One For Smoke, Trident Chop

[Mellow Mullet]

After reading the wealth of information on Al's blog, I decided to give it a try on a trident that I had on the bench that I didn't think had much promise as it was. I chopped it in the spring of 2013 (I think, don't have my notes in front of me) and let it grow freely to close the scar. I hope to post a progression series later. My question is, should I chop it again or give it another season to close the scar? My concern is that I might lose the extreme taper that I am looking for. What do you think? Al?

Thanks,

John

 

[Smoke]

The pipe on top of the scar is nowhere near large enough for a smooth transition yet. I would wait one more year to thicken the transition as well as help healing the scar.

There is a lot on the net about how to heal scars. This one has very large tissue around the roll. It should not be this large. Eventualy this will need to be corrected and that can only be done thru recutting the tissue away and starting over. The cambium should be a smooth green ring around the scar and the scar should be sanded smooth. Even the smallest burr on the wood can stall the callus and cause it to become a huge wave like you see here. It should be sealed well as you have done. make sure to seal well onto the bark around the scar.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

OK, if I understand you correctly, recut the tissue back to the edge, smooth out the wood it will be covering, let it cover again, no chop? Wait til Spring? Probably a dumb question, but some trees, like my bald cypress will make some callous during the winter, especially if we have a mild one.

Thanks,
John

 

[Cadillactaste]

Interesting...I was like...thinking it could be a cool character feature...but, basically cleaned and start over. The sanding surprised me actually... To give the scar a smoother less in your face feel. I had seen a pink crabapple in at TSC a few weeks back. Could the same be done on any tree then? (Sorry for hijacking)

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The exposed wood is sanded to ensure the callus covers the cut smoothly. If it's cracked and rough, the callus gets "hung up" on the wood and swells too much.

To keep the callus moving, it's helpful to open up the leading edge to expose the cambium every few months. To keep ensure the scar tissue is smooth, you sand/smooth out the back side of the callus as well.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Well, it looks like it is back to the drawing board on this one. Is it OK to work on the wound now, or just wait until spring? Just asking, not in a hurry, just have some time to kill while recovering from surgery,

John

 

[Smoke]

At this point... it may be better to just grow out the leader to a larger size and allow the wound to soften on its own. Re cutting the wound and taking it back to hard wood is kind of defeating the purpose of where you are right now. Allowing it to grow will allow the wound to stretch and take away some of the gaping maw look it has. If you are going to try and exhibit this tree in Kokufu, I would say to take it back and start over.

If you enjoy bonsai as a pastime and are not into the whole exhibiting in a convention or something I might just wait as much as two years and then proceed with cutting back the leader and then continue on with building the tree. Either way you are going to be putting in the two years either healing a new wound or watching this one improve. If it were any other tree but a trident I wouldn't even suggest this. I have enough confidence in the tree that with time this will probably go away or be so reduced visualy that it will be looked over.

Patience man...I can't stand it either...

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

Here she is today, the scar has about the size of a quarter to heal and the leader is quite thick and it could use a repot. Do you think it is ready for a chop this season. Is it feasible to chop and repot? Where would you chop it? Sorry for so many questions, but I want it to turn out well.

John

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Here are some more pictures:

 

[Smoke]

You could do the chop now, but, because the bottom section is so short that proportionatly, the tree will only be an inch or two above the original chop. If It were mine, I would not fertilize heavily and use the whips you have above and graft on about three to five branches on the trunk below the original chop. If you don't do that now you will have to pray for one where you want it and then you will either need more tridents to graft from or wait another season to use whips again. Keeping the bottom at bay will not be much of a problem as well as improving the transition and finishing the scar.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Ok, I thought about that, or at least one graft. I thought about grafting one on top of that healing scar as it is the first outside bend. Where would you suggest other grafting? Should I hold off on a repot. I thought about just getting a mixing tub, cutting the root ball in half and sticking it in there.

 

[Smoke]

Repotting tridents is a no brainer. I would graft as many as you think you can do. One graft is a no no. Why waste the time when two only gets you 50% reliability? You can always remove them but adding more means another year.

 

[Smoke]

I never do less than three.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

OK, looks like a repot and grafts are in order. There are a few runners that are long enough to use and maybe it will make more.

Thanks, anything else you might recommend?

John

 

[Smoke]

TIME
of course you already know that

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Oh yeah, father time! The bane of all of our endeavors.

Thanks for the help! I will post pictures when the work is done.

John

 

[Smoke]

Looking forward to it....

 

[Paulpash]

For grafting - thread or approach? I would have thought thread grafting was much higher than 50% for 2?

 

[Vin]

I have a similar issue with mine. I'm going to sand the "chicken breast" down with a right angle die grinder. I also thought about opening the area up and making it a feature. I think I'll sand it down and let it callus over though.

 

[Smoke]

For grafting - thread or approach? I would have thought thread grafting was much higher than 50% for 2?

You have thought about it, or have done it and had better success?