Question about U.S. Kishu Shimpaku history

My god a Tolkien AND Bonsai fan?
Now I just want to give them my money.

But from what I can see at least from the internet they are mostly young trees. I was specifically talking about older larger specimen trees in the US. Obviously a lot of people are growing from cuttings now.
They have tons and tons of 'older' trees - guess I don't know how you define that word. Sure they aren't 200 year old trees (Chris and Lisa aren't that old ;) ), but there's plenty of large stock that's far more developed than small cuttings. I mean - I've seen shimpaku with 4+ inch caliper trunks on them. Sure they need branch development, but they are much farther along than the smaller 5 year old cuttings you may be seeing around.
 
Spider mites are one of the easiest pests to treat? PM me if you want to.

If on a scale of one to ten I would put spider mites closer to ten than five.

please tell me your secrets.;)
I use Sultan - it's a great miticide. I spray once in the spring, and once in the fall. Haven't had spider mite problems since.

Make sure to follow the instructions on the label and wear a respirator at a minimum when you spray. I think it messes with mitochondria. Not something you want to mess around with.
 
And I would go further to add - due to the commonality of SJ juniper in landscape all over SoCal, it is pretty easy to find SJ with a 4" or greater trunk caliper. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to dig them up and throw them in the trash when remodeling.

That said, grafting juniper requires a degree of skill and sophistication, to say nothing of time commitment. Perhaps it is just me, but the majority of shimpaku I have seen at shows and exhibitions are all on their own roots. The grafted ones tend to be the exception - and are typically large trees. I know Gary Ishii has been grafting shimpaku on California juniper for years, and he has stopped doing it. Too much work and too difficult to recoup the time investment because the market for large grafted trees is a small one.

Gary might have stopped grafting California Junipers because he can’t sell them profitably, but that has not stopped the practice. I know several people who regularly graft Kishu or Itoigawa on collected junipers. Perhaps grafting is no longer the “dark art” it used to be! Lol!!!

I have myself grafted Kishu on a Western Juniper, and I’m in the process of grafting Kishu on a large Utah juniper.
 
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