Miyasama Trident Maple w/ roughbark

[justBonsai]

I probably visit San Gabriel Nursery on a near monthly basis. I almost can't resist buying new trees and cultivars each time I'm there. They grow a wide variety of trees with an extremely diverse distribution--best of all they have a lot of prebonsai material that is very affordable. I've been searching Taiwanese trident maples as their thicker leaves seem to resist heat and sun burn better. I picked up one in a small can that also appears to have rough bark. My plan is to grow it as a landscaping tree and propagate it through air layers and cuttings. Pretty stoked with this find and hope it grows well.

 

[sorce]

I really dig your thought process looking for these....

Nice!

Sorce

 

[miker]

Nice find. I purchased a Taiwanese trident recently and it also has the rough bark (this is why I bought it). I am wondering now if this is the norm for this sub-species/variety.

I am still planning on getting a rough bark regular trident maple from evergreengardenworks.com at some point.

 

[justBonsai]

Nice find. I purchased a Taiwanese trident recently and it also has the rough bark (this is why I bought it). I am wondering now if this is the norm for this sub-species/variety.

I am still planning on getting a rough bark regular trident maple from evergreengardenworks.com at some point.

I don't think this characteristic is the norm for this variety. I found other Taiwanese tridents bearing the same leaf characteristics except the bark was like normal trident bark. Also I think hybridizing between cultivars occurs fairly easily--some tridents labeled as Taiwanese trident had a leaf characteristic that was half way in between what I have photographed and regular trident leaves, they weren't as thick either.

 

[miker]

I guess it is just a coincidence then that we both ended up with rough bark Taiwanese trident maples. Both mine and the op's tridents look like full on Taiwanese variant tridents, just the rough bark variety.

 

[Shima]

Good luck with this. If it's a true Taiwan Trident (Acer buergerianum Miq. var. formosanum) the seeds are sterile and Almost impossible to layer. Extremely rare and endangered. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/31335/0. I put up mine on Facebook and created quite a stir. Michael Ryan Bell's logo tree is a shohin true Taiwan Trident.

 

[justBonsai]

Good luck with this. If it's a true Taiwan Trident (Acer buergerianum Miq. var. formosanum) the seeds are sterile and Almost impossible to layer. Extremely rare and endangered. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/31335/0. I put up mine on Facebook and created quite a stir. Michael Ryan Bell's logo tree is a shohin true Taiwan Trident.

I'm aware of its conservation status in Taiwan--its largely attributed to people digging up mature trees for their ornamental use. The trees they were selling at the nursery are likely to be propagated in house but I'll ask next time I'm there. Are these really just impossible to propagate in any manner? My plan is to experiment with air layers and cuttings--hopefully I'm able to propagate it.

 

[Shima]

Not impossible, just very challenging. I have the same plan.

 

[Don Blackmond]

I put up mine on Facebook and created quite a stir.

What does that mean?

 

[justBonsai]

http://ejournal.sinica.edu.tw/bbas/content/2010/4/Bot514-02/Bot514-02.html

An interesting article on leaf variations and hybridization of tridents.

 

[justBonsai]

Good luck with this. If it's a true Taiwan Trident (Acer buergerianum Miq. var. formosanum) the seeds are sterile and Almost impossible to layer. Extremely rare and endangered. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/31335/0. I put up mine on Facebook and created quite a stir. Michael Ryan Bell's logo tree is a shohin true Taiwan Trident.

Do you have a picture of the Michael Ryan Bell tree?

 

[Shima]

What does that mean?

Oh just a lot of comments and interest. Some from notable professionals.

 

[Shima]

Do you have a picture of the Michael Ryan Bell tree?

Michael Ryan Bell https://japanesebonsaipots.net/chop-and-signature-resource/

 

[miker]

I think what bleumeon and I have are true Acer buergerianum var. formosanum. His plant looks basically identical to mine, and mine has very thick, leathery leaves with a distinctive leaf morphology suggestive of the Formosan variety, rather than an intergrade between formosanum and a regular trident. This is my opinion, based on a bit of research.

I totally buy the part about the seeds tending to be sterile, though this is disappointing, since my tree is loaded with samaras at such a young age. I guess we will find out just how difficult it is to propagate via cutting or air layer (experience on here says that it is, let's hope it is not more or less impossible).

Also, regarding rarity, it is somewhat common in the modern era to see/obtain plants in cultivation that are extremely rare/endangered or even extinct in the wild. I have a number of orchids that fall into these categories, some of which are fairly common in cultivation (despite rarity or non-existence in the wild). In 50 years, the Formosan trident might be almost as common as the regular trident maple in the USA and extinct in the wild (let's hope not!). I doubt this scenario will play out due to the purported difficulty of propagation of formosanum versus regular Acer buergerianum, which is incredibly easy to propagate.

 

[ichoudhury]

These are extremely slow grower and as someone mentioned above, very difficult to propagate. However, not impossible. After killing one, I did not want to touch the one 'field growing' until I had a way to propagate. I tried cutting methods (couple of near success but failed mostly due to my ignorance), seed propagation (Well, just learned those were never gonna work even if I was doing it right) . Well I am happy report, my first Air Layer so far is a success. Since this is the first year its separated from mother tree, I am not 100% confident but so far looking good. The one I'm field growing looking good and hopefully I can start moving her to a Training Pot come this Spring (2017).

*By the way, the one I have has leaf similar to the one in the bottom and older leaf very much like the picture above. They do have beautiful maroon-red color leaf come Fall. My potted one would color up way nicer than the filed, but they often act differently when not growing in a pot .

Photo Source: https://www.e-bonsai.org/photo/zouki/miyasamakaede/k1/miyasamakaede-2.html#header

 

[justBonsai]

These are extremely slow grower and as someone mentioned above, very difficult to propagate. However, not impossible. After killing one, I did not want to touch the one 'field growing' until I had a way to propagate. I tried cutting methods (couple of near success but failed mostly due to my ignorance), seed propagation (Well, just learned those were never gonna work even if I was doing it right) . Well I am happy report, my first Air Layer so far is a success. Since this is the first year its separated from mother tree, I am not 100% confident but so far looking good. The one I'm field growing looking good and hopefully I can start moving her to a Training Pot come this Spring (2017).

*By the way, the one I have has leaf similar to the one in the bottom and older leaf very much like the picture above. They do have beautiful maroon-red color leaf come Fall. My potted one would color up way nicer than the filed, but they often act differently when not growing in a pot .

Photo Source: https://www.e-bonsai.org/photo/zouki/miyasamakaede/k1/miyasamakaede-2.html#header

Wow neat! What we're your techniques for air layering this tree? Any rooting hormones?

 

[ichoudhury]

Wow neat! What we're your techniques for air layering this tree? Any rooting hormones?

I used raw honey after scraping the cambium layer ... So instead of using Sphagnum Moss, I used composted soil in a clear cup that I used for the Air Layer and kept the soil watered whenever I watered my garden. I want this Air Layer to be successful (as well as the one I got going atm) to take the risk on working with the mother tree for bonsai project as she's developed a very nice trunk ... and I want to be careful with her. There's no rhyme or reason for not using Sphagnum moss instead of soil (I was just being lazy)