Ken’s Trees

Trident Maple Bonsai - Day 320

I repotted all of my Trident Maples last week, but perhaps I should have left little Jouquin seen above alone.  All of the other trees had nice strong root systems.  However when I went to clear the excess dirt from around Jouquin’s roots, I kept digging and digging until just one thin tiny root appeared.  Hopefully this was not too much of a shock to the tree, and it will be able to develop a nice strong root system.

Trident Maple - Day 313

With all the seed photos lately, and more to come, I figured that I would break it up a bit with a photo of another Trident Maple.  This is the tallest one in my collection probably because it was one of the few that was not severely damaged by the squirl.  I think it was also the first one that I had potted from the seed tray.  Speaking of which, I repotted all of the Trident Maples today, photos will soon follow.

Trident Maple - Day 308

I recieved a notification that the seeds that I ordered have been shipped and are on their way, so I have been patientely waiting for them to arrive.  Since ordering I have done a bit more research into the tree species, it looks like I may have to do some cold stratification for most of them.  So I may have gotten ahead of myself with my trip to Lowes the other day to pick up supplies to plant new seeds with.  Jouquin is looking good and the leaves are developing quickly, all the Trident Maples should be ready for a soil change within the next couple days.

Trident Maple

In just two days a couple of leaves have emerged from the middle of this Trident Maple, which I’m calling Jouquin.  I have also figured out the date in which I planted the seed for this tree, this was May 16th 2008, so it is 304 days old from the point of planting.  Hopefully it will start to develop some leaves at the top, otherwise it will look quite odd as a tree being this small.

Trident Maple - New Life

Last time you heard from me I was trying to get my Dawn Redwood trees ready to go outside full time last spring.  The first part went smoothly, I followed the schedule and they took the transition with no problems.  However I left everyone hanging for awhile and didn’t even update when I planted my Trident Maples seeds or when they started springing up.  To make a long story short, all my trees were doing great through the summer and then came the fall…

In the fall in the area where I was living the squirls literally go nuts looking for nuts to stock up on for the winter.  This means they become more inquisitive and unfortunately more destructive than usual.  The Dawn Redwoods had no problem dealing with these critters who dug up the dirt in the pots, and knocked off a couple leaves but no major damage (they are strong hearty trees).  On the other hand, the Trident Maples were much to fragile for the evil squirrels.  On one particular day, I came home from work to find every single one of my Trident Maple trees torn out of their pots, some snapped completely in half.

I put all of the trees that I could find back in their pots, even the ones that were snapped in half.  Then brought them back inside where they remained throughout the winter, and continued to water them in hopes that they could spring back.  A couple have kept their leaves throughout this time, but for the most part the leaves slowly died off and I ended up looking at bare sticks for a couple months.  Then yesterday I got back from a ski trip to find that they are all starting to get some new growth!

This has sparked some new life into me, and I have some big projects for the blog coming up.  New seeds are on the way and I’m going bigger than last year.  I made a trip to Lowes today and picked up supplies to get these trees repotted.  There is still a lot of snow up here covering my Dawn Redwoods, but I may even take care of that for a Willard update sooner rather than later.

The Trident Maple seeds soaked overnight for 24 hours for the scarification step. During the scarification process the seeds that are viable for germination will sink to the bottom of the water, while the ones that float will most likely not germinate. Although I have not completely discarded the floating seeds, I did separate them so that I can plant all of seeds with the best chance of germinate first, and with any remaining space I can try the floaters. Now the seeds are ready for the next step, stratification.

What we are trying to do with stratification is to simulate the natural conditions that the seeds would experience in nature. In this case we are focused on the cold temperature of winter. The seeds are surrounded with a rung out paper towel (just barely damp), and placed within a clear resealable bag. Some people recommend using other mediums such as vermiculite in place of the paper towel, but I am trying to keep things simple. Once the seeds are sealed within the bag, it is placed in a refrigerator for 90 days. Thanks to the leap day this year, there are exactly 90 days from today February 17th until May 17th, in case I forget I marked the outside of the bag with both dates. The seeds should be periodically checked for mold or rotting at least every month, I will probably check weekly or biweekly. In three months Ken’s Trees will be growing with not only these Trident Maple trees, but also the European Olive that I planted the other day.

Due to my inability to do anything in moderation, I have one more tree species to start this year. The Trident Maple (acer buergeranum) is a species used more traditionally for bonsai than the other trees that I am growing at this site. Some of the features that distinguish this as a great bonsai species include a thick trunk, the ability to grow in most bonsai formations, and ability to grow small leaves. The leaves on these trees are very distinct for their three points and bright colors, especially in the fall when they can be bright red, orange, or yellow. These are brilliantly vibrant trees for most of the year, and really a staple of bonsai collections everywhere.

I ordered 100 seeds, so I’m really stepping it up here as I also bought a 72 cell seed starter kit. Like the European Olive seeds, the Trident Maple has to undergo a scarification process. The recommended method is to soak them in hot water for 24 hours. My seeds are currently soaking over night to complete this step. These seeds require an additional step that we have not yet had to worry about. This is called Stratification and what we will do is essentially simulate the natural conditions the seeds would be exposed to in winter. To learn more about Stratification click here to see how I prepared these seeds for this step.