Sean’s Trident Projects

[birchman]

Cool stump and I reckon you've cut it at just the right spot.

 

[SeanS]

Another trident cut down and replanted into my grow bed. This one is about 3 years old, started as a 1 year old seedling threaded through a washer originally.




It’s all up to you little BUDdy!

 

[SeanS]

Exactly 366 days in the grow bed. Not bad

 

[Pitoon]

Exactly 366 days in the grow bed. Not bad

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Impressive root growth there! I still have to check mine here. I don't want mine to get to large.

 

[rockm]

I dunno man...those two lower roots are odd-looking...I'd keep the descending middle root and chop those big ones back to refine them a bit more. They're distracting and make the rock look like an armchair...

 

[SeanS]

Spring work has been keeping me busy so I haven’t been keeping up with documenting my trees.

Here are 2 young tridents (approximately 3 years old) that I collected from a local garden 2 seasons ago. They grew really well last season and this season I’ve started cutting them back (along with the others which I’ll try post this weekend) and working on some branching.
They’re starting to resemble future bonsai.




Last spring






Spring 2021. The long whip was used to graft the current lower left branch.

 

[Maiden69]

Sooooo, I had no plans on buying anymore tridents, since I am already running out of real state according to the wife, but after you pointed this thread to me a few months ago I decide to go ahead and do my own trident projects. I just ordered 10 bareroot seedlings and plan on starting them indoors... since I already built a set up for my tropicals. Time to go through my nuts and bolts boxes to pull suitable washers...

Thanks, will build a thread as soon as I get going.

 

[SeanS]

I recently cut back the leader on one of my baked potatoes. This is the 2nd season this ROR trident has been in one of my growing beds and it’s put on a ton of growth this season over the last 4 months. I also cut back the shoots that will be the future branches for the 2nd time this season.
I did this work on 27 December (2022) and it’s started bidding out from all of the remaining buds.



August 2022



August 2021

 

[leatherback]

I recently cut back the leader on one of my baked potatoes. This is the 2nd season this ROR trident has been in one of my growing beds and it’s put on a ton of growth this season over the last 4 months. I also cut back the shoots that will be the future branches for the 2nd time this season.
I did this work on 27 December (2022) and it’s started bidding out from all of the remaining buds.

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August 2022

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August 2021

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ah, that familiar pan of climate sone envy if you realize some get twice the growth in a year of what is realistic in your own garden.

 

[SeanS]

ah, that familiar pan of climate sone envy if you realize some get twice the growth in a year of what is realistic in your own garden.

Well you can have growth or you can have 24/7 electricity

In South Africa we aren’t allowed to have both…
Everyday we have scheduled rolling blackouts for 2-4 hours, multiple times per day.

South African energy crisis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But hey, we sure can grow tridents!

 

[leatherback]

Well you can have growth or you can have 24/7 electricity

In South Africa we aren’t allowed to have both…

Ohw right. There is THAT!

 

[Stella]

Well you can have growth or you can have 24/7 electricity

As a fellow South African I can only laugh at this.
Yes a very long growing season is such a treat indeed

 

[leatherback]

As a fellow South African I can only laugh at this.
Yes a very long growing season is such a treat indeed

going to abuse the fact there is 2 sa here..
if you ever can get me some fresh mopane seeds... please!

 

[SeanS]

going to abuse the fact there is 2 sa here..
if you ever can get me some fresh mopane seeds... please!

Best I can do is a fresh batch of mopane worms

 

[leatherback]

Best I can do is a fresh batch of mopane worms

Thx, but they are not my preferred snack

I grew a few hundred Mopane here for my thesis, decades ago. BUt never kept one. Would love to try them for bonsai!

 

[Stella]

going to abuse the fact there is 2 sa here..
if you ever can get me some fresh mopane seeds... please!

Will look out for you. Shouldn't be to hard. Neither of us are in the Monape growing region. But getting some Shouldn't be to difficult. Getting it to you will be the bigger issue

 

[birchman]

Sorry about the cricket and the blackouts...

Re the trident I like how you sat the trunk base in a recess in the rock. I see quite a lot started out on the precipice of a rock where a seed couldn't have possibly gotten started...

 

[Scrogdor]

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

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The dream! I can't wait to have a backyard instead of a roofless balcony. I've traded out most of my little sticks for bonsai that don't need substantial growth because I simply don't have the room.

 

[SeanS]

The dream! I can't wait to have a backyard instead of a roofless balcony. I've traded out most of my little sticks for bonsai that don't need substantial growth because I simply don't have the room.

@Scrogdor I’ve done some upgrades since the

 

[SeanS]

Update on my previous ROR post. I’ve been battling a really bad fungal issue on ALL of my tridents and JMs, a round of defoliation of any infected leaves and 3 weeks of Propocanizole treatment seems to have done the trick.

This little trident is on its way again although I’ve lost about 4 weeks of strong summer growth this season. At least it’s looking healthy again!



And a bonus update of this future fused base forest. An 11th trunk will be added next spring when I put it into a pot.



August 2021



July 2022