Shimpaku juniper styling advise.

Hi everyone! I have what I believe to be a shimpaku juniper that I purchased this last year at an local bonsai enthusiast's yard sale. I have been concerned mostly with keeping it alive to this point but feeling successful at that I'm inspired and I want to work on it further.

What it the best time of year to work on and re potent junipers? I'm getting conflicting information searching.

I've been practicing bonsai for two years. I killed a Mugo pine I attempted in July. I've killed a couple of really nice potential procumbens nanas .but I'm not giving up!
I'm learning a lot and having s great time with this.

What advise do you have with styling a tree like this?

Thank you,
Matt

Take some cuttings next Spring, EARLY.. Lots of them... Get them to root and train them into nice trees... Maybe cutting it back will stimulate some back budding and improve the parent tree as well.

You have to chase that foliage back and get some wire on those branches. A Juni like this can be a blank canvas, but you have to make a plan for it.

Eric Group said:

Take some cuttings next Spring, EARLY.. Lots of them... Get them to root and train them into nice trees... Maybe cutting it back will stimulate some back budding and improve the parent tree as well.

You have to chase that foliage back and get some wire on those branches. A Juni like this can be a blank canvas, but you have to make a plan for it.

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Thanks Eric, so your saying I need to trim the foliage back to stimulate plant growth?

Matt Branches said:

Thanks Eric, so your saying I need to trim the foliage back to stimulate plant growth?

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I am saying you will need to do something to compact this tree. Wire some dramatic curves into the branches to bring it in closer to the trunk, cut some back to the lowest growth on the branch to encourage back budding (hopefully) though juniper tend to back bud most reliably right at the crotch of branches, which isn't real good for the vigor of the branch...

A combination of the two will be needed to compact the design on this tree. It is kind of long and whispy to be honest.. Some of those branches would make decent SMALL trees if they were rooted as cuttings though... So, kill two birds with one stone and Early next Spring (Feb-March...) take some cuttings. Get them growing and practice on them. Practice caring for the plant, wiring it, pruning it to see how it reacts.. that sort of stuff...

Looking at your tree nothing jumps out at me that is easy to recommend, other than making it a parent plant for a baby Juniper army! Shimpaku are not readily available for Purchase at Home Depot, so it is nice to have some extras lying around for practice. Now, maybe if you live in Orange County Ca. Where there are apparently Gorgeous Bonsai nursery around every corner, they are easy to find.. I don't live there... So I propagate.

Where do you live BTW? Helps us all give recommendations to know that..

Decide if you want the tree tall, thin and literati or looking for shorter more powerful Informal Upright

Eric Group said:

Now, maybe if you live in Orange County Ca. Where there are apparently Gorgeous Bonsai nursery around every corner, they are easy to find.. I don't live there... So I propagate.

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Nah, we gotta go to neighboring Los Angeles County to visit any decent bonsai nurseries.

Eric, I'm in Richmond VA. I see that you are in Columbia SC? I was in Greenville SC last week visiting and happened to look up and make a stop to John's at Green Thumb Bonsai Nursery. It's a residential home business but his Bonsai Nursery is out back. He had some good size larger shimpaku junipers ready for Bonsai. Good prices and many other bonsai and materials in training.

I picked up a Trident Maple forest, 2 Chinese Elms, 2 Japanese Maple yearlings, Azalea Kikoshi seedling, shimpaku juniper smaller size. For like $130.00. I had the place to myself and he could run a card on his smart phone. Here's a pict I took of him.

I like the size and the trunk but I do not know what to do with styling it. This is the only affordable at this size shimpaku juniper I've been able to find thus far so I'd like to learn from it more than anything.

I'd like to know what is a good guideline calander I could follow to basically know when it's safe to do certain tasks to the tree.

Matt Branches. Welcome to Crazy!

I'd look into just pulling that canopy into a flat top. It would take a pretty keen eye to make it dope. But I think it's worth it, i dig those trunks/branches as they are.

Sure it might not be run of the mill, but I don't like run of the mill.

Sorce

Matt Branches said:

Eric, I'm in Richmond VA. I see that you are in Columbia SC? I was in Greenville SC last week visiting and happened to look up and make a stop to John's at Green Thumb Bonsai Nursery. It's a residential home business but his Bonsai Nursery is out back. He had some good size larger shimpaku junipers ready for Bonsai. Good prices and many other bonsai and materials in training.

I picked up a Trident Maple forest, 2 Chinese Elms, 2 Japanese Maple yearlings, Azalea Kikoshi seedling, shimpaku juniper smaller size. For like $130.00. I had the place to myself and he could run a card on his smart phone. Here's a pict I took of him.

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Yeah, I have looked at this place online, but not made a trip yet.. My point wasn't to imply I was dying to find more trees. I have a couple Shimpaku.. That I turned into a couple DOZEN by taking cuttings over the past two years. I was just commenting on how few actual Bonsai nurseries we have here. As you pointed out, I have to drive hours to find one and most of those are in someone's back yard "by appointment only" places. I have been lucky to find people in my area who do Bonsai at a very high level and have massive tree collections. That is how I acquired much of my stock.. I plan to visit Green Thumb one day, and head up to Charlotte to visit the Bonsai Learning center again... I just wish we had at least one actual Bonsai Nursery in Columbia. A place to get tools, soil components,.. That sort of stuff.

I'm finding that there are at least two bonsai nurserys around me within two to three hours. It took me 6 hrs to make my way to Green Thumb. I was happy just to see container shimpakus for sale.

Eric,

How did you take the cuttings off of your juniper? Did you air layer? Or can you cut the branch in spring and use root hormone? I am pretty new at propagating branches.

Hi Matt, if it were mine, I'd leave it alone. It's really not that strong...hardly no vigorous growing tips. In juni's, growing tips is what provides the energy for roots. So no strong growing tips means the roots are still not quite ready. Fertilize the hell out of it till late fall. Get it healthy and if it looks better in the spring, you can either pot it up, or give it it's first style.

Fore,

What type of fertilizer do you recommend? Should I order the cake style or can I use an off the shelf local type? I'd love to see this tree thrive!

Dr Earth Life Pellets. Cheap thru amazon. Put in tea bags is the cleanest way to apply. Say a 12" pot, start with 3 tea bags with a tblsp of pellets and reapply q. 4wks keeping the old still on the soil.

Matt I may have missed it, but please put your location in your profile. It is needed for folks to make recommendations and suggestions. Also finding local sources and more importantly mentors is made much easier by joining a club. Here is a link for a listing of VA clubs. And if you are in Richmond then here is that clubs link.

Miracle grow.

Inorder for the particular Shimpaku to become viable as a bonsai candidate it will take at least three years of supper feeding with copious amounts of Miracle Grow, and what ever else you can get on sale and use.

what about grafting branches lower?

You could do that provided you were good at performing grafts. Personally from looking at this tree I am not so certain it is Shimpaku.

Vance Wood said:

I am not so certain it is Shimpaku.

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I was gonna say the same thing... Looks more tree-ish than shrub-ish

I'm not certain it's shimpaku myself. The foliage is similar but seems off from to the other examples I have.

Is there anything I would need to know about purchasing the right Miracle Zgrow product? Would I use MG in addition to fertilizing?