AusBonsai

Hey all,
This is my first attempt at a Tanuki, so go easy on me. Took 5 hrs with a drill and file, wasnt easy haha. Ive used 2 young junipers, and just wired them in place. until they have a bit of thickness about them, then ill screw em in the appropriate bends.
Before

Front close up

Front

Side

close up

left hand juniper is wired for both horizontal branch and apex ( sorry for the crap quality photos), looking forward to hearing your advice/ criticism.

Cheers Jak

Hi Jak , there is a reason for using advanced stock for Phoenix Graft of Tanuki . You efforts are heading in the right direction however it will take years to develop a tiny junper into a fused graft . Advance junipers are well developed and can easily be trained onto driftwood or interesting mediums . Even 5 year old Junipers may take another 5 years to actually fuse in place or grow enough foliage to be a workable specimen . Markets are good for finding advanced stock for as low as $5 tube stock can be purchased for $2 at most nurseries but they require a couple of years to get some growth happening . You need plenty of branching and a good trunk for the starter and allow it to grow on untrimmed for a season or two to thicken the set trunks/branches into the grooves . Good effort all the same .

Cheers Alpineart

alpineart wrote:Hi Jak , there is a reason for using advanced stock for Phoenix Graft of Tanuki . You efforts are heading in the right direction however it will take years to develop a tiny junper into a fused graft . Advance junipers are well developed and can easily be trained onto driftwood or interesting mediums . Even 5 year old Junipers may take another 5 years to actually fuse in place or grow enough foliage to be a workable specimen . Markets are good for finding advanced stock for as low as $5 tube stock can be purchased for $2 at most nurseries but they require a couple of years to get some growth happening . You need plenty of branching and a good trunk for the starter and allow it to grow on untrimmed for a season or two to thicken the set trunks/branches into the grooves . Good effort all the same .

Cheers Alpineart

Hey mate,
Thanks heaps for your advice, everywhere i read said something different, either seedlings or matured Juniper which have been shaped to the driftwood roughly before grafting. I couldn't get either of those stages at the nurseries up here, so this was the only way , It's good to know roughly how long im looking at, itll be a slow 5 years just positioning the trunk/ branches not so much the fusing of the trunk. Cant wait to buy a gouge and proper drill bits for my next piece :p. Cheers for your time, Ill post some more pics once it has some real growth.
Jak