AusBonsai

Not much happens in winter down here so this year after reading a post on Shibui bonsai site I decided to have a go at fusing some trident whips. Neil was good enough to put together a small order of one year old whips for me and they turned up in Late July.
I set about plaiting them up(needed some help with the better half) in bundles of 5.

I used grafting tape to bind them, wired some shape into them and waited. As expected they took of in spring and have grown strongly though spring. After having a close look today I was surprise to see they appeared to have fused, so decided to remove the tape.
I was surprised by the result I hadn't expected it so quickly.

Good growth. Mine have started to fuse but have not got as far as yours yet.

Is the result any better than a single seedling?
I will add some photos f the few I did last winter and we will see whether this technique is worth the effort.

That's faster than I would have thought. Interested to see how these progress.

Brett

shibui wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2020, 5:42 pm Is the result any better than a single seedling?

Good question, I have no experience with any maples, this was a whim after I saw a post of yours. Looked interesting, I also put some together to form clump style. I did put a couple of older whips in the ground, they do not seem to be growing as well as those in pots. I would hope that having a group of 5 individual trunks may give a more advanced trunk girth inn a shorter time than a single seedling. Whether the resultant trunk would be aesthetically superior I do not know, it may add some character.

Brekel wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2020, 5:56 pm That's faster than I would have thought. Interested to see how these progress.

Brett, It certainly surprised me I was thinking at least until the end of summer. If I had left the tape on that long I'm sure the trunks above the tape would have formed a bulge. Probably wouldn't have been a real problem as a trunk reduction is probably on the cards at some point.
As a novice I like to try as many techniques as possible, they say you learn more from your failures than from your successes. If that's true I've learned a hell of a lot in the last year or two.

Pretty cool to see PWC - thanks for posting.


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I did put a couple of older whips in the ground, they do not seem to be growing as well as those in pots.

They are just trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Later in summer, after you take your eyes off them they will take off and really grow - at least that's what happens here.

I was surprised that earlier trials with fused tridents did not yield thicker trunks quicker. I guess that if 5 trunks are sharing the available resources they can't grow bigger than a single trunk using the same resources?
Hopefully we can keep an eye on these and get some sense of how valid that is.

shibui wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2020, 8:56 pm I was surprised that earlier trials with fused tridents did not yield thicker trunks quicker. I guess that if 5 trunks are sharing the available resources they can't grow bigger than a single trunk using the same resources?

I wonder how much energy is involved in the fusing process itself - do the plants just grow and fuse or is this a more active process that takes additional resources?

PWC wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2020, 6:44 pm I would hope that having a group of 5 individual trunks may give a more advanced trunk girth inn a shorter time than a single seedling.

After the first year of growth and subsequent root work I expect that the growth rate would be the same a a single tree.

Nine months later, 2 moves ( 2200 kms in total) and they are all still alive not without issues though. This one has had a break of on of the trunks that may be a possible problem long term. I had planed to use it as a major branch along with the remaining trunk on the same side, if it doesn't get a shoot at the break I fear that trunk could die back all the way to the roots. Over time it would be enveloped by the other trunks I hope.

Still a cool technique nether the less.. nice work. thanks for sharing!

Of the other two I have attempted one has fused well but on of the whips has yet to leaf out, I am hoping that it just a late starter. I di however put a bit of wire on this one to introduce a bit of movement as this one was to be a branch. When I twisted them together I took one out progressively as I went up on the outside curve, The idea was it would also give the appearance of taper as the further up you go the fewer trunks.

The other one the whips were larger so I put four together these have not fused as well but as you would expect, being less flexible I couldn't get the same close contact as the smaller ones. We will see how they develop over time, I may have to bind them again.

In the short term I am happy with the result, I have a couple of single trunk whips from the same batch that I will be growing on in pots to see how they compare.