Bonsaify | Trident Maple Summer Maintenance: Deciduous Bonsai Shohin Development

[@raymondbouchard5375]

Well Eric ; first of all, thank you for showing the fertilizer ( I need to a better job feeding my trees ) Sharing your reasoning for branch development is GREATLY appreciated!!!

[@dermo1981]

Thanks Eric 👍

[@raymondbirds2392]

Lovely job

[@WanderingBobAK]

"This Trident Maple that I've prolly been growing for 15 years ... chuckle. Explain the chuckle? And this is all I have to show for it! Haha! Some good info in a compact vid. Love to see updates on it's journey!

[@Bonsaify]

Yeah, basically I've not been happy with the progress on the ramification. After 15 years, the last 10 or so on branching, I would expect better of myself.

[@blueridgebonsai9155]

You got some scorched leaves, yet it is not that hot there-how come? Overwatering or under watering?

[@Benw3790]

Great question!

[@Bonsaify]

We had some hot weather, so it is most likely under watering. But, that is a symptom of vascular stress - e.g. lack of efficient transport of water to the leaves. The same symptom can be caused by excess salts in water, vascular fungal infections and probably 10 other things. I've been using low-dose daily mineral fertilizer much of the year so that could also cause this. I really need to rely on organics more for maples and other salt-sensitive species.

[@blueridgebonsai9155]

@@BonsaifyYes, we’ve been in the mid-to-upper 80s very day this past week and I sometimes have to water twice a day. My trident has been putting out a new growth flush and if I don’t get it watered by about 10:00 am the new leaves will wilt. My JB pines on the other hand are loving it!

[@svetlingospodinov1851]

Thank you, Eric! I've learned a lot from you! Do you think it's too late to air layer my trident maple now? I'm from Bulgaria :)

[@backbudbonsai]

How many times do u defoliate it? I’ve heard/read that a healthy trident can be defoliated 3x in a single growing season. I usually do just one maybe two times. Great video! Thanks for sharing

[@robertteti6752]

I noticed you said If you were in a hotter climate, what would you say? Is the hottest hardiness zone You could grow in with this tree and what grow zone are you in?

[@Bonsaify]

Well, I'm in the SF bay area - so zone 10a or 10b depending. But Galveston Texas is also Zone 10 so it's not all the same thing. Tridents grow magnificently in hot weather as long as you use shade cloth and water adequately. I'd say 85-100F is probably super productive for them. (but with 40-50% shade cloth). Peter Tea grows them magnificently in Auburn, CA. As for hotter - like in the southwest where it's dry - I think that will be more challenging.

[@Justin-PLLD]

I live in zone 6B and I have trouble growing trident maples. First off, there are not many trident maples sold around me. So I assume they don't do well here, edge of their zone. I think winters are too wet. Then I bought a gold leaf variety 2 years ago at a specialty nursery in a 1 gallon pot. I planted it in the ground and took special care of the roots but it died over the winter. I'm a horticulturist, but it seems some plants are just temperamental. Other trees tend to grow too fast for my liking. I can grow zone 10 plants like no problem. I keep those indoors over the winter. But plants that are from zone 7 maybe 8 they are just too close to my zone and don't like the warmth of indoors over the winter. What are your thoughts?

[@stevetippin]

I have never noticed your grip style on your sheers before. You don't use your index finger to open or close the handle loops. I hope that I am not putting you on the spot but why is that? Is it for comfort or agility, or is it due to a finger injury? I only ask because I am always looking to improve my pruning and reduce any repetitive stress on my hands while working.

[@Bonsaify]

Had to think about this for a while. And I even mentioned it to Jonas, sparking a conversation about how the shape of the shear handles can affect how well you can rotate your forearm. When doing fine trimming I tend to hold that particular pair of scissors (Kaneshin 34D) with my thumb in one loop, index finger on the pivot point or near it, and my middle finger and ring finger in the other loop. If the work is less exacting I will have the index finger resting closer to the loops. But with shears that have larger loops (say Kaneshin 38C) I'll also sometimes have the pinky finger inside the loop. But I never seem to put the index finger in it. TBH, this was all just subconscious, I never really intended to hold it one way or the other. The index finger on the pivot does help with fine control though. I don't have any hand injuries per-se but I do have benign neuropathy (resting tremor) so sometimes find myself bracing the scissor as I approach a cut.

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@9daywonda]

It remarkably resembles somewhat of a mess ERIC, if I do say so?

[@Bonsaify]

The ugly duckling.

[@Benw3790]

Any reason why the fertilizer isn’t spread somewhat evenly across the soil surface? Also, it may not be hot enough to defoliate twice but shouldn’t you steer clear of defoliating twice, in one growing season, for deciduous trees in general??

[@Bonsaify]

Well, depends on the tree and conditions. In some nurseries in Japan they will defoliate tridents 3-5 times per year. I've defoliated a Chinese elm in my garden 3x so far this year and it's going strong, I might do it a 4th time. Other species are not as tolerant - e.g Japanese maples don't do as well with defoliation and neither do hornbeams. Partial defoliation doesn't have quite the same effect, so see my video from this spring about 80% defoliation of a hornbeam.

[@Benw3790]

@@Bonsaify I know you can defoliate chinese elms multiple times. (Can pretty much do whatever you want to them. Haha) I was under the impression that trident maples would fall under the same category as jap maples and hornbeams in this regard. I do partial defoliation on my maples and hornbeams but I can completely defoliate my crepe Myrtle’s and Chinese elms more than once. I just usually don’t, unless I have to. Thanks for the reply!