Rudd’s California Juniper #1

[Ruddigger]

I acquired this tree in August 2020 from @ColinFraser (I dont think he’s active here anymore,) at California Bonsai Studio in Thousand Oaks California. It was a little weak, probably due to not being repotted for many years and sitting in what looked like the original field soil. Someone had tried scion grafting Itoigawa all over it, and they all failed. At this point I had been playing with bonsai for about a year and a half, so this was a big purchase for me, my biggest up to that point, even though it was a really good price. The tree is about 4 feet tall.



I cleaned up the bark, found the live veins, and shaped the jins. I did some preliminary structural wiring as well.







I commissioned this pot from @NaoTK and repotted it in February 2021. Basically a half bare root, that old soil was no good and there weren’t too many fine roots. After the repot the health improved dramatically.

 

[Hartinez]

I acquired this tree in August 2020 from @ColinFraser (I dont think he’s active here anymore,) at California Bonsai Studio in Thousand Oaks California. It was a little weak, probably due to not being repotted for many years and sitting in what looked like the original field soil. Someone had tried scion grafting Itoigawa all over it, and they all failed. At this point I had been playing with bonsai for about a year and a half, so this was a big purchase for me, my biggest up to that point, even though it was a really good price. The tree is about 4 feet tall.

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I cleaned up the bark, found the live veins, and shaped the jins. I did some preliminary structural wiring as well.

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I commissioned this pot from @NaoTK and repotted it in February 2021. Basically a half bare root, that old soil was no good and there weren’t too many fine roots. After the repot the health improved dramatically.

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Where the photo you posted from Insta? I thought that one showed your work the best. Great job all around.

 

[Ruddigger]

The original front in the old pot had a nice wide base, but I didnt like the spacing of the trunks, too evenly spaced for my tastes. So I rotated the front, and eventually I decided to lower the apexes. This is one year after purchase, in August 2021. I had been able to reduce back to new growth in some places and get more of a tree shape instead of a bush.



And this is how it sits now in March 2022. The pads were defined even more, a few live veins were separated and raffia was used to wrestle them lower. That branch under the bag I was originally going to use as the apex for the right trunk, but I decided against it, and I will bend it down to form the lowest branch on the right. Its a major bend, so I may take it to a local professional for assistance on that bend.

 

[Ruddigger]

Where the photo you posted from Insta? I thought that one showed your work the best. Great job all around.

It’s posted now. I hit the photo limit.

 

[Colorado]

Very nice!

 

[NaoTK]

I wonder if a thick-rimmed rectangle or oval would look better now! I'd be down to do it again

 

[Ruddigger]

I wonder if a thick-rimmed rectangle or oval would look better now! I'd be down to do it again

I’ve been thinking the same thing. Maybe a rounded corner rectangle, or maybe even indented corner?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

The foliage looks nice also, dont think it needed grafting at all

 

[Ruddigger]

The foliage looks nice also, dont think it needed grafting at all

There are a lot of people here that automatically graft everything over. I recently had a guy tell me that california junipers are inherently weak, and need to be grafted to itoigawa for their health. I’ve never heard such a ridiculous thing in my life.

 

[chicago1980]

I acquired this tree in August 2020 from @ColinFraser (I dont think he’s active here anymore,) at California Bonsai Studio in Thousand Oaks California. It was a little weak, probably due to not being repotted for many years and sitting in what looked like the original field soil. Someone had tried scion grafting Itoigawa all over it, and they all failed. At this point I had been playing with bonsai for about a year and a half, so this was a big purchase for me, my biggest up to that point, even though it was a really good price. The tree is about 4 feet tall.

View attachment 424945

I cleaned up the bark, found the live veins, and shaped the jins. I did some preliminary structural wiring as well.

View attachment 424946
View attachment 424947
View attachment 424949
View attachment 424950
View attachment 424951

I commissioned this pot from @NaoTK and repotted it in February 2021. Basically a half bare root, that old soil was no good and there weren’t too many fine roots. After the repot the health improved dramatically.

View attachment 424953
View attachment 424954
View attachment 424955
View attachment 424957

Awesome bonsai and great pot

 

[MSU JBoots]

It looks so much better than when you bought it. Nice work! I was looking at the top photo of post 3. Are you air layering that back trunk or is there something else going on there?

 

[Ruddigger]

It looks so much better than when you bought it. Nice work! I was looking at the top photo of post 3. Are you air layering that back trunk or is there something else going on there?

It was an experiment. I dont know anybody that has successfully air layered a california juniper. I was going to give it a shot, but I couldnt keep it moist enough in my heat. I eventually just jinned it.

 

[Ruddigger]

More refinement work.

 

[vp999]

Very nice work...I wonder if a darker color pot would look nicer?

 

[Ruddigger]

Very nice work...I wonder if a darker color pot would look nicer?

It might. When I clean the live vein the red matches pretty well though. I’m sure I’ll have another pot made for it at some point.

 

[Ruddigger]

I repotted the tree today. It’s been 2 years in this container, and I needed to finish getting the field soil out of the rootball.



Lots of new roots now, when I first repotted it 2 years ago it was a lot of mud and very little root.



I got it all out and even found a big chunk of granite under the front of the nebari. Guess that explains why the roots grew outward there.




Slight angle adjustment, and some improvement on the nebari. Reusing the same Nao Tokutake pot from before. I used my standard 2:1:1 mix and top dressed with a shredded sphagnum and dried moss mixture (not pictured.)

 

[n8]

Looking good! I would tighten the pom-pom pads up to the trunk in a major way, but I like what you're doing here.

 

[Ruddigger]

Looking good! I would tighten the pom-pom pads up to the trunk in a major way, but I like what you're doing here.

They’ve been wired with a substantial drop. As the foliage grows I can move it around closer to the trunk, which is what I’ve been doing for the past couple years.

 

[Ruddigger]

I adjusted the apex on the right trunk, bringing it way down. It was taller than the main center tree before.

I’m contemplating removing the first branch on the left as well.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Full tree pic?

Quite a bend. This tree is looking good from the earlier pics. I don’t know jack about California junipers but this foliage looks really tight compared to others I think I’ve seen pics of, or is that not the case?

You do nice work. Enjoying seeing your refreshing updates.