Need a little help and opinions with over grown juniper!

[Adair M]

View attachment 265194
das beautiful!
The one lowest larger branch on the right, where the wire is coiled so close between the spirals,
is in need of attention however. The spirals should be at ~45º, so if the gauge doesn't hold some 10 or 8 gauge copper wire
might do the job, but that's the best place on this juniper for a guy wire actually.

At least balance the right with the left side foliage, including branch angle.
I'm curious if that one branch beside or behind the said lower right branch should face sort of back of tree
to dissolve the circle it creates as those 2 branches interplay. Out of sorts it is.

Actually 45 degrees is too tight. Having the wire run along the branch at about a 60 degree angle works better. It’s actually stronger, and holds a bend better. All the books say 45 degrees, but they’re wrong. At 45 degrees, it’s too springy.

it should be something like this:

 

[Japonicus]

Actually 45 degrees is too tight. Having the wire run along the branch at about a 60 degree angle works better. It’s actually stronger, and holds a bend better. All the books say 45 degrees, but they’re wrong. At 45 degrees, it’s too springy.

Well to be honest I've never measured my angles, but what you pictured and what was pictured on the OP's
branch are 2 entirely different animals. 45 55 60º would be a fantastic improvement.

 

[Daniel son STL]

To be honest I’ve never really looked into proper wiring techniques. I’ve always kinda gone with “as long as holds the branch in desired place with desired movement and pull off before it bites in” and that’s about it. I’ll go ahead and check out that wiring tutorial.

I see what your saying now with formed circle. I’ll see about correcting it.

Thanks again!

 

[Japonicus]

To be honest I’ve never really looked into proper wiring techniques. I’ve always kinda gone with “as long as holds the branch in desired place with desired movement and pull off before it bites in” and that’s about it. I’ll go ahead and check out that wiring tutorial.

I see what your saying now with formed circle. I’ll see about correcting it.

Thanks again!

Sorry been out of town.
It makes a big difference!
Besides aesthetics, with the wire anchored properly it becomes effective or more effective.
With poor technique, you can actually damage the branch.
Generally speaking, guy wires are rather one dimensional, and add no to and fro movement.

The tutorial linked above, is free, add to cart, not the trial.
You will not get your inbox bombarded with spam from craftsy nor mybluprint.
It’s just straight forward good info and demonstrations on a model with no foliage.
You can add your own notes to the timeline of each video

 

[Adair M]

Sorry been out of town.
It makes a big difference!
Besides aesthetics, with the wire anchored properly it becomes effective or more effective.
With poor technique, you can actually damage the branch.
Generally speaking, guy wires are rather one dimensional, and add no to and fro movement.

The tutorial linked above, is free, add to cart, not the trial.
You will not get your inbox bombarded with spam from craftsy nor mybluprint.
It’s just straight forward good info and demonstrations on a model with no foliage.
You can add your own notes to the timeline of each video

I might add that proper wiring saves you money, because you use less wire. And, proper wiring is a thing of beauty.
Many beginners believe that wiring is something done once or maybe twice when a tree is “in training”. Well, a bonsai is always “in training”! I have trees that have been in training for bonsai for over 50 years, and they get wired, unwired, wired, unwired... kinda like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Especially conifers.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Some other suggestions to tame leggy growth on junipers:

Use an acid fertilizer, and make sure it is getting tons of iron. You want the foliage to look DARK green - almost blue/green.

Do not over-water. They like to be almost dry between watering.

 

[Daniel son STL]

Sorry been out of town.
It makes a big difference!
Besides aesthetics, with the wire anchored properly it becomes effective or more effective.
With poor technique, you can actually damage the branch.
Generally speaking, guy wires are rather one dimensional, and add no to and fro movement.

The tutorial linked above, is free, add to cart, not the trial.
You will not get your inbox bombarded with spam from craftsy nor mybluprint.
It’s just straight forward good info and demonstrations on a model with no foliage.
You can add your own notes to the timeline of each video

No worries and thanks again. Super big help!

Still having trouble with that circle though. Almost appears there is not a lot I can do about it without making some serious decisions. As of now I’ll leave until I can figure out what to do with it

 

[Daniel son STL]

I might add that proper wiring saves you money, because you use less wire. And, proper wiring is a thing of beauty.
Many beginners believe that wiring is something done once or maybe twice when a tree is “in training”. Well, a bonsai is always “in training”! I have trees that have been in training for bonsai for over 50 years, and they get wired, unwired, wired, unwired... kinda like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Especially conifers.

Makes sense.
Sometimes I get used to the way a tree looks with wire, then I take it off and it looks thinner and a little more boring.

 

[Daniel son STL]

Some other suggestions to tame leggy growth on junipers:

Use an acid fertilizer, and make sure it is getting tons of iron. You want the foliage to look DARK green - almost blue/green.

Do not over-water. They like to be almost dry between watering.

Thanks bnut! Just picked up some fertilizer three days ago. Wanted something with less nitrogen, but Home Depot doesn’t have that great of a selection this time of year. So I just grabbed my regular smelly fish crap at 5-1-1

 

[sorce]

Still having

It's technically a "closed form", it catches the eye.

Best made out afar. I see the Shari...then the "circle". From your peripheral vision, what you see without really looking at it.

Ryan Neil speaks about it in depth.

Hell with less Nitrogen. Fish up!

Sorce

 

[Japonicus]

No worries and thanks again. Super big help!

Still having trouble with that circle though. Almost appears there is not a lot I can do about it without making some serious decisions. As of now I’ll leave until I can figure out what to do with it

Yes I’ve looked at it too, and cautioned about bending the branch again (this year) if you already have.
One of those things that if you damage the cambium layer beyond repair and branch dies, would have
been better to simply prune to a back bud later and kept the branch to rebuild rather than lose it.
However, I really think you can wire it properly with some 10 gauge copper wire and place it back to the
left enough to open the window/circle. The older the branch gets though, the less you’re going to be able
to make such corrections.

 

[Daniel son STL]

Yes I’ve looked at it too, and cautioned about bending the branch again (this year) if you already have.
One of those things that if you damage the cambium layer beyond repair and branch dies, would have
been better to simply prune to a back bud later and kept the branch to rebuild rather than lose it.
However, I really think you can wire it properly with some 10 gauge copper wire and place it back to the
left enough to open the window/circle. The older the branch gets though, the less you’re going to be able
to make such corrections.

Well the angle chosen for the front, I don’t think it matters how much I bend that branch, it’s still closed. If I adjust the angle of the front a tad, it opens up a loop on the other side

 

[Adair M]

Do you even need that branch that has all that wire on it? With all the wire, it looks too heavy. (Is that the wire? Or is it really that thick?)

the branch in the back... can it be pulled around more to the back so it doesn’t cross the visual line thus making the circle?

I think these problems can be solved using properly sized copper wire and rebar for leverage, and a guy wire to hold the position. Aluminum wire for jobs like this is a waste of time.

 

[Japonicus]

Do you even need that branch that has all that wire on it? With all the wire, it looks too heavy. (Is that the wire? Or is it really that thick?)

the branch in the back... can it be pulled around more to the back so it doesn’t cross the visual line thus making the circle?

I think these problems can be solved using properly sized copper wire and rebar for leverage, and a guy wire to hold the position. Aluminum wire for jobs like this is a waste of time.

I like that branch with the extra wire where it is.
We are seeing a single position. A view from the right side and back
and seeing how the branch I’m hung up on plays in creating the foliage on the right side,
will help with the threads intentions. Should be easy enough to show with a camera.

BTW @Daniel son STL wishing you a speedy recovery