First Time Wiring: Nursery Creeping Juniper

[IbraheemOfAndalus]

My first time properly wiring a piece of nursery stock! It's much harder than it looks lol. And takes a while. I tried to wire all of the structural branches.

Please offer feedback and constructive criticism on the transformation generally and specifically the wiring.

I tried to remember "same angle same spacing no gaps" (Ryan Neil) but that obviously didn't translate to my wiring ability automatically :/

(Disclaimer... I've not changed the soil out or touched the roots at all... I have just added a thin layer of aggregate soil to cover the exposed roots from when I was finding the nebari, as I don't want them to dry out).

But yeah, please let me know where I can improve, and please give advice on when to perform the repot and how to elevate the design.

Peace


Finished tree


Before


Post-cleaning


Basic styling


Post-wiring

 

[Gabler]

 

[Ruddigger]

A noble effort, better than my first time.

Some notes:

You cleaned it a bit too much. Next time try to save more of that interior growth and shorten the length of the branches, instead of making a bunch of lions tails. (Everyone seems to do this when starting out.)

Your wire is going every which way, crossing over itself is unsightly and can reduce the wires efficacy. Try wiring out the main branch and follow that wire with a new wire onto your secondary branches.

@Gabler posted the video I was gonna recommend. Its a good one.

 

[pandacular]

The one small tip (from Bjorn) that helped my wiring more than anything else was to try to place wire on branch/trunk consistently either just before or just after secondary branches. If your wire is consistent in the location it crosses relative to secondary branching, your secondary wiring will generally just work.

To echo Rudd: WAAAY better than my first shot, and really solid. I like how aggressive you got with deadwood.

also, get more fertilizer on that thing! that one lil basket isn't going to do a ton, and it will be unbalanced around the tree. I'd probably do three baskets, a bit more full, for a tree of this age and size.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

I agree with all that has been said. If you take that advice, and more you find on this site, the only thing that will stop you is if you lose interest and quit bonsai. I found all the information overwhelming at first but just keep on learning and you will get better for sure.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

My first time properly wiring a piece of nursery stock! It's much harder than it looks lol. And takes a while. I tried to wire all of the structural branches.

Please offer feedback and constructive criticism on the transformation generally and specifically the wiring.

I tried to remember "same angle same spacing no gaps" (Ryan Neil) but that obviously didn't translate to my wiring ability automatically :/

(Disclaimer... I've not changed the soil out or touched the roots at all... I have just added a thin layer of aggregate soil to cover the exposed roots from when I was finding the nebari, as I don't want them to dry out).

But yeah, please let me know where I can improve, and please give advice on when to perform the repot and how to elevate the design.

Peace

View attachment 507424
Finished tree

View attachment 507425
Before

View attachment 507426
Post-cleaning

View attachment 507427
Basic styling

View attachment 507428
Post-wiring

I'm curious, what are those tight girdling wires near the base of the trunks? Third picture. Other than that doesn't look too bad for your first try.