{disqualified}[MattA] Juniper

[MattA]

Species: Juniper (yet to be ID'ed)
Height: under 30cm (length 50cm)
Source: Collected sep 2012
Cost: Road trip, labour & care.

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Collected on a dig in september last year viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13024&p=136687#p136687 this is half of a twin trunk that thru decades of being trodden on had naturally split into 2 trees. It will be slow going as its still in recovery stage but I am confident enough of its health to start working on a design plan. If the roots dictate otherwise I wont compromise the overall to fit the height limits of the comp but as there are no restrictions on width or fall it may just fit comfortably.

[matty-j]

great stock matty!!!

lots of potential very excited to see how it progress's over the next 18 months

cheers
matt

[MattA]

Spent an hour or 2 finding the lifeline, this is going to take some time for me to find the tree within but it has lots of possibilities. I liked this view as it gives a clear visual of where all the branching is coming from.. most from one point...

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I had originally thought to build my tree from those branches but as this comp is also meant to be a learning experience the top most branch provides an opportunity to try some advanced bending techniques that I have not tried at this level before...

[Damian79]

Good luck Matt
You seem to get fantastic stuff to work with
Im sure it will come out a treat.

[Neli]

I shall be watching you like a hawk! My juni is almost the same as yours...Hope to learn a lot from You...Please post lots of updates.
Matta, I am in Zambia. No one here even knows what a bonsai is. I am trying to learn the hard way. No one to teach me any thing. I wanted to ask if it is not too much bother, how do You find the life vain of a juniper? Need to find mine if it has it that is. I am scared I might kill this one also...I already killed few of my entries...

[MattA]

Thanks Damian, finding material is one of the challenges of growing bonsai, it gets easier the longer you have been at it & the more you look.

Neli, when a plant is young all of the wood is live & growing, as a tree ages & damage kills off parts the live wood retreats to those areas feeding growing wood, this is the live vein. I have more work to do tomorrow so will take some pics to show you what to look for.

[Neli]

Thanks Matta! So mine is all live wood for now. I need to kill some of it without killing the plant. Do I just remove the bark where I want? There is no harry, just need few pointers.

[MattA]

Today I applied a couple of guys, 1 string the other wire to bring some space between the 2 strong branches. While the space looks a fair bit its split between the 2 so neither has been stressed too much by it.

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In comparison to the first pic posted the change is subtle.

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When viewed in the upright position & spun....

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Back to the bench till spring giving me plenty of time to nut out where to next....

[MattA]

Thanks Matta! So mine is all live wood for now. I need to kill some of it without killing the plant. Do I just remove the bark where I want? There is no harry, just need few pointers.

Here's links to 2 good tutorials on the creation of jin & shari & also some of the reasoning behind them.
http://www.bonsaiempire.com/train/deadwood http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATCrea ... dwood.html

To give you an idea what to look for on a tree with existing live & dead wood, you can see a change in colour in the bark & cambium colour.

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