Cascade juniper....if it lives

RNbonsai

Mame
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I made this one tonight- my wife wanted a cascade and I pushed this one to it- sorry I know the picture is poor. Background is a bedsheet hanging from a ladder. I was in a very near fatal wreck 8 months ago and tonight my wife said “I’m glad your back into bonsai” because she thought the brain injury messed that up. So....she wants a cascade, she gets one!!!
Hard to tell what’s going on in it I know but hopefully this will be a good 10yr progression
 

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Brian Van Fleet

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Glad you’re ok. If you’re going for a cascade to the left, the effect will be more dramatic if most movement tends toward the left. Right now, the trunk leans up and to the right before moving left. Likewise, it doesn’t need the two branches moving to the right either. Those branches compete to establish balance that isn’t consistent with the left-movement.

Also, best to avoid major styling work in the heat of your TX summer. This work is better done in the fall or early spring. Good aftercare will be important now for this to become a 10-year progression thread. Best of luck, hope it does well.
 

Paulpash

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I'm glad you are well enough to start doing bonsai again :).

My comment is based on your current planting angle, ie the trunk rises up then moves down into the cascade. Try tipping it down more so the trunk begins to cascade as it exits the soil line. I use the 'towels in a bucket' approach to find the best line - easy, quick & effective. I think this will make a much more credible image. Also, as cascades are battling rock falls, snow and the elements I'd keep on far more branches than you need in your final design & jin them later. This has lots of benefits - the tree will be far more vigorous, it gives you options for dramatic changes of direction down the line & if twisted up early on they'll make good snakey jins. You said it's a decade long project so plenty of time to get this looking good.
 

RNbonsai

Mame
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Hopefully bending it so much doesn’t kill it! I left a lot of the foliage on hoping that with more it will survive....and because if a big branch dies I can use a different branch. But hopefully it makes it.

Yea Texas summers are brutal, and have killed my trees in the past so hopefully I can maintain this one through it. My collection went from about 30 to about 3 since the wreck
 

RNbonsai

Mame
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Glad you’re ok. If you’re going for a cascade to the left, the effect will be more dramatic if most movement tends toward the left. Right now, the trunk leans up and to the right before moving left. Likewise, it doesn’t need the two branches moving to the right either. Those branches compete to establish balance that isn’t consistent with the left-movement.

Also, best to avoid major styling work in the heat of your TX summer. This work is better done in the fall or early spring. Good aftercare will be important now for this to become a 10-year progression thread. Best of luck, hope it does well.

Thanks for the tips about it timing (you’d think I’d have learned this by now, somehow it’s a hard concept for me) and the leaning. Once it lives I’ll try to adjust that
 

Bananaman

Chumono
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This tree is a perfect candidate for a Jim Gremel Squashed juniper bonsai...

Read this
 

Gsquared

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It’s a procumbrens. It’ll be fine. Seriously, try to grow a procumbrens and NOT have a cascade. Every single one I’ve worked with either lent itself to a cascade or semi cascade style. The one literati I had slowly morphed into a semi-cascade bunjin thing. I kept if for sentimental reasons and now 20 something years later, I’ve got an interesting tree.
B836BB01-A135-4B4F-838E-7846AC175982.jpeg
I’ve found procumbrens to be very forgiving and strong growers lower sweeping branches.
 

RNbonsai

Mame
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Hopefully this one keeps going and surprises me with something nice. That threads very educational, I may try to grab another and do more of the stuff from there. For this one, I think letting her live for a bit is best- but advice is welcomed!
 

M. Frary

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It’s a procumbrens. It’ll be fine. Seriously, try to grow a procumbrens and NOT have a cascade. Every single one I’ve worked with either lent itself to a cascade or semi cascade style. The one literati I had slowly morphed into a semi-cascade bunjin thing. I kept if for sentimental reasons and now 20 something years later, I’ve got an interesting tree.
View attachment 202005
I’ve found procumbrens to be very forgiving and strong growers lower sweeping branches.
All of the procumbens I ever owned weren't cascade style.
Informal upright.
 

Thomas J.

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Hi there, I believe you were the one that came to my house a while back before you had the wreck and we discussed potting soil. Glad to see you're back in the game and still doing bonsai. I totally agree with Brian about keeping the movement to the left. As it is now the foliage to the right is a big distraction and the viewers eye goes straight to that area which it shouldn't. After you take care of that you will notice a different more pleasing look to your tree and as the years go on you should be able to develop a nice branch structure , just don't let it get overgrown and end up looking like a shrub instead of a tree. Good luck. :)
 

RNbonsai

Mame
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Hi there, I believe you were the one that came to my house a while back before you had the wreck and we discussed potting soil. Glad to see you're back in the game and still doing bonsai. I totally agree with Brian about keeping the movement to the left. As it is now the foliage to the right is a big distraction and the viewers eye goes straight to that area which it shouldn't. After you take care of that you will notice a different more pleasing look to your tree and as the years go on you should be able to develop a nice branch structure , just don't let it get overgrown and end up looking like a shrub instead of a tree. Good luck. :)

Yep that’s me, how are you? Do you think I should just cut those off to the right now or wait till its growing again? Does it matter?
 

Thomas J.

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I would wait until late fall or over the winter, I usually don't have much luck with doing major pruning on junipers this late in the season. Bring it over around that time and I'll help you style the smaller branches in place also, right now just let it grow out some so we have something to work with when the time comes. :)
 
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