Sean’s Trident Projects

[SeanS]

Can you talk more about your bonsai work stand there. In particular the ball/socket mount please.

@lunchbox27 completely forgot about your question.
That little stand is a DIY copy of the Green-T mini.
I bought a small ball-joint table vice and removed the vice part. I had a metal plate welded to a short section of tube at a machine shop. Inside the tube is a long Allen nut with some washers and ball bearings around it that fit snuggly inside the tube. Finally I bolted a wooden square to the top of the metal plate and glued a piece of cork sheeting to the top

 

[lunchbox27]

That’s great. I thought it looked familiar.

 

[SeanS]

Work the roots of my 2nd largest trident. I started this from nursery stock last September. I saw off the bottom of the original root ball at the wrong angle and ended up leaving the one side of the trunk completely bare of roots, WHOOPS! It had 1 tiny little shoot at the top of the trunk. Over the 2020/2021 growing season it extended well over 6’, along with another shoot that emerged right at the base of the trunk on the backside. I’m letting that back shoot thicken the lower part of the trunk.

September 2020, my large trident cutting

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Today. Cut off the lower shoot at the base of the leader


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Scored the edge of the chop wound and resealed

View attachment 393251

After washing out the roots

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Roots cut back. Any large roots were cut back short and anything under the trunk removed. There weren’t many wayward roots as I had planted it above an upturned terracotta saucer

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Back in my raised grown bed

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2020 -> 2021

 

[SeanS]

Here are some of my seedlings projects. All started from seed by myself last season or collected last year as 1-2 year olds from a local garden (with permission).

Future exposed root


This one I call "old man reaching for apple"




This one's first section of trunk is too long and I want it to have exposed roots for the first half of trunk, so I've positioned a washer for future layering. I tried to recreate a tree created by Boon. Needs a bit more wire to pull in the design.



Boon's tree




Another exposed root cascade




2 small RORs

 

[SeanS]

Some more

This one is turning out pretty interesting. There's a full coil of trunk on a horizontal plane in that raised section of soil. The coil was under the soil last season as well and has ground layered itself with some funky "legs" looking roots. I'll let them thicken some more and then start exposing them.





The based of this one had some deep wire bite right at the roots last season and the resulting calous has formed a really bulbous nebari





Not sure what this one is yet



Another small ROR. This one is planned to be holding the rock encased within its trunk completely out of the soil when it's eventually exposed.



One of the first seedlings I put some twists and turns into. The top twist is a bit too tight and might eventually close up on itself. I don't like that lower branch that I wired initially at all so I'm going to use it as a sacrifice instead and then cut it off once it's done its job thickening the trunk.

 

[Shibui]

Some really great projects under way there. Even with some attrition due to the trees growing how they want there should still be some great tridents in Jo'burg in a few years.

 

[SeanS]

Some really great projects under way there. Even with some attrition due to the trees growing how they want there should still be some great tridents in Jo'burg in a few years.

Thanks @Shibui, really appreciate hearing great feedback from you. Your trees are some that I get inspiration from! My goal is to have some of the best locally grown maples in SA

 

[SeanS]

Anyone needing proof of the effectiveness of planting seedlings through washers, STRAP IN!

I planted 3 collected seedlings through a washer last October. Today I checked on their progress and did an initial styling of the trunks.

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Once out of the pot and halfway through combing out the roots I second guessed myself as to whether I had actually planted these guys through a washer. I just couldn’t find it

THERE IT IS!

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After a trim of the roots that had grown above the washer. The original roots are in my hand, the roots visible are the new, perfectly radial roots. There was 1 heavy root off of the main trunk that had dived deep off the side of the washer that I removed completely. The trunks have completely fused. I repotted with the original roots still intact to aid growth of the trunks. I’ll remove them at the next repot in 2 yesrs

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Here’s the inspiration for this tree, I love its natural look. I’ll let the trunks gain the necessary thickness and then give them an initial cut back to start building taper. Intended to be shohin size or slightly taller.

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@badatusernames @rockm @Maiden69

 

[badatusernames]

Looks like you have some good stuff cooking!

 

[Dartfrog]

Awesome projects! How long do you think you'll leave sacrificial branches/trunks in this one? I have one of similar thickness but I'm debating myself on whether cut and grow a new one, or wait some more.

Some more

This one is turning out pretty interesting. There's a full coil of trunk on a horizontal plane in that raised section of soil. The coil was under the soil last season as well and has ground layered itself with some funky "legs" looking roots. I'll let them thicken some more and then start exposing them.

View attachment 393370

 

[SeanS]

This is my largest trident that I chopped in January (mid summer here) after bringing it home from the nursery. Unfortunately nothing happened, no buds popped and it sat sulking since then. I finally got it out of the nursery bag and had a look at the roots this weekend. I sawed the base as flat as I could manage and screwed it to a board. The trunk is still green under the bark, so I approach grafted 3 seedlings to it in hope that they’ll take and the trunk will live. Live and learn…View attachment 391789View attachment 391791
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Update on this stump. The seedlings are growing well and there’s loads of callous forming. The grafts have pushed the putty and grafting pins away, and 2 of the seedlings are 1mm thicker above the grafts than below (I measured with a vernier ).
Hoping there’s some activity below the soil, there’s still zero activity from the stump besides the callous formation on the grafts.

 

[SeanS]

A few more seedlings I collected from under a local tree

 

[SeanS]

Future trident clump I started earlier this season with 15 seedlings threaded through a washer. The little seedlings are growing quickly and have started to fill up the hole in the washer. I’m confident by the end of the season they should start fusing

 

[JeffS73]

Hey Sean,

I really appreciate what you're doing in this thread, great to see your ideas and how things like the washer method play out. You've given me lots of ideas for my first tray of tridents:



I was a bit unsure but feel confident I can get to it now. So I guess I'll be busy in Spring!

Regards, Jeff.

 

[SeanS]

Hey Sean,

I really appreciate what you're doing in this thread, great to see your ideas and how things like the washer method play out. You've given me lots of ideas for my first tray of tridents:

View attachment 405008

I was a bit unsure but feel confident I can get to it now. So I guess I'll be busy in Spring!

Regards, Jeff.

Thanks @JeffS73. I’ve only been growing trees for a little over 2 years, but I love trying different techniques and have enough material to try a number of different approaches. I’m only happy to share my progress (and misfortunes).

Have you seen my Japanese maples thread?

 

[SeanS]

Update on this stump. The seedlings are growing well and there’s loads of callous forming. The grafts have pushed the putty and grafting pins away, and 2 of the seedlings are 1mm thicker above the grafts than below (I measured with a vernier ).
Hoping there’s some activity below the soil, there’s still zero activity from the stump besides the callous formation on the grafts.

View attachment 403625View attachment 403626View attachment 403627View attachment 403628

A few more weeks have passed and I think it’s safe to say my grafts are looking good. 2 of the 3 seedling grafts look like this, while the 3rd is still the same thickness above and below the graft although there is as much callous around the graft site as the other 2.
These were my first grafts ever in an attempt to save the trident stump which has failed to bud out since being chopped in January
Im clearly aiming for function over form

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Hi,
Great effort re the grafts. I have forgotten from other threads, so can you tell me where you bought the grafting nails?
Charles

 

[SeanS]

Starting a thread to document some of my trident projects. Over the last 12 months I’ve managed to amass around 60 tridents ranging from 1 year old seedlings grown from seed myself to a really chunky stump that I chopped down from a 3m tall nursery tree. I’ll document them all here.

I currently live in a small townhouse (condo) with a really small garden. We have 2 pet bunnies so everything has to be off the ground or caged off. I have a few raised benches and some raised “herb planters” that serve as my grow beds. This past weekend I set up an additional fenced in grow bed for the biggest stump and my ROR project.

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This week I started my first ROR projects, but in the muddy rush I forgot to take photos! Here’s the biggest rock set up prior to planting. I drilled a hole through the base to allow for future mounting into a pot. The roots of the seedling I selected were perfect and followed the virt almost perfectly, maybe even better

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Today I started a few more. The roots on the bigger one fitted like a glove! It was like the seedling knew it was intended for this rock while it was growing! I’m using the @Shibui tinfoil method

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2 smaller shohin compositions

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It's been a while, time for a mid-season update!

We moved into a new townhouse in December so I spent part of my December leave setting up my new benches. I'll post some more photos in the "Show us your benches" thread, but for now here's a view of all my tridents from our main bathroom window



First up, some of my ROR projects. They're all growing well and the trunks and visible roots have thickened substantially. I've made a few minor adjustments to some of the trunk angles and pressed some of the visible roots that had shifted against the rocks using wooden skewers and loose rocks. As @Shibui always mentions, next spring really is going to be like Christmas! I can barely remember what some of the rocks and the seedling root arrangements look like so it really is going to be exciting to unwrap them.

 

[SeanS]

This is my largest trident that I chopped in January (mid summer here) after bringing it home from the nursery. Unfortunately nothing happened, no buds popped and it sat sulking since then. I finally got it out of the nursery bag and had a look at the roots this weekend. I sawed the base as flat as I could manage and screwed it to a board. The trunk is still green under the bark, so I approach grafted 3 seedlings to it in hope that they’ll take and the trunk will live. Live and learn…View attachment 391789View attachment 391791
View attachment 391790

Update on "Operation Save-a-Trident". The seedling grafts look good and I've made an additional graft with 2 new shoots. Can I just go ahead and cut the roots of the seedlings off or should I slowly wean the seedlings off their roots by witling the seedling trunks below the grafts away?

 

[SeanS]

Anyone needing proof of the effectiveness of planting seedlings through washers, STRAP IN!

I planted 3 collected seedlings through a washer last October. Today I checked on their progress and did an initial styling of the trunks.

View attachment 392340
View attachment 392341
View attachment 392342

Once out of the pot and halfway through combing out the roots I second guessed myself as to whether I had actually planted these guys through a washer. I just couldn’t find it

THERE IT IS!

View attachment 392343

After a trim of the roots that had grown above the washer. The original roots are in my hand, the roots visible are the new, perfectly radial roots. There was 1 heavy root off of the main trunk that had dived deep off the side of the washer that I removed completely. The trunks have completely fused. I repotted with the original roots still intact to aid growth of the trunks. I’ll remove them at the next repot in 2 yesrs

View attachment 392344
View attachment 392346

Here’s the inspiration for this tree, I love its natural look. I’ll let the trunks gain the necessary thickness and then give them an initial cut back to start building taper. Intended to be shohin size or slightly taller.

View attachment 392349
View attachment 392350

Thickening nicely. The right trunk got a way from me a bit, I chopped it back last weekend. The other 2 trunks need to thicken more. The left trunk will be the tallest and needs to be about double the thickness.

Work the roots of my 2nd largest trident. I started this from nursery stock last September. I saw off the bottom of the original root ball at the wrong angle and ended up leaving the one side of the trunk completely bare of roots, WHOOPS! It had 1 tiny little shoot at the top of the trunk. Over the 2020/2021 growing season it extended well over 6’, along with another shoot that emerged right at the base of the trunk on the backside. I’m letting that back shoot thicken the lower part of the trunk.

September 2020, my large trident cutting

View attachment 393247
View attachment 393248

Today. Cut off the lower shoot at the base of the leader


View attachment 393249
View attachment 393250

Scored the edge of the chop wound and resealed

View attachment 393251

After washing out the roots

View attachment 393252

Roots cut back. Any large roots were cut back short and anything under the trunk removed. There weren’t many wayward roots as I had planted it above an upturned terracotta saucer

View attachment 393253
View attachment 393254

Back in my raised grown bed

View attachment 393255

I cut this one back mid December and it's exploded with new shoots. I may air layer the top off and use the base for a sumo style tree. I also took many cuttings from the leaders that I cut off, some as thick as my pinkie. I made the cuttings with nodes literally right at the bottom of the cuttings to eventually have some seedlings with nodes right on top of the roots. They've started to root 26 days later.