Looking for feedback on my plan for this Juniper

[stevy888]

My first post, so apologies if this is the wrong place or poorly formatted.

My wire finally came in for the season and I have been spending some time with this tree doing some cleanup pruning, wiring primary branches with 3mm wire to start to position them for the main silhouette, and going through the secondary wiring with 1mm wire to try and create pads and start to try and create as much of a nice rounded apex as I can. I didn't want to go crazy with taking off too much growth since I repotted it earlier this spring (About 2 weeks ago, the 2nd photo was right after the repot)

I originally got this bonsai about 2/3 years ago (5th photo) and liked the the original shape but wanted to really thicken the the trunk so I put it in the ground in one of our garden beds for a couple growing seasons to thicken. It grew unbelievable well in the ground(despite one of the long top whips snapping, and losing a branch where the lower left branch/future jin) so I decided it was time to get it back in some bonsai soil this spring and decided on this "Broken Egg" pot and a more drastic potting angle. You can see in the 3rd photo how I wired the long whip and the broken shorter front whip around to the left side from the back/front to create the shape of the apex.

The long term plan is to just refine most of the existing foliage into more developed pads, while allowing the bottom left most whip extend to create another pad of two under the apex and towards the viewer and to the left to try and create a more scalene triangle silhouette I tried to show in the 4th picture.

I've been really happy with the progress I have been able to see with this tree, and my biggest take from this project so far is that putting a tree back into the ground to thicken after some of the larger branches have been set into place can lead to some really nice results that would take longer than if it stayed in a pot the whole time, and doesn't require much work post-collecting like a mature yamadori that hadn't had branches set when it was in the ground.

I'd really appreciate any feedback or comments of the tree as it is, or my plan for it over the next season or two.

 

[Wulfskaar]

I really like it! You have improved that tree greatly from the 2021 pic!

Rookie comment:
As you develop the pads, maybe keep them level with the ground so the tree looks a little more balanced.

 

[Shibui]

It generally takes a couple of years for my Shimpaku junipers to start growing in the ground so I'm pleased to hear you got good growth with this one in just 2 years.
My concern is working the tree so soon after transplant. Not sure how much root you removed when doing the transfer but Junipers, in particular, take a while to get re-established after transplant. Rushing into styling sometimes has adverse effect. I'd advise letting the tree alone for at least 3 months. If it appears to be growing well after that you should be OK to start work.

One minor point on your wiring. I see you've wired opposite branches with one wire. I prefer to take the wires around the trunk a couple of times and pair each branch with one higher or lower. The turns around the trunk make sure you don't get the seesaw (teetertotter) effect when bending the branch down on one side pushing the other one upward.

I'd also be reducing the apex a little (not now though) A large, strong apex usually means the lower branches don't develop much.

 

[stevy888]

I really like it! You have improved that tree greatly from the 2021 pic!

Rookie comment:
As you develop the pads, maybe keep them level with the ground so the tree looks a little more balanced.

Thank you! I have been happy with it's development.

Thanks for the comment about the pads, I was thinking during styling to try and put some bends in them while they were still young but after living with it for a little bit I think you are right to just keep them level for now to keep it looking balanced.

I appreciate the feedback!

 

[stevy888]

It generally takes a couple of years for my Shimpaku junipers to start growing in the ground so I'm pleased to hear you got good growth with this one in just 2 years.
My concern is working the tree so soon after transplant. Not sure how much root you removed when doing the transfer but Junipers, in particular, take a while to get re-established after transplant. Rushing into styling sometimes has adverse effect. I'd advise letting the tree alone for at least 3 months. If it appears to be growing well after that you should be OK to start work.

One minor point on your wiring. I see you've wired opposite branches with one wire. I prefer to take the wires around the trunk a couple of times and pair each branch with one higher or lower. The turns around the trunk make sure you don't get the seesaw (teetertotter) effect when bending the branch down on one side pushing the other one upward.

I'd also be reducing the apex a little (not now though) A large, strong apex usually means the lower branches don't develop much.

After another poster commented I realized I can tell the date from the file name. The old picture was from Nov 2021 so it would have gone in the ground in the spring of 2022, so it was actually in the ground for 3 years instead of 2.

I share your concern about working the tree too much post transplant, although the rootwork wasn't overly extensive beyond taking it out of the ground and getting it in the pot. I didn't need to remove any woody roots, left a pretty significant rootball intact, and only did light selective trimming of fine roots and some teasing out of the exterior old dirt in order to make room for the bonsai soil. I originally was just going to leave the pic as it was in my 2nd picture post repotting to just let it recover for the season and establish new roots, but after staring at it for a bit I thought there was too much undergrowth, branches at strange angles due to the change in planting angle, and really bushy/ends congested with branches that I was concerned about shading out growth further down the trunk. So I decided to do the minimum selective trimming to make enough room to wire the branches to more evenly distribute the foliage and open up some space for light and air to get to some of the lower foliage. I tried to keep the work as minimal as possible for now and don't plan to do any non-emergency work to it for the rest of the season; I hope I didn't try and do too much all at once.

Thank you for the point on the wiring! I noticed that "Teetertottering" problem happening when I was attempting to position those branches, and had started to use the turns in the 3mm as an anchor with 1.5 or 2 turns for the 1mm wire to great success when I was working on the apex. So it makes sense to try and pair it with one at a different height and use a couple turns on the trunk as an anchor! Thanks for the tip!


Thanks for the feedback about reducing the apex, that was a lot of the reason I decided to do some clean up and repositioning of foliage now but was afraid of taking it any further now due to wanting to leave as much growth to support root growth as I could. When the tree is growing well and healthy I will look to reduce the growth on the apex to try and stimulate the development of lower branches.