Trident Maple, #2322
Seven more curvy tridents from Left Coast Bonsai. $8/ea. Received stock with 18” long runners, many branches. Encouraged to prune back the apex to increase trunk girth—and it will grow new apex. Allowed a few lower trunk branches to grow in diameter, if later desired as branches, but also contributing to taper as possible sacrifice branches. Leaves are already small and compact.
All slip-potted into 6” pots (lava/ pumice/ Akadama/ bark-soil)—June 2023.
Healthy shoots and elongation on young Tridents, allowed to grow out with full sun until late August. Pruned side branches to first or second leaf pair and allowed the apical branch to add to the trunk. Lower branches may not be bulked up, so some ramification may be nice. Propagation by cuttings.
There is no substitute to growing in the open ground in order to get a thick trunk. If you plant a cutting in open ground, you will get thickening in a very short space of time. There is just one drawback to open ground cultivation and that is the development of the tap root. If the tree is left unchecked, the tap root goes straight into the ground and very little surface root will develop. To overcome this, you can either lift the tree out once every three or four year and cut the tap root back, or grow the tree over a paving slab or flat stone to prevent the tap root from going right down into the soil.
Lifting the tree out of the ground every three or four years will also give you the chance to cut the thick roots back so as to encourage fine feeder toots to develop. Grow the tree in good rich soil as this will considerably speed the growth rate.