He makes it almost seem effortless. It was a great treat to have this 83 year-old bonsai master return to Charlotte for another teaching session. Mas said that if it were his tree and he could work on it several years, he would probably remove about everything from the tree and start over. However, for our demo, he decided to leave some branches to work on. There is no way to tell you everything that Mas told us, but here are a few of the highlights.
Trident maples are excellent bonsai material.
They can be cut back drastically and will easily pop new growth. Their roots are equally forgiving. Tridents are vastly superior to other forms of maples in these respects. Mas says to always repot your tridents in the spring when the buds first begin to break. Mas prefers to use aluminum wire with all deciduous trees, since aluminum is softer and won't hurt the tree as much.