Scots pine? advise needed

[Paulpash]

I think Vance's point is that you are in an almost unique position to

1. Have access to Boon, Juan & other professionals to show you how to perform this skill.

2. Have multiple opportunities over an extended period to hone your skills using a wide range of stock.

The OP is fairly new I'm guessing (sorry if I'm wrong) and the chances of success in this situation are low given his experience.

I agree grafting is a great skill to have (I use it a lot) but in this case it's a K.I.S.S. scenario - use a new leader & grow it on.

 

[Adair M]

I think Vance's point is that you are in an almost unique position to

1. Have access to Boon, Juan & other professionals to show you how to perform this skill.

2. Have multiple opportunities over an extended period to hone your skills using a wide range of stock.

The OP is fairly new I'm guessing (sorry if I'm wrong) and the chances of success in this situation are low given his experience.

I agree grafting is a great skill to have (I use it a lot) but in this case it's a K.I.S.S. scenario - use a new leader & grow it on.

Well, wherever the OP lives, there’s likely a bonsai club. And they usually bring in professionals for workshops. And, he could bring this tree in and use it to learn to graft. The tree I posted with the two grafts? Done at a workshop with Juan, at an Atlanta Bonsai Society meeting. Juan is a good grafter, and he used the tree as a chance to do a demonstration for everyone on attendance. The pros actually prefer to do this kind of work rather than style another juniper in a one gallon can!

By the way, you may think that grafting is an advanced technique... but it’s really not all that hard once you get the basics down. Timing is important. Sharp, clean tools are essential. But, the dirty little secret of bonsai is a LOT of the great trees everyone admires have been enhanced by grafting.

The earlier in your bonsai career you learn to graft, the better!

 

[brewmeister83]

I'd crank up that strong right branch and make a short powerful tree from the lower branches. The telegraph pole above doesn't really blow my skirt up. I'd leave it now to fill out / recover then remove the top a year or two down the road when that side branch is substantial in terms of foliage mass.

All the grafting talk is great.
If it were mine I would have reduced it gradually down to the bottom limb and grew my tree from there.

I'm with these two on this one... unless you really want to take the time to add grafts inbetween whorls and live with the tall, near non-taper trunk, I can see a squatter, much more powerful trunk line with more movement in the future if one of those bottom branches was retrained as a new apex and the existing trunk/apex carved into a shari popping out the top... think something like this:


American Larch/Tamarack (Larix laricina) by Suthin Sukosolvisit
Image from BonsaiBark

Different species, but definitely doable with your material - if you let it rest and recover from this season's pruning first, fingers crossed...

 

[brewmeister83]

My big Utah juniper has 5 Kishu approach grafts going now. They were placed last November.

View attachment 194907

Just curious Adair - were the grafts for horticultural or aesthetic reasons? I.E. Utah Juni foliage doesn't do well in Georgia, or you just wanted Kishu?

 

[Adair M]

Just curious Adair - were the grafts for horticultural or aesthetic reasons? I.E. Utah Juni foliage doesn't do well in Georgia, or you just wanted Kishu?

The tree is still in California. But, the foliage is coarse, and pale. The tree was collected 21 years ago, stuck in a box, and pretty much neglected for the next 20 years. When it was put in the box, Boon grafted some San Jose roots on. And he placed two Kishu grafts, only one of which took. But, it’s been growing for 20 years! It’s been cut back.

But, 20 years ago, it was decided that the Utah foliage would never make a good tree, but the trunk is fantastic! It’s going to be mixed San Jose/Utah roots, Utah trunk, Kishu foliage. When you do something like this, at a show, it would be listed as a Shimpaku (Kishu). This is done all the time in Japan. Even on Shimpaku! Some specimens won’t have attractive foliage, so they’ll graft on Kishu or Itoigawa and replace the foliage, but keep the trunk (live vein and deadwood).

 

[brewmeister83]

The tree is still in California. But, the foliage is coarse, and pale. The tree was collected 21 years ago, stuck in a box, and pretty much neglected for the next 20 years. When it was put in the box, Boon grafted some San Jose roots on. And he placed two Kishu grafts, only one of which took. But, it’s been growing for 20 years! It’s been cut back.

But, 20 years ago, it was decided that the Utah foliage would never make a good tree, but the trunk is fantastic! It’s going to be mixed San Jose/Utah roots, Utah trunk, Kishu foliage. When you do something like this, at a show, it would be listed as a Shimpaku (Kishu). This is done all the time in Japan. Even on Shimpaku! Some specimens won’t have attractive foliage, so they’ll graft on Kishu or Itoigawa and replace the foliage, but keep the trunk (live vein and deadwood).

Thanks for the info! I agree, fantastic trunk/shari - shame the foliage won't work as is, I rather like the open airy feeling, makes me instantly imagine standing on a boulder amidst all those old trees up in the Rockies. Still, it will be an amazing tree when you get done with it

 

[Adair M]

Here is an example of an “Improved” Shimpaku:



Sorry, picture taken in the rain. The deadwood doesn’t look it’s best.

Juan “made” the tree during his apprenticeship in Japan. It was a yamadori shimpaku, but the foliagecwas coarse. So Juan put a single graft on!

It’s an Itoigawa strain that’s special because the grandmother of Juan’s sense discovered it, and it hardly ever reverts to juvenile foliage. So, one graft, all the foliage comes from that! Mind you, it’s a small tree, only 10 inches tall.

Thanks for the info! I agree, fantastic trunk/shari - shame the foliage won't work as is, I rather like the open airy feeling, makes me instantly imagine standing on a boulder amidst all those old trees up in the Rockies. Still, it will be an amazing tree when you get done with it

oh, those wild trees can produce tight foliage, too!