Before I continue, I would like to say that how I'm proceeding at this point is really purely on instinct, as I have zero experience with Tridents and
limited time in bonsai. I have done a number of "advances" techniques: layering, grafting etc. with a lot of success. So, that being said, I
really hope that ya'll will chime in and give me some pointers. I do appreciate the comments, any at all lol, as that is one of the reasons I'm participating.
I also want to say that these next couple of steps were really fun for me!!!
Now, it was time to pull it out and see what I had under the hood. Repot!
Rishi (Rishi Bissoon, some of you may know, is who I bought my tree from... great trees and a super nice guy!) had told me that he worked the roots last year, but it probably would need a look. I could clearly see roots just peaking out of the drain holes.
It was chuck full!
My concern was that the tree was just starting to leaf out and I may have missed my window. Rishi assured me the tree would be fine...
I wanted to put it in one of my grow boxes. It's inside dimensions are 16" x 16" x 5" with a 1/4" screen bottom. I had my Sweetgum in there for two years and it seemed to thrive!
Well, I had to get rid of at least 5" off the bottom...so I got to it. Once I broke up the bottom roots...it did clean up very nicely. It looked pretty good...
to me anyway.
I hosed it off...
So, along with my new tree...Rishi also gave me 5 small leaf trident whips to use as grafts. Although the base does have a really nice flare, it's missing the nice buttressing roots that
I appreciate in these big trees. I realize that this process will take some time for these roots to fully develop into those nice big radiating roots (hopefully), but, for the sake of this contest it had to be done. Besides, the grafts should take (if they take) fairly quickly.
I'm also wondering if, at the same time, once they grow out a bit, I might be able to use them as thread grafts to get nice placement of lower branches. That is, if I don't get much to choose from down low.
This was my first attempt at grafting onto the base of a tree, so it was a little nerve wracking lol. I had 5 whips so...I had to choose wisely on my placement. (Though I can and probably will add a couple more down the road).
I used a dremel with a small rounded bit to make a "groove" in the trunk. Rishi told me that he likes to wire his whips "into shape", which seemed to make sense.
I found on the last two that I could run the wire past the point of contact with the trunk and hook it further up to help hold the bend at the angle I wanted it. It made it easier for sure.
I decided to fashion my own "staples" out of wire and drilled two small holes on either side of the "cut". I then proceeded to scrape off the thin outer layer of bark on the whip at the junction site .
I also used a small wood "shim" to place between the whip and the staple to ensure a snug fit, then covered with cut paste.
They all seemed to fit snugly...I hope they take!
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