Shohin trident maple

Hi everyone!

This long post is an attempt to recover a post I opened in the old forum and that was lost.

This is about a shohin trident maple that was imported from Koju-en nursery in Kyoto in 2005. When I bought it, I tried to develop the branching structure for 3 years. Since Spring 2008 it is undergoing an improvement programme that will last at least until the end of the current growing season. I'm reporting its progress so far.

Here's the tree in winter 2008 in its Tokoname pot. By that time it was about 14 cm high from the rim of the pot:



In winter 2008 I decided to correct a few problems that some of the users of the old IBC help identify. In the following picture these flaws are identified. There is some reversed taper at the base of the trunk due to calusing of old cuts (red circles), and some branches had to go (red circles also).



Furthermore, the nebari is unbalanced at the left (green circle) and the trunk's girth changes abruptly and rather artificially after the chop (blue circle).

I decided to aproach graft the roots of a cutting on the left of the nebari. I corrected some of the scars and I've let a sacrifice branch grow freely at the top of the tree so that the upper part of the trunk would thicken. The angle of the trunk was also changed in order to remove emphasis from the reversed taper. The branch structure was also cleaned. Here's a photo of the tree after the graft in the colander where it grew last season:



Here's how the tree looked like by the end of summer 2008:



The upper trunk was thickening, thanks to the sacrifice branch:



The graft seemed to be taking:



In March 2009, I chopped the top of the cutting that was grafted and transplanted the maple into a wide and shallow wooden box. Some photos below.

The general view:



The graft:



The progress of the trunk:



The length of the sacrifice branch:



The plan is to let the sacrifice branch grow freely at least until July/August. I'm thinking about leting the right lower branch extend to 4/3 of the current length, develop the apex more to the left and higher than it is now. This would give the tree a certain semi-cascade character that might work.

Recently, Mário Eusébio, a good friend in bonsai, suggested that the tree could look better with a different angle. He was kind enough to make a virtual, which I took the liberty of posting here:



This is also a strong possibility, and I am undecided.

Anyone has comments or further suggestions? I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Pedro

Hi Pedro!

The Half-cascade option might also be a good option, personally I don't like to see trident maples that way, I think they tend more to be in other styles.

The only possible problem that I could imagine in the moyogi virtual is the possibility to put the tree in that position and still having a good nebari stability. I haven't seen the tree live so it's only a quick suggestion, I hope to see the tree next June and then I can give a more accurate opinion.

Anyway, You have there a very good base to work on .

Best regards,

Mário Eusébio

Hi Mário,

Thank you for the reply.

The nebari is almost a perfect circle. It will allow the angle you suggested. You will surely see it next June.

Regards,
Pedro

Thank you for posting the tree's progress.