paper bark maple triple trunk

I have received three 15 inch tall paper bark maples and I want to blend them together in order to make a triple trunk.
Do I need to peel off the bark where the trees are going to touch ar do I just tape them together with nursery tape,
until they grow together.
My E-mail is: robert.gardner1116@gmail.com
Thanks for any replys,
Bob G.

Hi Robert, The way I see it is that as this species has peeling bark, it might have some difficulty forming a union where the trunks meet. I would be inclined to peel or scrape some of the outer bark where they are to meet. (even down to the cambium). First you need to bare root them and wash them clean before playing around around with positioning. When you are happy with their positions (you may have to prune roots to fit them together well), scrape, bind and seal everything with grafting wax. Plant and hope for the best. They may take 3 years to join.
Good luck!

Mike,
Thanks for the reply. My plan is to let them adjust to there new home, than as you suggested clean the nursery dirt away then work on
their position. I will trim the inner roots away so that they can fit closer together. After finding the right position for them I like your suggestion
about the bark. they are starting to put put on some paper bark now. As for the time I was thinking about two years for the process, I already
tried with two and one died due to my lack of summer knowledge. They started to wrap around each other at that time

Any more people with ideas will be great. I have their grow box ready with the exception of wires to hold them straight up for them to grow,
after a year I can start to wire them for wider trunk shape.

Any more feedback will be wonderful.
Thanks,
Bob G.

Velcro brand makes a double sided velcro tree wrap tape and i have been using that (after a precarious endorsement ) for holding the trunks together on my blended trunk experiments. It works really well and is of course adjustable as the trees grow outwards, while hopefully also growing inwards.

v beer city snake {Kevin)

Thanks for the reply. I have some one sided velcro tape, my plan is going to be wrap the maples with florist tape than use the velcro and finish with a few wraps of
alum. wire just to make things snug. Then I will try to exhibit a large amount of patience for two or three years.
I would like to thank everybody for the great hints and help and will try to sent updates and pictures if I can figure how to load them into this forum

thanks,
Bob