juniper squamata 3

[anttal63]

after buying this tree viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1035 and working on it and finally understanding it, i was inspired to start my own project of copying this design and principal. to get a thick trunk sooner rather than later and have dead wood and live veins in the design. so 2 yrs ago i bought 3 little whips at $5 each and grew them out for 6 months.

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[anttal63]

after that 6 mnth period i platted them together to achieve one trunk. i did this at repotting with bare roots. so i was able to line the 3 trunks next to each other. 1 to follow their base direction which i already took into account when buying them. all 3 had similar growth angles and 2 to get a radial spread of roots. i tied them there 1st using wire with poly tube over it, plaited a couple of inches and then another tie and so on. this is what i had.

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[anttal63]

last month i had acieved quite a bit of extension in the growth and needed to continue the plait. a week later or so i had the good fortune to meet eliast at my joint. after finishing our jbp airlayers i had plenty of wet raffia left over and got him to help wrap this juni and wire it so we could start raising the trunk and many sub trunks up and winding and bending. its these sub trunks that will give some interesting contrast to the tree later. either dead or alive.

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[anttal63]

after farther tweaking this last few weeks we are up to this.

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[anttal63]

now it can rest for the next few months. in spring i will slip up to the next size pot at that point i will wrap the wire in the soil farther down around that base and bend that main trunk up more and do a little thinning out. stay tune for that installment. all in all i am very happy with the progress i've made here and intend to do more of these and really play around with this idea.

ANY QUESTIONS???

[Asus101]

I have been playing with twisting junipers and found you need to twist them so they close up i n about 3 years of growth.
My first attempt was way too far out and I'll re do it soon.

They look good though, I assume your going shohin?

[anttal63]

first of all are you talking about fusing more than 1 trunk together or twisting single trunks? im not doin shohin here but you could. i'm aiming for 18 to 22 inch.

[Asus101]

Im talking about twisting single trunks, but if the fuse is successful you could be twisting as you fuse.
when fused you could have some nice dead wood and live veins to work with.

[anttal63]

Im talking about twisting single trunks, but if the fuse is successful you could be twisting as you fuse.
when fused you could have some nice dead wood and live veins to work with.

i am fusing by plaiting and then twisting and bending, intertesting deadwood and live veins, is what all this is about. success is not a question, that will be the end result.

[ketutg]

Interesting thread antonio. i didn't know you could fuse junipers...
I've seen it done with tridents and figs but didn't even think about fusing junipers.
are there any more articles about this?

I look forward to seeing the result of your hard work

[anttal63]

hi ketutg , im not sure wether or not there is any articles on fusing junipers. i have copied what paul sweeney did with the tree i purchased off him. he did a dozen or so of them. all of them successfully fused but took a good 7-10 yrs to grow into each other. with hind sight i hope to improve on his idea, which leaves me thinking; whats he doin now???

[Leigh Taafe]

whats he doin now???

Paul Sweeney?

Last I heard he had bought a Dingo digger or something and was doing contracting work in the landscape industry.

Cheers,
Leigh.

[anttal63]

whats he doin now???

Paul Sweeney?Last I heard he had bought a Dingo digger or something and was doing contracting work in the landscape industry.
Cheers,Leigh.

thanks leigh but i meant more so, whats he doing with his hind sight. what kind of tree's is he building lately???

[Jamie]

hey ant, i seen your post on juniper squamata 2, when we were talking bout my cascade i think this came up? it might have been with jarrod? cant remember, anyways, was wondering how this little beauty was going? any more progress or pictures??? or have you just let it grow out some more?


regards jamie

[anttal63]

hey ant, i seen your post on juniper squamata 2, when we were talking bout my cascade i think this came up? it might have been with jarrod? cant remember, anyways, was wondering how this little beauty was going? any more progress or pictures??? or have you just let it grow out some more?
regards jamie

it was elias you were discussing it with, he gave me a hand binding it up and bending. na nothing to show you yet. its about to get slip potted up to the next size and just left to grow, grow grow. 5 to 10 years to go, then we can start styling. sorry to dissapoint but as soon as anything worth showing happens i will.