First Tanuki Styling - Juniper Nana twin trunk

[Ryan1979b]

Hi all,

Well I have been slow gathering the good and carving away to get to this stage and fingers crossed all is going to be fine from here. I collected this Iron bark stump about a month ago, which it has now been weathering. I finally got around to styling it last week ready to pot.

I found a potential subject, I was hoping to use a Shimpaku but couldn’t find any stock around my area. Any way it had some nice long flexible leaders to work with so hopefully it will be ok. I am a little bit concerned that the bark got damages in a few areas when trying to put the tree into place. In most instances you could still see the Cambium layer intact so I just put a little grafting paste to seal them. Only in one instance it scraped through but only affected about ¼ of the diameter of the branch so hopefully all is good.

Root wise i Didn’t end up remove too much only about 15-20% but there was a fair bit of disturbance trying to fit it in. The root ball was fairly unaffected just the outer fine roots. I was slightly pot bound so I had to tease these out a fair bit. After potting I soaked son a Seasol container (I struggled to find anything big enough...hehehe) for about 15 mins. Now it is place in the shade for probably 3-4 weeks.

I am only half through the styling Process as I have run out of fine wire, but I think the first styling shows a general direction. Plus I think it needs to grow out a lot more before I can get it to a shape that I like. I have left a few branches on that I am not too sure about, mainly the ones clashing near the center, but I will let the tree recover (fingers Crossed) this year & re-asses next Spring.

A Few little techniques I used:

Holding the stump In – I fixed the stump to H4 pine to reach the desired height then drilled some additional holes in the bottom of the pot. I then laid a thin metal strap over the holes on the underside of the pot to help distribute an movement at the fixing point. Thought they might crack the pot if too much force was placed on a hole? Then I used tech screws with the rubber seals to allow a soft snug fixing and now it is solid as a rock

Fixing the tree in place: to do this I mainly used Bike tire and and old plastic pot plant. First I cut a little strip of Plastic then punched two holes in it, measured and pre drilled where i was placing it to hold the branch. Once this was done I just fixed one edge in place with a small screw then packed tire tube under it where it had contact with the branch then fixed down the other side which in turn fastened it to the timber. If it wasn’t tight enough you just undid the screw and add more tire tube packing.


Anyway are some Pics – still with some work to be done.

Iron Bark Stump.jpg

Nana Stock.jpg

Stump in Pot.jpg

Stump in Pot2.jpg

Main View.jpg

Cheers All

[MattA]

Hey Ryan,

Let me start by saying am not a big fan of tanuki as a method of growing, however when they are done well it can be really successful. Now thats out the way, Its a great piece of wood and your on the right track.

I would plant another one on the front left side of the trunk and train it along the underside of that section of wood so you get to see some live vein as well as the deadwood. In nature the side of a trunk that gets the most weathering will become jin or shari (the top & windward sides) & the most protected parts will sustain the tree (the underside of trunk & branchs).

Look forward to seeing this in a decade or so when it has had time to really grow into itself, keep us updated as it progresses.

Matt

[Levuccio]

I like the piece of wood that you have there. Have you considered making it a windswept style, so that it looks like the wind has been blowing
righ to left (which is represented by your dead wood) and then the live parts following that same direction?
Because it looks like this tree has been in a harsh environment, but then the live parts have elegant nice curves, and I think it clashes a bit.

Just a suggestion but I like it otherwise

Regards

Levuccio

[Ryan1979b]

Looking at it a bit now I would have to agree with you a bit on that one, maybe instead of having a full windswept style I could orientate the growth and leaders towards that direction to keep some consistency with the driftwood. might have a look at this option when I get back into the wiring. I stil would like to keep the left right front back branch approach but maybe lean it to a direction?