it run riot . This will utilize all the new growth as sacrafice branches to fuse and thicken , then chop them back to stubs and begin either the same process or start branch development .

A plaited trunk will fuse quicker than a twisted trunk or section as the twisted section pushes itself apart or grows apart . The upper section requires a restraint ,a thick wire in the same direction as the twist looks better on the fusing finish than one in the opposite direction as the opposite wire tends to swell inconsistantly . A few twist ties on the twisted section only causes small area's to fuse and swelling occurs which look rather ugly .

Root run will do what sacrafice branches do , aid thickening of the base and trunk , its pointless placing a pot in the ground as it will restrict the root run until a few roots can escape . Then you have a pot bound mess to contend with . For thickening of the entire trunk new shoots allowed to run riot work better than new shoots off thick branches on young stock like this .

Good luck with your efforts .

Cheers Alpine

[bonborn]

So you saying trim the roots, put in ground and let grow or trim, put in ground and cut the thicker branches back leaving just the trunk with shorts stubs at this point.

Also i've noticed that it began as a plaited trunk however one of the plant got used as a branch and the other 2 got twisted to the top.

[alpineart]

Hi Bonborn , mate trim only the underside of the root mass tease it out leaving the root spread up to 500mm in diameter if possible . I have root pruned mine every year removing some of the root balls completely to a naked trunk as they were very poor and not worth keeping , too thick , irregular growth habit . Any over long root could be trimmed back to the radius chosen .

My root masses range from 250mm-600mm in diameter depending on the trunk 20mm-120mm , from this i will choose a good even Narebri next year . To trim the side growing roots only delays growth . I have trimmed the last posted Tridents Galore back hard selecting the new side shoots or removing them completely , this year i will try to keep on top of them , last year i was still recovering and could do a great deal .

Thats the case with this trunk plaited and then twisted , it could be cut back to the 3rd trunk and used as a new leader but let it grow and use the twisted section as a sacrafice leader if it is not needed or doesn't fused as expected .My material has had 5 years work on the roots and stripping the branches back as well as other methods just to see which works best here .

If you dont like the base , bury it lower into the ground and grow new roots these again can be used as sacrafice roots thickening the base and aiding the fusing lower down below the fused plaited section .

Hope this helps .

Cheers Alpine .

[bonborn]

Thanks Alpine. For now branches has been cut back to stumps, roots trimmed and teased out and i ended up planting in a foam box instead. Too much development going around the house so not sure where to place plants in ground. Will keep uptodate.

[kcpoole]

i ended up planting in a foam box instead. Too much development going around the house so not sure where to place plants in ground. .

good move
I have lost 2 trees in the ground from Bobcat running over them during Renos

Ken

[alpineart]

Hi Bonborn ,
mate nothing wrong with a foam box , if you dont like white , paint it terracotta or green . I hope you used plenty of mix under the trunk as they will punch through the bottom if it has a vigorous root mass . During the season use some guide wires to hold the branches out at an angle just in case you want to use them in the design , its easier to do when young and flexable .

Best of luck .

Cheers . Alpine

[bonborn]

Update time. I did pluck out some branches and wire some down very loosely.

Before