stroven
Seedling
G'day Folks,
I need some tips for my Juniper... Some context:
- It is a common Juniper prostrata
- Developed over last 3 years, purchased as a young tree from a big box nursery
- It is all spiky, juvenile foliage, but there is some scale foliage forming, so I now know it has that ability
- It is kept in my backyard, in lots of sun on the Australian East Coast, its fairly warm year round.
Ok now for my questions...
It is very healthy and vigorous, currently it is mid-late spring, the buds that were swelling during spring have popped open, giving fresh green growth, but this has also made it very bushy, very little light can penetrate through the top. I am wondering if / how I should go about pruning the foliage so that I can one day have primary, secondary and tertiary branching. Right now I have primary, some secondary but mostly pom poms of green.
I have already cleaned all the undersides and crotch growth as I am quite confident doing that. But now is the time to bring back the big dome of green on top. I am not sure how drastic I need to be when cutting the foliage, where to cut back to, even if I should cut back at all at the moment give the trees current stage of development. I also worry if i do thin it out on top, it will no longer have the nice rounded look that it has, which would make me a bit sad in the short term, but I am also aware that sometimes they need to look a bit s**t before they can look good.
Other notes - I need to reduce the tails that it has as they have got very strong and causing inverse taper, still thinking about a new design that will combat that.
Lots of photos attached, appreciate any advice.
I need some tips for my Juniper... Some context:
- It is a common Juniper prostrata
- Developed over last 3 years, purchased as a young tree from a big box nursery
- It is all spiky, juvenile foliage, but there is some scale foliage forming, so I now know it has that ability
- It is kept in my backyard, in lots of sun on the Australian East Coast, its fairly warm year round.
Ok now for my questions...
It is very healthy and vigorous, currently it is mid-late spring, the buds that were swelling during spring have popped open, giving fresh green growth, but this has also made it very bushy, very little light can penetrate through the top. I am wondering if / how I should go about pruning the foliage so that I can one day have primary, secondary and tertiary branching. Right now I have primary, some secondary but mostly pom poms of green.
I have already cleaned all the undersides and crotch growth as I am quite confident doing that. But now is the time to bring back the big dome of green on top. I am not sure how drastic I need to be when cutting the foliage, where to cut back to, even if I should cut back at all at the moment give the trees current stage of development. I also worry if i do thin it out on top, it will no longer have the nice rounded look that it has, which would make me a bit sad in the short term, but I am also aware that sometimes they need to look a bit s**t before they can look good.
Other notes - I need to reduce the tails that it has as they have got very strong and causing inverse taper, still thinking about a new design that will combat that.
Lots of photos attached, appreciate any advice.
Last edited:
