‘Kishu’ Juniper from National Arboretum workshop 2011

[MrFancyPlants]

I’m in Myrtle Beach. Thank you for the leads on some local nuts. Florence is only 1.5 hours away.

The tree could make a nice informal upright, and may eventually go that way. But, I just put into a larger pot, so I may try to beef it up more for a few more years, while trying to keep the branches and taper balanced.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

@bwaynef thank you for the encouragement. I checked out the Florence meeting and was really impressed. A nice group of people and the shop there looked great, though I didn’t have a chance to take a close look at the material available.

Over the past couple weeks I have been picking (trimming) away at this shimpaku. I am thinking I should have waited until winter for best response, but there are already some nice backbuds in development than can help compact the tree later. I didn’t take anything off that was big enough to jin, though there are more than a few branches marked for removal down the road.

 

[Coach_]

@bwaynef thank you for the encouragement. I checked out the Florence meeting and was really impressed. A nice group of people and the shop there looked great, though I didn’t have a chance to take a close look at the material available.

Over the past couple weeks I have been picking (trimming) away at this shimpaku. I am thinking I should have waited until winter for best response, but there are already some nice backbuds in development than can help compact the tree later. I didn’t take anything off that was big enough to jin, though there are more than a few branches marked for removal down the road.View attachment 596561View attachment 596562

Yeah from that picture after the trim, my eyes are split on what line to follow. I can def. see it better as an informal upright. Growth looks stronger there as well.

 

[bwaynef]

I think it’s probably better to have done it now than had you waited for winter (or fall actually). You may want to go back over that foliage and pull some more weak foliage. There’s some yellow and some single “strands” that will probably soon yellow. By removing everything that’s not strong, you force the growth into what’s already strong and it’s more likely to produce runners which will drive backbudding. (That is for an already healthy tree. On a weak tree, it may be necessary to keep weaker foliage, though never already-yellow foliage. This one seems squarely in the healthy-enough classification.)

Glad you connected with the group there. Working alongside others really is a great way to learn and stay motivated. Often once-a-month is hardly enough.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Yeah from that picture after the trim, my eyes are split on what line to follow. I can def. see it better as an informal upright. Growth looks stronger there as well.

The two cascading branches is a messy design. The higher cascade branch had some well placed backbuds, so I chased it back to try and get more back buds on the lowest branch. There is a good chance down the road that I’ll remove the cascades, but I’m not in any rush there as it is building taper in the meantime. Taper is not so much a thing with junipers generally? but it has pretty good root spread too.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Maybe the cascade could be kept in some fashion if the frontal crossing branches were eliminated to better reveal a clear trunk/cascade line/flow.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Maybe the cascade could be kept in some fashion if the frontal crossing branches were eliminated to better reveal a clear trunk/cascade line/flow.

It could be.. I haven’t edited branches at all yet, but just the growth, if that makes sense. It hopefully, will tighten up when I do. And I can contemplate and debate their removal for a few more years. I do like the plant’s presence on the bench even if it is not great bonsai yet. The cascades offer weight to the tree’s presence, for sure.

I’m attempting a score of cuttings while I am at it.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

It could be.. I haven’t edited branches at all yet, but just the growth, if that makes sense. It hopefully, will tighten up when I do. And I can contemplate and debate their removal for a few more years. I do like the plant’s presence on the bench even if it is not great bonsai yet. The cascades offer weight to the tree’s presence, for sure.

I’m attempting a score of cuttings while I am at it.

No harm in waiting it out. Another option is to layer off the cascade as a whole or branches individually. Should air layer no problem.

 

[e~b]

Nothing to add but to say this was a gem of a thread for a beginner like me!