New Shimpaku, need ideas!

[eolson]

So I picked up a new shimpaki juniper today and while I have a general idea of what I want to do with the tree I wanted to get some outside input. Here are some pictures of the tree.






Here is what I was thinking of doing.



What do you guys think? I was just going to go ahead and wire it and prune it but I was afraid of removing some of the larger branches and regretting it. I know i will need to remove two of the branches in the middle of the trunk but I am not sure which two. Right now I am leaning towards saving the middle one.

The bottom branch I was thinking of either making deadwood or making it come out towards the viewer a little bit with a tuft on the end.

There is some wound about 3/4 the way up the right long branch that might end up killing everything above it.

I am really just kind of unsure on if is should keep both long branches or do i need to get rid of one? I think informal upright fits this tree the best, am I wrong?

Thanks for your input!

 

[bonsai barry]

There are a lot of branches to choose from, but for me it is a little too long and leggy at this stage in its life. I think the bottom branch is the most interesting. If it were mine I'd keep that one and cut the rest. I have two reasons for thinking this: 1) the way it is now, the branches go in a lot of different directions, 2) the low branch is quite near the bottom of the trunk which is a real asset. As it matures, it will make a more convincing "aged" tree.

I suspect you will disagree with my assessment, but I thought I'd share a different perspective.

 

[Lancaster]

It looks like a good candidate for a tanuki or phoenix graft......

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Might be a little late this time around, but when pruning, it's important to avoid the temptation to thin out the inner growth to reveal the structure and suddenly all the foliage is out on the tips. By comparison, here is a small juniper that was previously wired for movement, then allowed to grow a few years. To keep growth close to the trunk, prune back the outer growth to promote more back budding.

Before:

After:

Now the tree will be more compact and provide shoots close to the trunk to work with...

 

[eolson]

That is how the tree looked when I picked it up. I havent done any pruning yet. I realize it is a bit leggy but I think there is definitely enough to work with. I think I want to lean more to a more traditional style as this is my first medium sized tree and really my first attempt at styling. Thanks for the interesting ideas though, I will keep them in mind!

 

[fore]

Might be a little late this time around, but when pruning, it's important to avoid the temptation to thin out the inner growth to reveal the structure and suddenly all the foliage is out on the tips. By comparison, here is a small juniper that was previously wired for movement, then allowed to grow a few years. To keep growth close to the trunk, prune back the outer growth to promote more back budding.

Brian, before wiring that one up, did you just select the branches you wanted, prune the rest off, and then wire up the tree or did you do additional pruning prior to wiring up the trunk?

 

[logan3]

Have you thought about Bunjin style? You could remove the 2 long branches on the left(1st pic)and wire some movement into the branch on the right. Maybe wire the lower rt.branch to follow the lines of the main trunk for a double trunk look.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Brian, before wiring that one up, did you just select the branches you wanted, prune the rest off, and then wire up the tree or did you do additional pruning prior to wiring up the trunk?

I didn't wire those, just picked them up for a project I'm doing for the club, and thought I'd share the proper way to prune for anyone who may benefit from it...too often, people new to the art do it backwards and they end up with no interior foliage.

Rather than continue on this thread, read here for more on twisted trunk shimpakus. The short answer is no, pick a trunk line, wire it, and twist it.

 

[fore]

Got it. Not too complicated, but a bit more work with shimpaku's where you wire the trunk, as well, you can wire some shape to a runner, let it go, and you have a cool future jin. That link btw goes to your picture above, the trimmed tree.