AusBonsai

I got a nice little juniper today and my idea is to feed it through a piece of drift wood that I have.
My question it, what happens when the trunk thickens and completely fills the hole I have fed it through? Will the tree eventually die? Or is there a way I can keep it alive?.
The hole is about an inch wide and 2 inches long oval shaped and the trees trunk will be in about a 3inch channle untill it come out the top.
Any ideas ?

Hi Anth , by the time the juniper obtains a 2 inch trunk the driftwood probably won't hold together . I have a trident maple that actually cracked the side out of volcanic rock after the trunk swelled in the years after planting . If it was to hold up it would basically grow over the deadwood however i think the driftwood will deteriorate before this happens .Cheers Alpineart

As alpine says, the juni will more than likely split the deadwood as the forces a tree can exert are really quite amazing. Stone over time can be no match for a growing tree.

before it breaks, the weeling will become noticeable and possible ugly too. Feeding trees thru holes is generally a bad idea as most look quite funny

Ken

It's a realy nice piece of driftwood that has a few cracks and holes that the branches can grow out of. I might do it and then cut the driftwood away as the tree grows just leaving part of the driftwood behind .

Instead of hole, with driftwood all around, can you cut it and make it into a channel so the growing tree can expand out of it and keep on growing. That might work.