AusBonsai

Steve B wrote:Some very nice trunks lurking under all that foliage Alpine! Must have been a bit like a kid on Christmas morning - ripping off the wrapping to see what goodies you had underneath.

Hi Steve B, they are all nice trunks just some are better than others . Time will improve all of them and branch placement will continue to be the priority during the growing seasons to come , the fusing process on the limited few that need more time and work will continue with excess growth above and below ground .

It is a bit like crissy exposing the trunks to see the improvement from last year some disappointments but that's life .

Cheers Alpine .

Phoenix238 wrote:Was just wondering myself what you do with all the leaves afterwards

Wish I could have grow beds like these, the results are fantastic. Keep up the great work!

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Hi Phoenix238 , all the trimming from all healthy plants go straight into or onto grow beds . These trident are trimmed and the branches and all are spread around the bases so the sun doesn't cook the soil after all it has been shaded from the heat by the new growth .

You dont need a large area but it does help . The soil hear has taken many years to be just average and still needs plenty of additives to make it productive . It was originally red clay and shale only requiring tonnes of various mulches over a course of 10 years or more . Some are blessed to have good soils in their yards to start with .

Cheers Alpine

I decided to trim the last grow beds as they look a bit congested under the canopies .I have trimmed back to selective side shoots and will now feed these up for their final growth this year , a sacrifice branch or shoot /leader has been left where required . No more trimming until winter when most of these 5- yo plus variants will be potted up for sale as well defined trainers This lot is in their second year and are just single leader whips . I have cut them back to a low side shoot or low vertical leader . I usually don't cut like this , but with another batch of this seasons whips growing i decided to try a different method of growing , basically a 10-12mm chop tops from 50-150mm high trunks again with leaders left untrimmed . The few ring ins in the foreground are sister whips which has issues and should of been destroyed and some fused trunk groups as per a previous topic . All the grow bed stock has now been trimmed , it can grow as ugly as it likes for the rest of the growing season . Time to work on a few potted tree's from now on .

Cheers Alpineart

with Autumn been and gone it time to sort out the grow beds . A couple of new location are required due to the earthworks however there is plenty of options . There is plenty of material here which is about to go up for sale , Trident maples , Japanese Maples , American Hornbeams , Crab Apples and Cherries , numerous varieties and configurations from single trunk to multi groups all are well developed and refined not just trunks with options . A couple of collected trunks taking shape Certainly have my work cut out sorting these buggers out .

Cheers Alpineart

a thing of beauty... Amazing amount of work put in.

Raymond , If you put the foot work in you will end up with a good result ", certainly have both here .

Cheers Alpine

Tried this a few years ago.. unfortunately the experiment failed and ended up with about 50 individual trees next to each other.. take time to ensure they are tightly bound and damp.. use sphagnum moss to help join them and score them regularly to promote healing together in my opinion..
good luck

Hi Grainer , mate I supplied hundreds of whips quite a few years ago to members here who wanted to create fused trunks and groups and requested they do topics to show the progressions . Nobody to my knowledge made a topic , obviously they failed with their attempts ???. The only draw back here are slaters as they like to live in the trunks and these little critters love to eat the bark off and hence die-back occurs making fusing difficult , dead and decaying material wont fuse . I have since discover "Slater Killa" which has controlled the infestations and alleviated the loss of individual trunks .

If they are secured and maintained no other actions are necessary , spagnum moss in and around the trunks stimulates roots growth , scoring attracts critters and fungus and in my opinion doesn't aid in fusing . Some trunks just don't fuse while the wire , cord or restraints just cut in and the bark rolls over . There's no perfect way except persistence , Winners never quit and Quitters never win .

Cheers Alpineart

Been missing in action for some time with family and work related issues , now its time to rip into the neglected stock which has been left to do what plants do ..These Tridents are the collected trunks from years ago , branch placement has taken place over the last few seasons now its time to begin major ramification and refinement which has also began in the ground . The narebri have also been developed while in the grow beds , some bases prior to trimming and potting . These will grace the pots from here on and begin as a part of the potted collection here . Every faults a feature and these have plenty , they also have individual and unique attributes considering they were all severely chop topped and flat cut on collection .All the Trident grow beds are now re-planted out and its time to move onto a few other jobs around here .

Cheers Alpineart

These few have had several trims over this season and developing wellthe grow bed stock is very healthy considering I still haven't fertilized anything this year My sales material is growing healthy also considering it too hasn't seen ferts since last Spring .

Cheers Alpineart

it all looks very healthy Alpine and a lot of work.

Nice collection of stock there Alp and looks like plenty more in the beds too

Ken

Hi Mathew , everything here is very healthy and yes there is plenty of work to do but I'm struggling to find the time lately . Watering has been via hired help as I haven't been home regularly and don't trust timers after a burst high pressure pvc main line .

Hi kc , this stock is well refined both branching and roots have been developed over the course of 5-7 years , trimming the foliage regularly over the season when possible . Blessed I didn't fertilize or the would be overgrown weeds

Hi Raymond

Cheers guys . Alpine

This one got some special treatment yesterday , while I was in the swing of things With some spare time I will wire the straight branch or cut it back and grow some movement . The base is 145mm at ground level , definitely more under the surface , More than happy with the progress considering this is it's first year in a training pot from the grow beds .

Cheers Alpineart