Nice Juni but with some issues

[Josh]

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Helloe every one. I picked up this Juni a littlewhile ago. It was in need of a repot and some cleaning up. It was sitting very low in the pot and had some roots exposed. This is the tree as I got it.

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I will now clean out a lot of the crap from the trunk so we can see it better and post those photos.

Josh

[Josh]

Well I have cleaned it out and it looks way better. I'm starting to see a tree in there but there is an issue

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I have repotted it higher in the pot. I basically just gentely tickled the outer roots and slipped it straight back in the pot

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This is a very rough virt I did from one suggestion I had given to me at the Mt waverly club meeting on Tuesday night. I'm not good at virts

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At the Mt Waverley bonsai club on tuesday night I got mixed reactions from this tree. Some said cut the upright trunk off and create a cascade/semi cascade. Others said to keep the trunk and work with it. The trunk doesn't have a lot of tapper. As I see it I can....

1. Airlayer the trunk off and do the cascade.
2. Thicken the trunk and use it possibly with some majour bending to add to it.
3. Wait for some one here to give me a really great idea to go with

Would removing the branches from the top half of the trunk and letting the bottom branches grow freely help to thinken the bottom of the trunck.
I will also have to add some roots to the base to improve the nebri. I have planted some cutting from the stuff I removed so hopefully they take and I could use them to approach graft some extra roots on.
So..... what do you think, be kind, be harsh, tell what you think PLEASE

Thankyou in advance
Josh

[MattA]

You want to try & use the whole trunk... If you like the idea of a cascade how bout turning your tree on its head.

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[Josh]

You want to try & use the whole trunk... If you like the idea of a cascade how bout turning your tree on its head.

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Sweeeeeeeet. Had not even concidered that. That has some potential. I will have to heal the crack first. Thanks for that Matt

Keep the ideas coming

[Andrew F]

Layer it, theres two nice trees there

[Josh]

Layer it, theres two nice trees there

Yeah I had concidered that Mmmmmm, 2 nice trees or 1 great tree.

I cleaned the crack out tonight which turned out to be worse than I thought. It had started to heal over but without joining the two halves together. After I cleane dit out a bit I found some rotten wood inside, not to much but enough to be a concern. I cleaned it out and pulled it together then taped it up as tight as I could. I also ran a bead of sealer around the join. It looks pretty good and matched up nicely. Just hopeing I cleaned it out properly. Now the waiting game to see if it takes and survives. In the mean time I get look at it and decide which way to go.

Josh

[Andrew F]

Layer it, theres two nice trees there

Yeah I had concidered that Mmmmmm, 2 nice trees or 1 great tree.

Hahahahaha great response. Maybe 3 great trees in there, the top 1/3rd would make a nice shohin cascade. Plus cuttings

[adge0001]

In the "here's the problem" photo, the part where the trunk splits in two kinda looks like a skull. Creepy

[Andrew F]

Heres a quick and nasty virt of what i would do to the bottom half:

[Andrew Legg]

Layer it, theres two nice trees there

Yeah I had concidered that Mmmmmm, 2 nice trees or 1 great tree.

I cleaned the crack out tonight which turned out to be worse than I thought. It had started to heal over but without joining the two halves together. After I cleane dit out a bit I found some rotten wood inside, not to much but enough to be a concern. I cleaned it out and pulled it together then taped it up as tight as I could. I also ran a bead of sealer around the join. It looks pretty good and matched up nicely. Just hopeing I cleaned it out properly. Now the waiting game to see if it takes and survives. In the mean time I get look at it and decide which way to go.

Josh

Josh,

If you want to make really sure it holds tight, pop in a small brass wood screw. Pilot drill a hole for it and just screw the branch onto the trunk. You can leave it in there ans unlike the tape, it will not restrict sap flow after a while.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Josh]

Thanks Andrew, I should do that. As you say the tape is ok for the moment but long term a screw would be better.

Josh