These simple illustrations of the clip and grow technique are from a website called The Bonsai Primer. The left image shows the first cut, the next one shows the second cut, and so forth. If you go to the comments in our previous field growing post, Brian Van Fleet gives an excellent description of exactly what these illustrations are all about.
Most large Trident maples (and some other deciduous trees) are started in the field and developed using the clip and grow technique. The result is usually a heavy trunked tree with gentle curves, often in a more or less S shape. You can see this basic shape in the Trident maple in our previous field growing post. A variation of this S curve also shows up in the pine that is shown in the same post, though it was created by other means (trimming and wiring), as pines and other conifers don’t usually take to the clip and grow technique.
You can see the large scar from the first cut on this powerful old Chinese elm (Ulmus parviflora) . If you follow the trunk up a ways, you can see the change of direction where the second cut took place, though you can’t see a scar from this view. This tree appears in the 1st U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album (2008). It was started from a large collected tree in China. The owner/artist is Melvyn Goldstein.