Just joined!

[Bush bunny]

Daluke, reading can get you so far, as many books are written in the Northern Hemisphere, I have heaps. And the Internet videos on YouTube. But as a beginner, I advise, don't be too eager with the wiring and clippers, let the tree grow naturally, just pinching out the new growth, which is explained in books regarding scale or needle junipers. You do it with your fingers. Not scissors. And buy a few more eh? If you live in Sydney then your climate is suitable for most sub tropical trees anyway. Or some of the figs.

[deepeetee]

Welcome,

Best piece of advice i could give would be to join a Bonsai Club or Society.
There are a bunch Victoria

As for tips and pointers... what do you think Ozzy might be referring to? Are you able to pinpoint what he might be referring to?

Dave

[Andrew Legg]

Daluke,

Welcome. A few point on junipers. There was a big misconception perpetuated in the bonsai fraternity and in most beginner bonsai books to this day about the pinching of junipers. Do a bit of research online about it. There is a post just started here, so have a read. Listen to what Michael Hagadorn has to say about it. If you continually pinch junipers, you weaken them, so beware. Secondly, try to encourage growth on your branches closer to the trunk. This will avoid poodle style bonsai. Have a read up on design aesthetics applied to bonsai, and the visual impact of bar branching. Try to understand what it is and whether it's a desirable design outcome. Finally, when wiring branches, try to create movement in three dimensions in the branch structure. Don't use wire to only place a pad in a place. Use it to shape the growth of the branch as well, and be careful to keep an eye on it to avoid wire bite.

All that said and done, you're making good progress mate. For a first tree, you've done a good job, so stick with it and I'm sure you,ve got a bright future!

Good luck mate.

Andrew

[Bush bunny]

Andrew joining a bonsai club is great if one has one near where you live. I did, and the advise the president told me was how to pinch the juniper needles. To thicken the concentration of needles. I have followed that advice since then only using scissors to cut off unwanted branches or trunk sprouts.

Cheers

[kcpoole]

the advise the president told me was how to pinch the juniper needles. To thicken the concentration of needles. I have followed that advice since then only using scissors to cut off unwanted branches or trunk sprouts.

Cheers

I Rarely Pinch my Junipers
I Used to ( as everyone has been tought to do), but I do not like the fluffy cloud look that results, I now Just selectively prune with scissors to keep the foliage quite sparse.
I do not want to thicken the concentration of needles usually.

different ways to maintain our trees and none are wrong

Ken

[kcpoole]

I think your bonsai breaks every single rule in the bonsai book LOL , then again bonsai means tree in a pot so maybe thats as much of a bonsai as anything, or maybe bonsai means tree in a pot thats been grown and styled over a period of time according to centuries of oriental tradition in which case you might be in trouble mate

Tips/pointers where I've gone wrong?

Welcome daluke

2 issues spring to mind and not really gone wrong,
The trunk line is good in the lower section then goes up and back in a straight line, Needs movement and should not be moving away from the viewer.
A few Bar branches present along the tree.

tree development wise. Get some movement into the trunk and the branches as well.
Remove any branches that come from a common point on the tree, as it will thicken there are create reverse taper.

have a look at this Wiki page https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... _of_Bonsai that describes what attributes a Bonsai should have. Review each of the "Rules" then look at your own tree and see if they do or do not apply?

See what you can think of might need attention and time?

Ken

[Boics]

I'll also add another one that Ken often says.

When buying tree's - buy a couple.

One to play with, wire, trim and shape.
Another to grow on and thicken up.

[Andrew Legg]

Andrew joining a bonsai club is great if one has one near where you live. I did, and the advise the president told me was how to pinch the juniper needles. To thicken the concentration of needles. I have followed that advice since then only using scissors to cut off unwanted branches or trunk sprouts.

Cheers

Bush Bunny,

I spent many happy hours listening to Michael Hagadorn speaking about this and that at a recent conference here, and the one thing that struck me was his gentle messages he put across. Everything very humble. Everything very much "this is what I think or learnt", but there was one thing he did say with surprising vigour, and that was don't OVER-PINCH junipers. Note the "over-pinch". Michael apprenticed in Japan for many years under a Japanese bonsai Master, so I suspect he has a fair understanding of these things, particularly given the prominence of this species in Japan. One of the critical things that we as less experienced people need to do on these forums is transmit opinions and ideas (and identify them as such), and it is not that often that we can actually convey fact, as most of us don't have sufficient experience to do that.

So, that said, let me reiterate that Michael was quite clear on the matter that a lot of books . . . most in fact are incorrect when they cover the care of junipers. Something somewhere got lost in translation between the Japanese and the people writing this advice on constant pinching of junipers. This error has been propagated onward ever since, and we as Westerners are now coming to our senses.

Why don't we over-pinch junipers? Well, because the plants energy is contained in it's foliage and particularly in the growing tips, and by repeatedly pinching this out we slowly weaken the tree making it susceptible to die-back, root rot and other horticultural problems. Of course you get junipers and you get junipers. Luckily most beginners end up with procumbens or procumbens nana which are both exceptionally hardy species (and treated like scale junipers by the way), so they get away with learning a bad habit. A lucky thing, or not when you get a weaker species and then pinch it to death. Of course, a weak procumbens will also struggle with excessive pinching.

So there you have it. A good place for anyone to start if you want to learn about this is Michael's blog (be sure to read the comments section as there is plenty of extra info in there):

http://crataegus.com/2012/08/26/how-to-pinch-junipers/

No disrespect to your teacher Bush Bunny, but Daluke, Bush Bunny, learn the correct technique from day 1. You won't regret it. Until last year, I was pinching all my junipers as well. Since i did not know any better, I've forgiven myself! This fella is a highly trained and very experienced bonsai artist. It's worth listening to what he has to say.

Cheerio,

Andrew

[Bush bunny]

Andrew a good point but what and excuse my ignorance, you have most probably already explained and it hasn't sunk in, by cutting you are sending the energy of the plant downwards, and not allowing it to throw out more needles? A new concept, and an interesting one too, because all the books I have say pinch, both scale and needle junipers. Thanks for opening my mind. No mean feat either. Opening my mind, not scissoring the juniper.

[dark1]

G'day Daluke, Welcome to the site. You will find an endless array of useful info. on here, there are some really talented members out there, follow some of the blogs. As you say reading can only take you so far, I did that for the first couple of years that I was interested in bonsai and couldn't understand why all the trees that I styled looked so flat! Bonsai is a three dimensional art form and you really need to study it in the bark so to speak. Join a club in your area where you will get hands on help, I did that 32 years ago and I haven't looked back.The bonsai bug bites and doesn't let go. All the best with your future in bonsai, keep the dream alive, Michael.

[Andrew Legg]

Andrew a good point but what and excuse my ignorance, you have most probably already explained and it hasn't sunk in, by cutting you are sending the energy of the plant downwards, and not allowing it to throw out more needles?

Hi Bush Bunny,

Here we need to distinguish between the function of auxins and the plants growth habits. You say "by cutting you are sending the energy of the plant downwards". This is incorrect. You are removing the energy of the plant, but you are also removing the auxin factory and doing that has the effect you are attributing to "the energy of the plant". Now, I'm no expert on this stuff, but my understanding is that auxins are produced in the terminal buds of a growing plant to inhibit bud development further back on the branch, They thus help the plant to grow most efficiently to find light for photosynthesis. By pinching out the growing tips, we remove the auxin factories and this allows the lateral buds further back to develop. This is what helps our bonsai to fill out, and yes, in some cases we want this indeed. BUT, and here's the important point (and here I'm on shaky technical ground), if you compare deciduous trees to evergreens, deciduous trees "push growth energy" (that's the unscientific bit) from below which is why they can re-sprout after losing all their leaves, whereas evergreens seem to "pull growth energy" from above, ie, from their foliage.

So, that's the important point, and it's one of the reasons why you can't bare-needle a pine and you can bare-leaf a maple. I can't explain the science behind it, but what it means is that by removing foliage, and particularly young vigorous foliage from junipers, you are "removing their energy source", and thus weakening the tree. If you read what Michael says on this blog, you see that what he is essentially telling us to do is to energy balance the tree through removal of excessively strong growth only. This evens out the growth habits of the tree and makes for a more healthy and more balanced bonsai. All makes perfect sense really. By pinching back generally, we remove both the strong, but also the weaker growth, and thus retain the imbalances in the tree's growth patterns.

So there you have it. That's my take on the matter as guided by Michael. I hope it makes sense.

Cheerio,

Andrew

[Daluke]

Forgive me if I have posted this twice, but I've noticed some yellowing on my Juniper. It's in full sun and I water it once a day. I also cut a lot of roots recently to get it into the pot. I bought seasol but haven't used it yet. Thoughts??

[Boics]

Photos will help.

Is it dry to touch?
Is it yellowing everywhere?

[Daluke]

Hi. A few needles are yellowing (they aren't completely yellow but don't look as green as they did before).

[Boics]

Still looks OK to me at the moment.
Junipers will shed weaker needles from time to time.
The repot may have something to do with this as well.
You could consider misting the foliage from time to time.

I see no issue with the seasol.
I'd give the tree a thorough dunk in a "tree" strength seasol bath until the water stops bubbling.
After this you can continue to thoroughly soak/wet the soil/substrate when it dries. Juniper don't like wet feet/roots but in my experience trees are far more tolerable to moisture than dry! Point is don't now leave the tree soaking wet.

Also protect from any significant winds.

Check this link too:
viewtopic.php?f=131&t=10344&hilit=uh+oh ... 15#p164188