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Starts February 1, 2026
This contest will run 7 years - from February 1, 2026 - February 1, 2033
The starting material needs to be a shimpaku juniper,Juniperus chinensis, with no prior work done to it (except root work) and it needs to be smaller than a pencil in girth (no length restrictions) . You can use material that you currently own, you can make cuttings or airlayers of qualifying materials, or you can buy something from a retailer.
Rules of the Contest
(1) Start by replying to this thread to indicate that you plan on participating. When you have acquired your tree(s) you must also start a thread labeled "USERNAME's Shimpaku Juniper contest entry" with photos of the tree(s) you plan to work on.
(2) Try to share as much information about your material as possible: where you sourced it, what type of soil it is in, how it was propagated.
(3) At the minimum you need to post one photo per year showing general progress. You are encouraged to start with more than one plant. In the early years of the contest, you will hopefully have photos of numerous trees in development, however by the end of year five you should have culled the number of trees down to only a few that will remain the contest. By the end of year 7, you should have one tree to rule them all.
(4) On February 1st, 2033, you can only enter ONE TREE as your finalist, even if you have more than one that has shown good development. A reminder will go out towards the end, but you will need to submit final photos to an email in order to be considered for the judging.
Judging Criteria
Trees will be judged on quality and future potential. We will not be able to create 'finished' trees, but rather are looking to create a tree that has come the farthest and is setup the best to be a show tree in the future. The 'final' tree can be of any size, but smaller trees might be easier to produce in that time frame.
Awards
I will present the final photos to a guest judge to make the final judgement and provide awards for the top three trees.
ADDITIONALLY, there will 2 awards given for the posts that generate the most engagement, in order to encourage user participation. The main goal of the contests is to learn technique and leave a trove of photos and discussion that will inspire future readers, so try to set a reminder to post often and keep everyone updated.
P.S. Thank you to all the members who batted around ideas and helped this come together and for the other contest hosts (especially @Bonsai Nut) from whom I borrowed (stole) many of the ideas and much of the text for this contest.
This contest will run 7 years - from February 1, 2026 - February 1, 2033
The starting material needs to be a shimpaku juniper,Juniperus chinensis, with no prior work done to it (except root work) and it needs to be smaller than a pencil in girth (no length restrictions) . You can use material that you currently own, you can make cuttings or airlayers of qualifying materials, or you can buy something from a retailer.
Rules of the Contest
(1) Start by replying to this thread to indicate that you plan on participating. When you have acquired your tree(s) you must also start a thread labeled "USERNAME's Shimpaku Juniper contest entry" with photos of the tree(s) you plan to work on.
(2) Try to share as much information about your material as possible: where you sourced it, what type of soil it is in, how it was propagated.
(3) At the minimum you need to post one photo per year showing general progress. You are encouraged to start with more than one plant. In the early years of the contest, you will hopefully have photos of numerous trees in development, however by the end of year five you should have culled the number of trees down to only a few that will remain the contest. By the end of year 7, you should have one tree to rule them all.
(4) On February 1st, 2033, you can only enter ONE TREE as your finalist, even if you have more than one that has shown good development. A reminder will go out towards the end, but you will need to submit final photos to an email in order to be considered for the judging.
Judging Criteria
Trees will be judged on quality and future potential. We will not be able to create 'finished' trees, but rather are looking to create a tree that has come the farthest and is setup the best to be a show tree in the future. The 'final' tree can be of any size, but smaller trees might be easier to produce in that time frame.
Awards
I will present the final photos to a guest judge to make the final judgement and provide awards for the top three trees.
ADDITIONALLY, there will 2 awards given for the posts that generate the most engagement, in order to encourage user participation. The main goal of the contests is to learn technique and leave a trove of photos and discussion that will inspire future readers, so try to set a reminder to post often and keep everyone updated.
P.S. Thank you to all the members who batted around ideas and helped this come together and for the other contest hosts (especially @Bonsai Nut) from whom I borrowed (stole) many of the ideas and much of the text for this contest.
