New Juniper, advice on direction from here

[kez]

Hey folks,

I made a trip up to bonsai south yesterday and walked away with a fantastic bit of stock and last night proceeded to get to work. This is the tree in question with regards to my thread about creating jins. I took a good chunk of the smaller branches off and 1 or 2 larger ones, cleaned out some foliage and wired the branches I wish to keep.

The lower branch I have left intact now as during the work my ideas for the tree evolved slightly and I am in 2 minds about how to move forward and whether to leave it as is or jin.

Here are some pics, I would love any advice on ongoing maintenance, direction, further refinement or any changes/critique. This is my first Juniper so other than whats in the wiki about what and when I am a bit at sea.

Here is the current front


Left side


Right side


Back


Top


(for size reference, the tree stands 30cm tall, and is 70cm from left to right)

I know the foliage needs refinement, and maybe there are a couple of branches that could be better placed or re-worked so any help would be great. I will leave it in this pot untill at least autumn 2015, but am in no hurry to pot this up into a bonsai pot.

I will also water lightly while it's recovering, and am wondering when I should begin feeding?

Cheers, ''Kez

[ADO]

Hey folks,

I made a trip up to bonsai south yesterday and walked away with a fantastic bit of stock and last night proceeded to get to work. This is the tree in question with regards to my thread about creating jins. I took a good chunk of the smaller branches off and 1 or 2 larger ones, cleaned out some foliage and wired the branches I wish to keep.

The lower branch I have left intact now as during the work my ideas for the tree evolved slightly and I am in 2 minds about how to move forward and whether to leave it as is or jin.

Here are some pics, I would love any advice on ongoing maintenance, direction, further refinement or any changes/critique. This is my first Juniper so other than whats in the wiki about what and when I am a bit at sea.

Here is the current front


Left side


Right side


Back


Top


(for size reference, the tree stands 30cm tall, and is 70cm from left to right)

I know the foliage needs refinement, and maybe there are a couple of branches that could be better placed or re-worked so any help would be great. I will leave it in this pot untill at least autumn 2015, but am in no hurry to pot this up into a bonsai pot.

I will also water lightly while it's recovering, and am wondering when I should begin feeding?

Cheers, ''Kez

Hi Kez,
not a bad bit of stock. Is there a design you have in mind for your tree's further direction? Your front has little trunk movement and combined with no taper would not be my choice. On the other hand, your left might be a better front as there appears to be better trunk movement. That long bottom branch looks a little out of place but I have no idea what kind of design you are after so its hard to make a constructive evaluation. I would shorten this branch so that the tree has balanced growth. I would also begin to thin out the foliage to see what branch structure you have and also to bring the foliage closer to the trunk. And I would have a little dig around the bottom of the trunk to see what kind of nebari you have as this might dictate the design/front etc. Also I don't know what your climate is like but I would begin slowly and maybe do the majority of the work when its cooler. Anyway, this is my worth and coming from only a couple years experience with junipers.

cheers and good luck

Adrian

[kez]

Thanks Adrian,

I was looking for a slanting style, there is some movement in the trunk from the front that doesn't show too well in the photo, as you can see from the left shot the trunk bends and in person this shows in the front. I was advised that in the Sydney climate branch work now is ok and root pruning/repotting is to be done early autumn.

With regards to branch definition, I have left it where I have so as to not put to much stress on the tree, and with hopefully some guidance will do further work down the track, again when will depend on what I am advised.

Thanks again

Kez

[milly.abrahams]

Hi Kez, I can't see the nebari so I can't truely say but your second picture seems to show a better front.

Cheers Milly.

[kcpoole]

Maybe the secon as the back. With Milly suggestion, would maybe be leaning back too much?
The first branch you have may be the back and will maybe show nice compact movement in the trunk from that side?

Ken

[kez]

Thanks for all the advice so far folks,

I agree that if pic 2 became the front then there would be too much lean to the back, but I do see the point about the movement in the trunk from that angle.

I have taken a pic (in poor light) if a slightly different angle of the current front, it may need some branch re work if this is the angle chosen but it shows at least the movement that I see in the trunk.



Any ideas on branch placement? Or when after this initial trim I should look at thinning out, and when the time comes, how to go about thinning out?

PS. I will put a better pic up tomorrow when I get good light again

Thanks folks,

Kez

[Elmar]

Happy New Year!
Throwing a curve all... I like the 'RHS' view (pic 2) but would then have to move the branch as it obscures the trunk...
Nice looking tree!
Cheers
EZ

[kez]

Here's a better shot of the slightly changed front,

you can see the trunk movement more clearly from this angle.


When do you think it will be appropriate to start feeding? and when also should I look at starting to thin out the foliage and refine the branch structure?

Cheers,

Kez

[kcpoole]

Start feeding now and you can branch trim and wire now

Ken

[Ninegrain]

I think that the pictures for 'Left' and 'Right Side' show great trunk movement. Can you see either of them becoming the front?

[kez]

I agree on the movement, but I think either way as a front would have too much lean either forward or back. I am currently trying to arrange branches at the top to sort out some shape, would really love to keep this as a slanting tree but I need to sort out how to build the branch structure and the apex.

I must admit I am stumped with regards to the angle of the apex branch, the angle of what will be the first and second branches, and how many of the branches I wish to keep in total.

Also unsure of whether to keep the bottom left branch or to jin???

Kez

[GavinG]

The trunk certainly needs some rotation to show its curves. Would you also consider leaning it way over to the right, in a semi-cascade? It's hard to work out from the photos, the bare side would then be under, and the sharp curve at the top would rise vertically, and maybe make a bit more sense. When you repot it in spring, rotate and tilt it to every possible angle, to see when the trunk looks best. Once that is settled, wire all the branches, and place the foliage where it seems to want to sit. Hard to put it into more accurate words, but that's the sequence.

Best of luck.

Gavin

[kez]

Thanks for the advice Gavin, I understand what you mean, and it is definitely something to consider come re-potting time.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this tree, and decided I am unhappy with the current front so I have changed some things around.

I have rotated the tree 180 degrees and re wired/placed some branches and this is what I have come up with,



I have also decided that I will most likely jin the lower right hand branch, but will wait a season to do this so as to let the tree recover.

I would love to know what you all think of the change

Cheers,

Kez

[golgotha]

Hi kez, lovely material over there at bonsai south, in regards to the suggestions of using your original left or right as the front, could you not overcome the lean issues by changing the potting angle?
This would give you a taller tree though and may not be what you had in mind.

[kez]

Hey folks,

So after it's initial work and some good feeding this juniper is now budding back well. I have decided to use (as suggested) one of the side views as a front but this involves the removal of a few more branches.

I was wondering when it would be ok to do some more work on this tree?

Cheers,
Kez