Old stock junipers (x2)

[Luke308]

Howdy peoples!

I went looking for nurseries in the Adelaide hills recently and one that was advertised online, had actually been closed for 12 years! I rang the number, and the guy was really nice and offered for me to come and have a look at his old pot bound stock he had still lying around.

Anyway, I got a few different varieties, some not really much use for bonsai, but others, I think I can use. I will post the others as time prevails.

Here are the 2 juni's I got, I would appreciate and advice and or criticism on what to do style-wise. I have just re-potted them and teased out some of the roots and given some dynamic lifter and seamungus, but otherwise, they are as is.

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Here is the second tree in question......

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Thanks, any input is appreciated

[Luke308]

[Pup]

Luke you posted this first time at 2-15 then bumped it 2 hours later.

Blunt answer you were hasty. The guy has been closed for 12 years, and still had this stock. I am sorry but that should tell you the story unless they were given to you.

There are at this stage no redeeming features.
Do you know what species ? do they shoot back on old wood? how many roots do they have?. Old is not good unless it can be made into something decent.
( I have none either)

You do have age on your side. They should be in the ground to develop.
I have nothing more to offer.
Cheers Pup

[Luke308]

Thanks Pup,

they had plenty of roots, and no I dont know what species, I was hoping for some help from the people here on the forum. I was thinking some kind of chinese juniper, but then again, I know nothing about Juni's. I was thinking the 1st tree would suit some sort of carving/shari with the odd jin. But being so straight, I dont know if its worth even wasting my time on? The second tree I can see something along the lines of a literati style with a branch cascading down??? I got a heap of stuff from him, these were the oldest, but I got a privet, 4 x wisterias (outta the ground), a acer negundo group, 2x yuccas (not for bonsai, although he was suggesting it), something Im yet to identify, and a sacred bamboo. Plus I took a heap of cuttings from the Japanese maples he had growing in the ground.

[nick-laing]

I think they may actually be cypress not juniper

[Luke308]

I think they may actually be cypress not juniper

I was wondering that myself after helping set-up today for my clubs annual show and seeing a few cypress' for sale on the trade table which looked very similar. Any way to confirm this? and does that give me more options as far as which direction to aim for style wise?
Cheers,
Luke

[Andrew Legg]

Hey Luke,

I must say I agree in most regards with Pup on this one. If I were you, I'd pop 'em in the ground, feed them like crazy, pinch them back constantly and see how they react. I do however think that you are "up against it" with this material, and unless those trunks bend easily, I think you have your work cut out for you turning them into something convincing. Another way you could potentially get value from these is by using them as practice stock. Try some heavy trunk bends (splitting, grooving etc). Do a few jins and a sharis or three. Try some bud/branch grafting, and perhaps a ground or air-layer on one of them. This type of stock may never become good bonsai, but it could have value in material that you can learn on, be brutal with, and not get too upset about should things go belly up! My personal experience is that I have decent material, and then I get all coy about doing adventurous stuff to it because I worry that I'll muck it up. You don;t have that problem with this stock.

Cheers,

Andrew

[kcpoole]

The taller one does not have enough movement to make good literati, but mabey that can be fixed with some large bending gear and a Crack or 2 .
The other one is interesting tho with a heap of low branches that you may get someting useful out of

Use them both as learning tools and or put them in the ground and see what happens

Ken

[Luke308]

Thanks for the suggestions Ken, I appreciate it.

I am little confused though as I was told it could be a cypress, but when googling it, it seems to be "thuja occidentalis" which is known as the Eastern white cedar, or yellow cedar. What is the difference between a cedar and a cypress?

[Guy]

If you cant wait a few years for them to grow out more then perhaps an experimental twin planting with a lot of upper dead wood and carving--is that called candle or candelabra or some such

[kcpoole]

Thanks for the suggestions Ken, I appreciate it.

I am little confused though as I was told it could be a cypress, but when googling it, it seems to be "thuja occidentalis" which is known as the Eastern white cedar, or yellow cedar. What is the difference between a cedar and a cypress?

according to wikipeadia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_occidentalis is is a family member of the cypress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupressaceae

so a cedar is just a variety of Cypress?

Ken

[bodhidharma]

I to, think they are Cypress. I know from experience that they are not great Bonsai. Really hard to get compact foliage on them and in Victoria they suffer severely from dieback.