Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for commenting :)

Thanks so much Nigel! Yes, I am excited about this one. 😁

Thanks! Yes I have several videos covering that. Please see this playlist: Field Growing for Bonsai kzfaq.info/sun/PL07aoEnuQCWNIr9XNFYRoVSTFzrLbB-TR

Glad you enjoyed it ☺️

Thanks so much! 🙇🏼‍♂️

Thanks so much! 😃

Hi Tanay, sure you can but it will take longer to get big trunks in a box because the growth is just that much more when in the ground. But for the size trees you want I think you can just use the appropriate size box and you will achieve your goal. Use a fast draining medium and fertilize a lot; those are the other 2 tips I can give you off the top of my head. Good luck!

Thank you Jim for those kind words of encouragement! Yes the tree was collected about a week ago, so early spring. This is as the new buds are just pushing. Best time to collect deciduous in general.

Ha ha Wesley, thanks for such positive feedback. If I may, I’d suggest the reason you feel this way is as this tree presents opportunities to create something with. Refined trees are “finished” with all the formative (and arguably the most exciting) work completed. For most of us I think, refined trees typically featured on social media are also unattainable or at least we struggle to relate to them being part of our reality.

@@TerryErasmusbonsai Thank you for the content (and therapy haha) but yeah that makes sense, Spring just kicking off in NZ and all my trees are finally pushing new growth so looking forward to working on my trees over this coming season after what felt like a long winter/wait of watching content and way too much repotting these past few weeks.

Thats great! Yeah, repotting can really drain one's energy. I hope you have also taken to wearing gloves when repotting? I find it really saves one's hands and keeps them a tad cleaner.

Thanks Alex! Appreciate the support. I am also not an expert when it comes to the drainage layer but here are my thoughts on the subject. Firstly, the Japanese masters have been doing this for a very long time - I don't think they would if there was no evidence to support it. Second, it makes perfect sense to vary the particle size from the top where more moisture retention is needed (which fine particles give you) to the bottom where you need little moisture retention being that this zone is at the bottom of the container. Using fine, small and then medium at the bottom gives you more even drying. Using any single particle size throughout the container means you either overwater the bottom or underwater the top. Hope that gives food for thought :)

Thank you 🙇🏼‍♂️

Hi Andrew. The tree might stall after being collected yes. Just look after it carefully, don’t overwater and keep it in a shady spot. Should be fine. If you see the cambium turns from green to brown then it’s dead. That’s an extremely unlikely scenario though.

Ha ha ha. Yeah I can relate to that for sure. This tree is probably about 12 - 15 years from seed.

@TerryErasmusbonsai oh boy!! The kid in me wants to pot these field grown trees!!😵‍💫😅 Mine are also from seed and planted in 2021, but will wait some more. 😵‍💫👍

@BASSCHALLENGESA best to wait yes. 2 seasons in the ground is good but depending on the size of trunk you want you have a ways to go. Another option is to buy a trunk from me. You can contact us about this if interested

🙇🏼‍♂️

Thanks for all the questions Stephen. Happy to share the answers. I grew most of my Trident maples from seedlings so at a rough guess I’d say this trunk was grown for the last 12 - 15 years. No I didn’t cut annually, probably every few years, too frequent and trunk thickening does not really happen. I used to lift the trees and chop trunk and roots every couple years in the beginning but that was a mistake. Better to wait longer periods in between. I have the tree in a 40% shade, sheltered position now. It gets misted daily and only watered when necessary (so only every few days). This dry/wet/highly aerated state produces a lot of new roots in the first growing season. In the future the tree will be potted into a more water retentive media which better caters for the then increased foliage mass. For now, as mentioned in the video I don’t fertilise, the growth which develops now is from stored nutrients. Fertilizers will be applied in a month or so. No work is performed in the first season ie no pruning, no wiring etc. just let it grow and let the tree replenish depleted reserves. It will be moved to more sun in a few weeks but it needs to be watched carefully as with the greatly reduced root system there is a real danger of the tree drying out and dying (although I’ve never yet lost a field grown tree which I treated in the manner in which I treated the tree in the video)

Some great info their Terry.@@TerryErasmusbonsai

@FIZZYYAM thank you 😊

Below the video in the same line as like, share etc.

Thank you Claudio. Yes, only pumice. No need for organic. Actually I don't grow bonsai in organic substrate; I only use akadama, pumice and lava stone.