HBR Job on my Big Juniper

[Japonicus]

I will be thinning and styling sometime this winter

Is it too late to thin juniper now?
I get good results in July and August, but don't know about Sept.
I would start now modestly, as you might expect juvenile foliage as a result of a once n done approach.
Bonsai taken a back seat here for me with mom in the hospital 7 weeks and I have a couple out of hand.

 

[LanceMac10]

NEBG is holding a juniper workshop this weekend. A good trim right now would open up the interior to light for this last month or so of growing season remaining. It should help with back-budding.

 

[just.wing.it]

Is it too late to thin juniper now?
I get good results in July and August, but don't know about Sept.
I would start now modestly, as you might expect juvenile foliage as a result of a once n done approach.
Bonsai taken a back seat here for me with mom in the hospital 7 weeks and I have a couple out of hand.

That's not a bad idea... I'm sure I could thin it some now.
I wonder if it will make a difference with the potential for juvenile foliage later.
I should have started sooner! Didn't consider that.

Sorry to hear about your mother, I hope she's ok.

 

[just.wing.it]

NEBG is holding a juniper workshop this weekend. A good trim right now would open up the interior to light for this last month or so of growing season remaining. It should help with back-budding.

Sounds good to me! Now all I need is some free time!

 

[Japonicus]

That's not a bad idea... I'm sure I could thin it some now.
I wonder if it will make a difference with the potential for juvenile foliage later.
I should have started sooner! Didn't consider that.

Sorry to hear about your mother, I hope she's ok.

If you're not going to extend any leaders up top I would start there, and Fall is most excellent to wire.

Not all juniper are so juvi prone, but if it is, then slower approach is best.
I understand the recovering from this Aprils 2nd HBR, so I wouldn't want to go
full on reduction ya know. Just open it up some here n there to let light into a branch below.
Make mental notes of the branches that you'll wire out, keeping in mind Smokes idea
and gain more ideas as you go. Not a wholesale full on cut back like you'd do mid Summer
but chasing back, opening up. You've done no full on cut backs in this thread, so we don't
know if it's prone to juvenile or not. Did you ever decide if it's Pfizer or not?

No mom's not doing well at all. Don't know if she's going to make it out of the hospital or not.
They keep trying to kill her with so many preventible infections, the dr told me she's a tough one to kill.
Pneumonia, septic, MRSA, UTI's, staff in the blood, e-coli in her urine, septic again...
Broke hip 7/24, rapid response called to her room last Fri night, now COVID positive after 7 wks in.
Day after tomorrow 2 months in hospital bed without PT. She's 81. I had been visiting 5-6 days/wk
but now no visitors in QT, which is terrible for her dementia.

 

[Carol 83]

If you're not going to extend any leaders up top I would start there, and Fall is most excellent to wire.

Not all juniper are so juvi prone, but if it is, then slower approach is best.
I understand the recovering from this Aprils 2nd HBR, so I wouldn't want to go
full on reduction ya know. Just open it up some here n there to let light into a branch below.
Make mental notes of the branches that you'll wire out, keeping in mind Smokes idea
and gain more ideas as you go. Not a wholesale full on cut back like you'd do mid Summer
but chasing back, opening up. You've done no full on cut backs in this thread, so we don't
know if it's prone to juvenile or not. Did you ever decide if it's Pfizer or not?

No mom's not doing well at all. Don't know if she's going to make it out of the hospital or not.
They keep trying to kill her with so many preventible infections, the dr told me she's a tough one to kill.
Pneumonia, septic, MRSA, UTI's, staff in the blood, e-coli in her urine, septic again...
Broke hip 7/24, rapid response called to her room last Fri night, now COVID positive after 7 wks in.
Day after tomorrow 2 months in hospital bed without PT. She's 81. I had been visiting 5-6 days/wk
but now no visitors in QT, which is terrible for her dementia.

I'm so sorry about your mom, that's terrible. Sounds like she's a fighter, hope she gets better and soon.

 

[just.wing.it]

If you're not going to extend any leaders up top I would start there, and Fall is most excellent to wire.

Not all juniper are so juvi prone, but if it is, then slower approach is best.
I understand the recovering from this Aprils 2nd HBR, so I wouldn't want to go
full on reduction ya know. Just open it up some here n there to let light into a branch below.
Make mental notes of the branches that you'll wire out, keeping in mind Smokes idea
and gain more ideas as you go. Not a wholesale full on cut back like you'd do mid Summer
but chasing back, opening up. You've done no full on cut backs in this thread, so we don't
know if it's prone to juvenile or not. Did you ever decide if it's Pfizer or not?

No mom's not doing well at all. Don't know if she's going to make it out of the hospital or not.
They keep trying to kill her with so many preventible infections, the dr told me she's a tough one to kill.
Pneumonia, septic, MRSA, UTI's, staff in the blood, e-coli in her urine, septic again...
Broke hip 7/24, rapid response called to her room last Fri night, now COVID positive after 7 wks in.
Day after tomorrow 2 months in hospital bed without PT. She's 81. I had been visiting 5-6 days/wk
but now no visitors in QT, which is terrible for her dementia.

I guess I'll never truly know what type it is.
The guy I bought it from couldn't remember. He said the name had Gray or Blue in it...I've always assumed its a Gray Owl.

Wow, sorry to hear about mom....that's horrible

 

[just.wing.it]

NEBG is holding a juniper workshop this weekend. A good trim right now would open up the interior to light for this last month or so of growing season remaining. It should help with back-budding.

Well.... I got to cuttin n stuff... then I said, did I go too far?
Basically the same old same old for me....it liked it last time, and I think its healthier than ever now.
I removed some stuff and trimmed all the runners back to lignified material.
Though I don't exactly now where this tree is heading, I'm liking where it's going....
Strange material....

 

[LanceMac10]

Should have cut all that stuff up high off. You need to be working from the outside in. Opening up the interior to light is the goal. Seems like you cut it all off?

 

[just.wing.it]

Should have cut all that stuff up high off. You need to be working from the outside in. Opening up the interior to light is the goal. Seems like you cut it all off?

Well, besides the 2 lower bits of foliage, everything was coming from that top section, it was long and snakey. It had an illusion of more going on in there,....but basically it's 2 branches on a crazy ass trunk.
If I cut off the high stuff up top, thats all the stuff!

I do think I cut off more than "just opening it up" though, indeed.....that's typical for me.

Maybe once I start wiring and figuring out a shape for this tree, it'll start to look like something that makes sense.

 

[just.wing.it]

Except for the one bigger cut down low, all I did was clear the crotches, and shorten each branch from 2-3 feet to about 1 foot.

 

[Japonicus]

all I did was clear the crotches,

This angle I think is where some branch selections need be made…I think…
and where I would want to strengthen any growth in close, in the crotches.
I fully understand the difficulty trying to style this one, and the wispy foliage.

 

[just.wing.it]

View attachment 398515

This angle I think is where some branch selections need be made…I think…
and where I would want to strengthen any growth in close, in the crotches.
I fully understand the difficulty trying to style this one, and the wispy foliage.

I was looking at that area this morning again... definitely too many larger branches coming off that main branch.
Thought about taking off more, but don't wanna take too much...though I feel like I could.

 

[just.wing.it]

This is my only outdoor tree that survived the winter of 2021-2022.
I decided to bring it in for an inspection just now. Here it is currently. It has some wire on it, to lift the long branches.
I've somewhat neglected it over the last few years, much to my shame.
However, it has roots pushing out of the drainage holes now. I should be able to easily repot next year into a training pot of sorts.
My apologies for the poor lighting and background of these pictures. This thing is so big now, I can't fit it anywhere reasonable for pics. I'm in the basement, jam room, tropical tree winter room. It's a mess.
Let's see where this evening takes us....
Any thoughts are appreciated. Even hate.

 

[just.wing.it]

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Aw, c'mon, let's see the rest...lol. nice to see you posting again

 

[just.wing.it]

Aw, c'mon, let's see the rest...lol. nice to see you posting again

Thanks!
Just wrapped up, I think.

Don't laugh.... actually its ok. Laugh away.
Some hacking away and some ugly wiring. But I think I've established shape here.
Sorry for the bad pictures. I'll get more outside in springtime.

 

[defra]

nice dude, its still alive so thats something...
i have some trees with the same problem.. neglect... nothing to be ashamed off life has its ways!
nice work on the cleaning up !
ive gave up on my grey owl the foliage took to much work for me to get and stay somewhat compact so i sold the tree.
you have a big tree so with time and care you will be able to use the foliage but its not suitable for smaller designs tough at least thats my experience
looking forward to the future development!