AusBonsai

Perhaps this a dumb question but I am a little unsure as to the best approach to take.

My normal process is to purchase reasonably small stock ( 8 inch pots) of the plants that I like and then spend a number of years wiring, pinching, and pruning them so that I can observe their growth habits, learn from my mistakes, and see what works best for me. Then once I am happy that I know how to manage the particular variety, I then look at purchasing larger stock for training.

I have a couple of Squamata prostrata junipers that I have been working on with the aim of trying different processes. I have been pinching the shots back for some time now and have managed to get good dense growth on all of the branches, and at this point I have shaped the foliage pads only by pinching. While I am happy with the results to date, should I be wiring the secondary and tertiary branches rather than just pinching into foliage pads? In order to do this I would need to thin the foliage quite considerably, but I am happy to do so if it means that the tree looks better in the long term.

So what should I do? Continue pinching, or thin and wire the secondary and tertiary branches? An advice is greatly appreciated.

I woud thin them out a wire them.

Check out some of the posts from Kez on his junipers as I am sure that is what he is doing to build the structure of his trees and they are very nice trees

Ken

Thanks Ken.

I have looked at the junipers that Kez has posted and hope to get something similar in the future. So thinning and wiring for the next couple of evenings sounds good to me. Perfect way to relax. I will take some before and after photos of the process as well. Might be good for reference in the future.

If you are thinning and pinching you need to take care.
I have learned that there is good pinching and bad pinching. Avoid pinching healthy new growth while cutting back to healthy new shoots in order to 'thin'. When I pinch - I remove old growth dead needles and most (not all) of the shoots which grow upward from pads and all the shoots growing downward from pads.

What I do is thin out multiples by selecting the most suitable secondary and tertiary branches (taking back to 2), then remove anything from the crotches of branches and anything growing straight up or down.

This initial work will help to set up soolid structure which makes ongoing refinement much easier as the branch is already well laid out. The best junipers will have pads that are designed in exactly the same way as pines and deciduous trees etc. (Meaning multiples of 2 and built on ramification, hope this makes sense)

Otherwise you will get the pompom like pads that have no quality structure underneath it all, and will be left with big problems if you ever want to thin as it will be completely without order.

Pinching is to be done with care as the new growth is what feeds junipers most strongly, continual pinching will see decline in health and a design that never evolves, once again remove growth from the crotches and anything straight up or down

Hope this helps,

I have some new stock I will be working over the break and will do a step by step, hopefully it will help

Kerrin

Thanks Kez.

I am thinning the foliage out a bit to start with and will then wire. As you say, keeping things in twos as I go. I have thinned those growing down or straight up so I will concentrate on getting the wiring done and then arranging the foliage pads.

A photo would make things so much easier.