small trident forest -styling help

[10-brink]

hi, looking for some advice for my trident maple forest. I'd like to keep it this general size and develop better branching. what should I trim? should i re-arrange the trees? four are in a line with one sitting behind.

currrent front:
back:


here it is in leaf

 

[fviljoen963]

I would take that red one out and ground grow it for single tree material.... thats some good genetics right there

As I understand you can order bareroot saplings by the 100 in the states, do that with trident and put together a nice forest out of trees of differing thicknesses in spring. In a larger growing container.

Avoid planting trees in lines, behind eachother or equal distances from eachother. Choose trees with similar movement or lack thereof.

If you want you can put the container on the ground once you've made your forest and let them run into the ground for a few years, thickening up key trunks in the forest. Control which stay thinner by pruning those.

 

[Eric Group]

Great advice from Joen..

Just a few "general pointers" around your questions:
"What should i trim"- as Joen pointed out, trimming the stuff you want to stay small is important. If you want thicker trunks, you have to let them grow... if branching is your goal, prune as many times as you can in a growing season- prune, let it grow out, prune back to one none beyond the original cut, let it grow, rinse repeat...

"Should I rearrange"- YES. Again, good points from Joen, a few more- smaller trees in the back and on the edges generally for perspective. Do not make them all exactly the same height- usually your larger trees will be bigger (shocking stuff right?). Some people tend to make the smaller ones on the endives flair outward a bit more, and that to me is a cool look, but this is your forest! The suggestion to add more trees is a good one potentially but completely optional. When rearranging, I assume you will eventually move a shallow wider pot?

 

[Random User]

Am I right to "assume" that Tridents are like many maples in that the denser they are (packed together), the more competitive they will be for the sun?... the more competitive they are, the stringier they are apt to get... long straight stems with long internodes... it doesn't appear that you're going to have trouble to get them to successfully back-bud...

FWIT, I'd grow them out separately, then do more of a "park-like" planting (more space between the trees in a much larger pot) when they are well formed... maybe put a wandering sidewalk through them when your done. In that manner you would be able to separate the roots of at least "some" of the trees from one another in case you lost one, or wanted to replace one; but thats just me.

 

[sorce]

Nice!

I would put them in a larger grow container, and add some cutting from the red one.

Sorce

 

[10-brink]

@fviljoen963 what makes you say that one is better than the rest? The original forest is from kens world of bonsai, but the red one is from matt O, I have 3 other tridents from him. those are in nursery pots as are most of my trees, which is kinda why I want to keep these in a bonsai pot.

thanks for the responses, gives me some ideas to think about.

 

[Bolero]

OK...as someone else said pull the tall red one out of the group, it doesn't work...transplant the other four into a different pot, the glazed Blue Ceramic doesn't work...try an Earthy colored pot with shallower style 2 1/2" or 3" and finally when transplanting add a few smaller Tridents on either side of original four, put that tallest one in the middle of the group...otherwise a nice looking group...

 

[fviljoen963]

The different autumn colouring.. it could be something in this years' autumn or it could be genetic but the beautiful red thats coming out in that particular seedling is something that should be noticed. Just like screening seedlings for small leaf size or shorter than average internodes etc autumn colouring can be in some instances due to genetic predisposition.

Which this seems to be because all the others are yellow, they all experienced the same conditions.
Out of about 40 trees I had one this year which was neon pinkish orange
I seperatd it and if it stays that way this coming Autumn it will be going straight to the ground. for growing out and layers

 

[miker]

I agree with fviljoen963 about fall color. I would grow out that red one and eventually train it as an individual. Then again, a few more trees with the red coloration, planted throughout your forest could make for a spectacular display.

My trident was a nice orange (seen in my profile picture) last fall near Memphis, TN before I aqcuired it. This fall, in PA, the color has been red and I have high hopes that northern fall weather will consistently produce mostly red coloration each year, rather than just yellow.

I have noticed that the native, wild sugar maples in this area essentially all turn yellow(a nice vibrant yellow). A few weeks ago, I actually went and bought a couple small sugar maples that showed the top notch color this species is capable of producing.