Shimpaku Repot

[AnutterBonsai]

Hey everyone! got this shimpaku from a fellow Houston bonsai club member for a great price. Got it about 8 months ago and been just watering it making sure it lived in my environment and under my care. I did do some maintenance pruning in October.

I have a vision for it for styling but a little lost. Any suggestions appreciated!
looking forward for refinement stage for it.
first photo is the new planting angle and new pot.
pot made by Matthew Borst from mountain summit bonsai

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Yep, I’m a bit confused too. Mainly from photo one and the work shown on photo two. I think it may be the angle of the shot… and perhaps the big wire on the bottom and the number of branches in similar seeming places..

Could you please post 90 degree images around the tree?
cheers
DSD sends

 

[AnutterBonsai]

Finished wiring! Took about an hour or so. It has a bit of coarse foliage so I’m hoping this year I get more compact growth. Any ideas on how to achieve that?

 

[AnutterBonsai]

Yep, I’m a bit confused too. Mainly from photo one and the work shown on photo two. I think it may be the angle of the shot… and perhaps the big wire on the bottom and the number of branches in similar seeming places..

Could you please post 90 degree images around the tree?
cheers
DSD sends

This is view form the right side and shows the layers and structure of each branch coming from that angle.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hmm….

Are you working on a windswept style? From what I can see from this angle all branches are being pushed mostly to the left…. This gives kind of an unbalanced look. Sort of too many branches and needs more movement imho.

If this is where you are heading, take a look at multiple windswept designs, like this guy here. Note the back section all was designed from a single trunk…. Something you could do with all those branches at hand that could be worked in a better position.

Your tree is also a bit small, perhaps it needs at least double in size to pull off a windswept design. It’s possible to do it smaller, but in that case everything should be worked to perfection. Anyways…. To help get more height and more trunk movement you can wire the top branch up with the base having a slight movement at the base, likely easy to do from where I sit… . See the right section below…?

Finally, and it should of been mentioned first, see if you can work back the media and uncover the nebari, hopefullly there will be some semblance of nebari there. Then work to develop it.… after all nebari is job one. There are a number of ways to develop nebari, my favorite is plant trees in the Ground.

I-hope this helps you in your search for a design. Hopefully others can chime in on this situation too

cheers
DSD sends

 

[n8]

...more compact growth. Any ideas on how to achieve that?

To me, this is a shohin ready to be smashed. We like wiring junipers because they are so flexible. You seem to have done a good job of applying the wire, now use it.

Instead of these straight branches (from what I see in the pictures), bend and twist and compact them. I almost never say, "I went easy on that juniper."

Put some action in those branches. You could probably work that trunk back over itself a few times, too.

If you are looking to make a bigger tree, then I'd still say to make some more radical bends and then DSD's advice is good: grow it out.

 

[AnutterBonsai]

Thank you for the input. Very good advice. I think i will let this one grow out this year and feed it and get more foliage /ramification. One thing I did forget to mention, i worked on the nebari when repotted. I guess the previous owner hadn't trained the roots as much as they still held a bit of organic matter in the shin of the tree and I also cut out quite a bit of thick roots that it had. Definitely I think it will be much happier this year and get good growth which I'm hoping will give me better options on what to do next!
Will update this thread later this year with status updates, if all goes well *fingers crossed*

 

[AnutterBonsai]

To me, this is a shohin ready to be smashed. We like wiring junipers because they are so flexible. You seem to have done a good job of applying the wire, now use it.

Instead of these straight branches (from what I see in the pictures), bend and twist and compact them. I almost never say, "I went easy on that juniper."

Put some action in those branches. You could probably work that trunk back over itself a few times, too.

If you are looking to make a bigger tree, then I'd still say to make some more radical bends and then DSD's advice is good: grow it out.

I did go ahead and bend most branches but definitely some I think I can bend some more to create a more tight and compact pad design.