Juniper Squamata Nursery stock pruning/shaping advice

[Mojo Moyogi]

Really nice beginnings there Pup

Is it J.procumbens 'Nana'? I am quite fond of them.

Cheers
Mojo Moyogi

[Pup]

Really nice beginnings there Pup

Is it J.procumbens 'Nana'? I am quite fond of them.

Cheers
Mojo Moyogi

Mojo yes it is Nana nice and compact.

Jamie the terciarys will be done when I do the pot they do not need thinning. As that was done with the intial wiring.
Cheers Pup

[Shannon]

Hmmmmmmm......... its different.

[Mitchell]

Hmmmmmmm......... its different.

Sorry, we are about 6 posts semi off-topic now. I will assume you are referring to my plant as no doubt if it was pup's your comment would be filled with praise.

"Different" neither rates goods nor bad in my books, would you care to delve a little deeper for interest sake?

Infact come to think of it "different" perhaps rates higher to myself than what I was previously thinking...


For now i'll assume "Different" = bad.... I'll work on that in the future...

[Greth]

Sorry, Dragon, sometimes people want to tell you what they would do with a tree rather than help you with what you want to do with it. If you followed all the 'chop it back to nothing' ideas, noone would ever have a bonsai taller than 2". I dont post my first olive here for that reason, I know it could be very cute very quickly at 2" but I want to keep working on thickening it up, I like its taller bits and not prepared to lose them just yet. The 2" tree is still there and getting cuter year by year, but Im playing with the top to see if I can make it work too. If and when I get sick of trying, out comes the saw and theres my mini.

For a hobby of eternal patience, sometimes people get carried away with a quick style!

[Jamie]

hang on a sec greth, if i do remember firstly in one of my very first post my advice for one option was to grow it out, look at differing angles and a few other options, just not chop it back to nothing, now that the tree has been worked on we are trying to offer advice on how to help make the tree better fo Mitchell, the option to go down smaller is really an aesthetic thing, it works that way, mitchells look at trees is rather out there which is not a bad thing, i can see in the future with some guidance some realy good twisted trees, for now though it is a matter of trying to help mitchell with what would be the best option for him in the tree, and all this advice is just that advice, when it comes to the end of the day it is up to Mitchell to decide what wants to be done to the tree.

dont take this as getting my hackles up or anything like that either, i was just pointing out specifics that need to be said that sometimes people will not say as it can cause differing of opinions and this is something that is fine aswell as everyone will have a different option, ask ten people get ten different answers.

jamie

[Pup]

Education is what I believe, thinking out side the square is another. When people see a plant with a low hanging branch they immediatly think cascade.
That is fine. By me , but if you want a better tree do not cut it back, put it in a pot and then start to work it, work it first. As you say Greth grow it on, cutting it back is all well and good.

If you want a bigger NOT taller tree grow it first with a minmal, of training but not in a POT. As in Bonsai it will take forever, I know patience is what Bonsai is about, but I see little of it, by the posts of what do I do now.

Being helpful, and telling people what they want to hear is not going to help, get them to better Bonsai. Telling what will make Better will.

[Jamie]

ok Mitchell,

here is how you can reconver this juniper to similar to my virt if you want to go that way, it is all up to you mate

creepingdragon juniper cascade cut points.jpg

here is what i would do mate, red line is cut of, keep a stub to use as a jin.
green arow shows which can be used as an apex
purple arrow can be used as the semi cascade tail

to get this

creepingdragon juniper cascade.jpg

so its not a complete loss with what you have done just a bit of a set back, this is the best way i can see to overcome waiting fir this tree to grow right out, with some carefull wiring and a little thought YOU CAN DO THIS

good luck

jamie

[Shannon]

Dragon sorry about the delay in post.......... "Different" is neither good or bad .....it just a rather unique style you have chosen.

[Mitchell]

ok Mitchell,

here is how you can reconver this juniper to similar to my virt if you want to go that way, it is all up to you mate

creepingdragon juniper cascade cut points.jpg

here is what i would do mate, red line is cut of, keep a stub to use as a jin.
green arow shows which can be used as an apex
purple arrow can be used as the semi cascade tail

to get this

creepingdragon juniper cascade.jpg

so its not a complete loss with what you have done just a bit of a set back, this is the best way i can see to overcome waiting fir this tree to grow right out, with some carefull wiring and a little thought YOU CAN DO THIS

good luck

jamie

Thanks Jamie! The only thing I don't quite get, that trunk line, do I chop the far right branch that forms the first pad completley off and use that first of the three top branches as the trunk line?



Although I appreciate peoples concern, I did post this in Critiques not in progression. If I wanted general acknowledgment of the plant I would have put it in progressions. I wanted harsh critique so I put it here. I appreciate the straight forward approach of people on what THEY see in this plant. Jamie has not only told me what he thinks works, but has gone to the effort of encouraging me towards a better plant.

[Jamie]

mate, what i would do is wire it tight down to the main trunk and then out as in my virt, it would look odd for a while but eventually will fuse to the main trunk line and go from there, no need to chop the right hand branch at all

jamie

[Mitchell]

mate, what i would do is wire it tight down to the main trunk and then out as in my virt, it would look odd for a while but eventually will fuse to the main trunk line and go from there, no need to chop the right hand branch at all

jamie

Ok, should I wire it infront of behind the rear cascade branch?

What about the little branch to the left of the two i'm keeping? Snip it?

Do you think it wise to attempt any of this now, or should I wait for it to recover from my torture?

[Jamie]

i have done another little mud map. hopefully it explains it a bit better.

creepingdragon juniper cascade cut points.jpg

red lines cut points-get rid of that small branch on the inside where the purple branch is to go.
green new apex
purple use as semi branch, the purple line is to show how i would try and place it.


honestly mate whether you do it now or wait a while i dont think it is going to matter, personally i would get it done that way it will be healing and growing for when it will be ready for a second look at later on down the track in a year or so. you might have some trouble getting the purple branch down like that so it might be neccessary to do it with some zip ties or to take a little out of the branch at the point where it forks out.
i would bring it down slowly though, as i have tried slicing bits out before and getting them to come down but havnt had a great deal of success, i actually lost the whole tree. so bring it down, even if there is a gap dont stress, eventually it will come down, slowly slowly is the key mate

hope that explains it better

good luck

jamie

[Mitchell]

i have done another little mud map. hopefully it explains it a bit better.

creepingdragon juniper cascade cut points.jpg

red lines cut points-get rid of that small branch on the inside where the purple branch is to go.
green new apex
purple use as semi branch, the purple line is to show how i would try and place it.


honestly mate whether you do it now or wait a while i dont think it is going to matter, personally i would get it done that way it will be healing and growing for when it will be ready for a second look at later on down the track in a year or so. you might have some trouble getting the purple branch down like that so it might be neccessary to do it with some zip ties or to take a little out of the branch at the point where it forks out.
i would bring it down slowly though, as i have tried slicing bits out before and getting them to come down but havnt had a great deal of success, i actually lost the whole tree. so bring it down, even if there is a gap dont stress, eventually it will come down, slowly slowly is the key mate

hope that explains it better

good luck

jamie

LoL, ok, I thought I understood you, now that last post has confused me. I assumed from your previous post "what i would do is wire it tight down to the main trunk and then out as in my virt, it would look odd for a while but eventually will fuse to the main trunk line and go from there" you meant use the first cascade branch (the one at the rear) as the new trunk line and fuse it to reduce the gap. From you latest virt ,it now would appear to me you are saying chop that rear branch and use the smaller branch (the first of the top three as the trunk line. If I was confused first off, how would you fuse that branch to the trunk line? It appears to follow the main trunk line already..... Sorry I think I have confused myself. Funny I was dead set I followed 10 minutes ago now i'm confused.

If I was confused, I understand your last virt, just could you explain the fusing the new trunkline branch, that's where you lost me. thanks mate.

[Jamie]

ok mate, give me some time, i will do a new pic for ya to show what i mean, sorry, i thought it might have been confusing, i confused myself a little too
i will get it sorted mate, give me some time

jamie