Hi everyone. I just acquired this prebonsai trident maple. It is 7" at the base, 22" tall. I would appreciate some suggestions for initial design options:
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I love picture three as the front, especially if you tilt it to the left just a bit to get the first section of trunk slightly off of vertical. Very cool material!
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A very powerful piece of material!
I’ve just been watching the re-potting video where Ryan discusses the scarless traditional Japanese style vs anything else.
Picture one appears to have the best taper from bottom to top with the least apparent reverse taper. It will be interesting to watch it develop.
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Agree with @cab_lad_70 on the best front and other points out of offered pics. Also it leans to the front to the viewer this way.
I like the movement even more if top part of trunk like removed and redirected to the right branches.
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I like that idea @ CoffeeCherry although I just realized that you had whited out the upper part of the trunk in your photo. I think if you took it down further, to right above the right branches forming the new top, it would improve the taper.
@ Makuen-amer What did you see in the tree when you bought it? What ideas did the rough material suggest to you?
It’s so easy to suggest that someone else cut off significant branches on their tree! 
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@cab_lad_70, actually, @CoffeeCherry rubbed out the top of the tree, and I think you are both right. I think I need to take it down to where @CoffeeCherry said, and then take it further down to the crotch. What I saw in the tree when I purchased it was (1) a pre-bonsai that would need lots of development (2) beautiful mature bark (3) a well-buttressed lower trunk and (4) some large (massive?) secondary branches I thought would be fun to work with. What I didn’t see was the two large areas of inverse taper-- one on the lower node where most of the lower branching is coming from and a second that goes from the top of the lower node to the bottom of the next. That is going to take the lion’s share of my effort to fix.
I’m going to wait to see if I get any other suggestions or “aha moments” before I do any major cutting. Thanks for your input!
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As of now (And I have the next month or two to second guess myself!), I think I will be going for something like this for the basic design. It’s going to require some extensive “plastic surgery” to smooth out the scars and knobs and such. I also have to carve back the inverse taper caused by a large wound healing (about 2/3 of the way up the trunk). I keep being drawn to the massive first branch. While it is a little bit large, it has lots of movement and along with the nebari (not visible in the photos) will serve as the main features of the tree… I am of course still open to suggestions and criticism!
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Is this too conventional? I am looking at the massive size of the base (7.5"+) and can’t imagine a major shift in any direction. Semi-formal upright seems the way to go.
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It looks like you are moving in the right direction.
Do you think it will be possible to nibble out the upper part of the lower shoulders and reduce the reverse taper there? Perhaps a question for Ryan.
Do you know if you have additional nebari to expose below the surface of the soil? That might inform the potential for a minor lean in the future. There is nothing wrong with conventional.
I like where your going with this by the end but I definitely would consider doing a decent reduction of that main thick apex. As thick as the base is I dont think that the upper neck or bifurcation of your imagined two apices are thin enough to be supported by the necked down area. Also there is a good chance being a trident that those two strong twin apices will only continue to perpetuate further inverse taper above an already narrowed area below. Personally I might consider using what coffee cherry said as your apex then reducing your other trunk significantly. Or u could keep that right leader reduce the left one alot and develop taper and ramification, maybe having a small sub trunk or branch there and then creating a lower sub trunk on the opposite branch at the base. So u could Could have an apex then a lower left sub trunk or defining branch then a counter balancing sub trunk on the right that was very tight and rammified. So u could have a leftward moving tree with apex and defining to the left. Just an idea so take or leave it no worries.
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I think one major point is to have only one branch in the lowest position.
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Tridents can heal scars fairly fast. it takes a few years, but they heal.
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Ya not bad but I would consider reducing the top right foliage and compressing it on the right upper side. Yes I see your point about the scarring but atleast it will be on the backside. Tridents heal pretty aggressively so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Just make sure you have a collar or buds below your cut sites so you continue to have flow through those areas to avoid die back. But tridents are not nearly as bad as the palmatums with their die back. You could let those areas run to speed up healing and your already in an anderson flat for developing so ur good there. I’m not sure where you put your flat but I’m assuming you know best growth will be on the ground where it can readily interact with the biology under it. So I do like your idea but personally I would compress a bit more on the right and extend on the left some. But I like your branch placement etc.