AusBonsai

shibui wrote: Do you have any tips on your method please Ken? - how much root pruning, branch reduction, follow up watering, etc

Noithing special really,
I select the branches to keep / work on as they grow and trim and wire them while in the ground. this keep the shoots in close on them
I let a few shoots in different places go and become sacrifices to thicken, but never more than 1 on a section of branch / trunk to avoid reverse taper issues.

Roots, Keep any small ones growing out from the base and remove / cut back all large ones or those that go down, They are planted on fibre board offcuts to stop downward roots too.

Watering, they are in my garden that gets water every day from sprinklers that water my Bonsai on posts

Note the same above applies to the maples I have in the ground too
Ken

Thanks Ken. Daily watering is probably the key. After mine are replanted they get rainfall and occasional water from the driplines. I'll need to get into the habit of more regular watering for the first half of summer until roots get going again.

I've been toiling away as and when time and weather allows.
Chinese quinces are out and pruned. You can see that these have a very strong vertical root structure. Chinese elms have also been dug and pruned.

That just left a few olives. These were put in temporarily - about 5 years ago and have been getting steadily larger each year.
Leaving them so long turns out to be a mistake If we were on a dig collecting wild trees I'm sure I would not even look twice at these but they are in the way here so they need to go. It took nearly an hour of steady digging and hacking to get these out. Had to resort to the axe to cut through the thicker roots. Now that I've invested more work I think I might be able to do something with these 2 This one is even bigger. Just a mass of strong trunks and I can't really see any future for it as bonsai so I've consigned it to the reject pile.

Hi Neil,

I have a similar sized trident that was field grown but doesn't have good taper or nebari (purchased already potted in garden pot) Any tips on what I should do? I was thinking it might be worthwhile putting it back in the ground for longer. A photo would help I know, but I'm at work...

Thanks,

Dan

Not sure what to advise till we see it.
In many cases I'm convinced that it is easier and quicker to start again with a small seedling than to spend time trying to modify a poor trunk.

If you want to try:
1. cut the trunk where you want the first bend or branch.
2 layer an entire new root system where the roots should be at the angle the roots should be.
Plant it in the ground if you can keep the moisture up to it to allow the new roots and shoots to develop. Otherwise in a pot where you can maintain moisture until both new roots and shoots have started then into the ground to allow it to grow to heal the cuts.

Tridents love to grow surface roots so it might be possible to get new roots just by planting the trunk deeper so existing poor roots are well buried. In 2 years under good conditions I'd expect a complete, horizontal new root system just below the surface. Inducing new roots by layering is usually more precise but deep planting often works just as well.

I achieve both taper and trunk movement (bends) by allowing several trunks to grow (they should grow after hard pruning) for a year then prune off all but leave the best shape/sized trunk. Shorten the remaining trunk to force more new trunks to grow and repeat. With multiple trunks you have smaller wounds after pruning so the will heal over quicker. There is also more options to prune to leave a better trunk line. Pruning a single trunk will leave a larger scar that takes several years to heal.

Vertical trunks will have horizontal roots and so it is difficult to tilt the tree to achieve a good initial trunk angle. That's Ok for broom style but for informal upright trees always plant seedlings or layer for new roots at an angle so the roots form in a horizontal layer for the tilted trunk. (hope that makes sense for any newbies )