Trident Maple (from small to medium)

Hello all.

Here I'm again to share another progression, some of you may know this tree from a early topic.
But the point now is how to proceed in order to get a better structure and making it bigger.

I'm aiming for a medium size tree, about 60cm tall in the end.

This is one of the earliest pictures from it... Last spring (about a year ago)


I was having some fungal issues on it, so I decide to up pot, without any rootwork, so it could grow more vigorously.


Here you can see the sympthoms, after some good time spent on research it was "diagnosed" that it was either phoma or anthracnose, I actually managed to control it aplying a good systemic fungicide weekly, indicated for both cases.


Here's how well it responded to the treatment and the up pot... This was summer I think, and by now this pot is actually attached to the ground by it's roots.

This is how it is on winter dormancy...

And here's where it gets confused for me, what should I remove and what should I keep so it doesn't get messy?
That branch that goes up is about 1,20m tall, as I just let it growing wild to thicken...
But like I said, my intention is to make a medium tree, maybe a smooth informal upright, and the tree was previously prunned to be small and bushy, so it seems like it has more branches than it actually needs.
I think it has a good potential, but it looks like some decisions has to be made in order to put it on the right path.
Can you guys help me on that?

I really apreciatte any thoughts you want to share.
Thanks in advance.

Hi,

It looks like there is inverse taper in the trunk right below the lowest branch. Is that correct? I might be tempted to cut back to there..

I note that the old cut low in the trunk is not healing over. I think it might be good to work on that point in spring and cover with paste to allow healing over

a photo of the 4 sides would be nice, the part I circled, if it stays like that, there will be an inversion of taper, know as if your tree had 2 heads!!!!! there is a forche where there is the arrow, deleted one of the 2

leatherback wrote:

I note that the old cut low in the trunk is not healing over. I think it might be good to work on that point in spring and cover with paste to allow healing over

Thanks for the responses LB and Jojo

Indeed, the previous owner left a branch nub there, and I just didn't do anything about it, like general recommendation...

About cutting all the way down, I don't see a reason as I intend to thicken that a lot more than this (I think I didn't mentioned that) but yes, there is that point Jojo circled that I think It must go away so I can get a proper taper over the next years as it thicken, the point is where to left strategic branches so I don't have to graft them after the trunk is ready...

And Also, thanks Jojo, that left branch you pointed is about to go...

The way I imagine, is more or less like that, and I think it is alligned on what you guys are saying, so would it be just those two branches to position and that apex to grow freely?
Like I said, the previous owner (he has a maple nursery) just did some hedge prunning so it can be more appealing to the clients, but I want it a bit bigger...

for you, know the front face of the tree, to make it grow faster, 3 or 4 years in the ground will solve the problem!!!

Thanks again Jojo, the front of the tree will probably be this one on the picture, at least is the most appealing choice at the moment.

I made a lot of smaller drainage holes at the bottom of the pot, and at the moment it is stuck on the ground by it's roots, and it is why it grew so vigorous in last growing season (not even the entire growing season on that big pot which is actually half 18L bucket ).

But I know it will take quite a few year to get there, and I do consider having it directly on the ground at some point.
It still has the old nursery soil on the rootball, I was thinking about repoting this year so I actually see what is going on on the roots, since i haven't seen it yet.

you have to plan a real repotting for next year and remove all the soil

Hello fellas!

Well, it's been about a year and a half since I last updated this topic, so I think it's time for an update.

First off, it grew very high since, like 3 meters tall, and I cultivated the sacrifice branches so I could air layer it.

So on this growing season I didn't make any root intervention because of my propagation intentions...
It was tought, I made 5 air-layers and 2 of them broke due to storms, one didn't root properly, but the other two rooted nicely.

Here's how it looks so far:



The plant still attached to the ground, I removed a thick branch that was coming right in the potential front of it, and the scar is pretty much gone in 4 months as you can see...
Next spring it's time to a full root work and cutting back to a new leader, and then thicken it a little more and star working on the primery branches, so right now I'm just watching it preparing for dormancy...

I think it already reached the diameter I desired in the first place, but now, I'm willing for more... hahahaha

The air-layers are ok, and recovering, and might become a better material then this one.

Wow! Your growing conditions is really great. Getting three or four times more out of a growing season than we do. A normal year ring on a mature tree grown freely is 1-3 mm here. On pruned trees obviously less.

I'm very excited with this project, I really didn't expect that the Trident Maple would develop this fast, it became one of my favorite species right away!

Now the most technical part is about to beggin, placing branches and improve it's nebari.
The two airlayers made me very happy too, because I think I can direct a better material with what I've learned on this tree, that wasn't much yet, but I have high hopes.
:lol: