AusBonsai

hi all just picked up this juniper sargenti compacta from a club member
its an aeral layer from 1983 i realy liked it but its a shame that a few of the
lower branches have died. ill probably repot this arvo as its been in this box
for over 4 years, but apart from that dont realy no were to head with this one.

Nice Ricardo, the dead branches are a new chapter for the tree as it grows and changes and you will need to alter the design to that of your own, input a little of your own spirit into the tree.

Do you know the reason for the partial die back?

Looks like a great project, you may have to sit on your hands tho until inspiration hits

dont no why the die back happend the guy had 2 of them he said this was his
favorite until the branches died and he wouldnt sell the other one.
but yeah have to change it up make it my own.

Hey all well here it is about a month on after reporting, noticed that it didn’t have many roots
Could of that been the cause of die back? Anyhow what direction should i head with this one
Would branch grafts be an option or just bend down foliage?

i would use that first branch on the left to build your new tree. cut everything off above that point, leave a small section for possible jin/shari

i was thinking about that but im not sure whats every one else think

I think the same though it does leave the trunk rather awkwardly. (could just be the photo)

The problem i see with keeping the rest of the tree, is that it is too far away from the terrific movement in the base of the tree. If you could introduce some movement to the rest of the tree, you could make a great literati out of it with nice shari and live veins running all the way up the tree.

This is a hard one with out viewing the tree in the bark!

Hi Ricardo,
The following is just a few thoughts about your tree. The tree is fairly straight, so you could use the tree to create an literati. If not you could do a couple of air layers.

Regards Ray

Air layering at the first branch would be the way to go. As has been said, the movement from the trunk at the base, will give you a nice Chuhin or even a Shohin.

Then you have the top to produce a Bunjingi.

Cheers Pup

definately chop off after that first branch, I would leave a good 4-6 inches of stub on that, the deadwood could be used in the final design, it is easy to take off wood, a little harder to get it back!

will make for a nice shohin size shimp, you could find the tree will back bud some and you could get lucky with a lower branch.

if i did want it to bud back should i just prune hard

I woud be chopping a few inches above the lowest branch and Jin the Stump

The lower half it just tooo good to do anything else with

kEN

hi mate

depending on where you want to go with this tree and how long you are prepared to wait for it to back bud will determine how it will back bud, feed heavily for a few weeks then trim the foliage back by half on the first branch as this is the one you want to use (I presume so anyways), take a section off the top say six inches and reduce the height in stages, I know I said to chop it but it got me thinking about one I did a while back with a similar type of trunk and one useable branch, took it down hard in one go and I lost the tree. if you wanted to air layer the top then that is definately an option, this will also help in back budding as it is as near good enough to an actualy chop.

this one has some great potential for a shohin, some raffia/bike tube and some heavy wiring down the track with some new branching to work with low and this shimp will be a corker, deadwood can then be incoroparated which will add to the tree too, I see this could be a classical japanese style shohin (like the shimapku shohin we see in lindsays videos )

jamie