Another neglected Juniper

Day 1 of many to come...

Well, I won't show the picture of the trunk. The lichen covering it is more embarrassing than I care to divulge just now.
I bought this tree in Florida on my way back from Destin at some point 10+ years ago.
Never cared for the way the main trunk forks straight ahead like a side by side double barrel shotgun, so this one took back seat.

Got pulling insidious weeds from my WP and when I got to this guy, I knew I had to thin it down
opening up the heart and let some Sunshine in.

I do not recall ever putting a strand of wire to this bonsai, but it is to the point now where some branches will have to be wired.

Several foliage infractions were left for now till I can jin the branch with the infractions. For today I left a little foliage to keep branches alive till then.

Below is before and after of the front then the back. Still very much to do, but with the heat index at 109ºF. I'm done for today.

I didn't lie, but I stand corrected. One wildly placed branch was wired 7 years ago as I archived my pictures
Thumbnails attached

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Probably should've named this Moving a Jin by Fire...

I don't know. Looks like I need to repost a better more condensed video of this
when I have a lighter that's not Running on Empty (Jackson Brown).

It's best to do this once and hold the jin till it's cooled down whatever method of cooling you use.
I prefer time and a little conduction to allow the thin hot sap to cool and solidify.
I mentioned this method to @Steve C at the end of April, so thought I'd shoot a video showing how it's done.
I'll post this method in a new thread with a better looking bonsai once I get to that task.
The smaller new jin beside this one required a shield for the foliage above it. Juniper can ignite quite fast
so please spray your foliage to dripping prior to doing this and protect what's above the flame.

Turns out the lichen is moss for the most part. Actually 2 types, one that is light green like the lichen I thought it was.
It will take me weeks to get the trunk and branches presentable if not the entire Summer and Fall.
I will try some straight distilled white vinegar at 5%. I'm covering the pot prior to tweezing the moss off
and will do the same for the vinegar.

Been busy this weekend, 3 migraines in 4 days, but managed to work on some issues with
this juniper from so many years of pinching for the main styling tool. There's a bit more to wire out
over the next year or two, but for now many weak tertiary branches will just grow on to thicken before wiring.
Most of the wire is on the left side.

In the 3rd pic you may be able to pick up on how the trunk forks and the right fork
creates the remaining main trunkline, and the left fork goes a long ways into creating the
right side of the project. Still in a mica pot, no idea when it was last repotted, but with the
late Summer thinning, I will not be repotting this coming Springtime.
I prefer a strong sort of unruly, bushy juniper to repot.

Have to keep my thread updated even though I posted pics in the Tea House, that won't help me
keep a digital record of the progress here.

So today I thinned some, again, but not as much as is needed. No before shots. It needs some more wire but is soaked and I want to
correct the issues from pinch styling over years not in a single year. Some branches I reach in, only to retract and say not now.
I don't usually thin much before July anyway. More will follow on all my projects throughout the Summer.





June 28, 2020

@HorseloverFat there are a couple background light/dark shots in this thread. Have had this snagglepuss since
2008 or earlier. My juniper collection would be so much better had I not burned them all up one Winter
in a cold frame some 20 years ago. I have 1 or 2 left that survived the transpiration. Was used to in ground Wintering
and did not water near enough.

Japonicus said:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Probably should've named this Moving a Jin by Fire...

I don't know. Looks like I need to repost a better more condensed video of this
when I have a lighter that's not Running on Empty (Jackson Brown).

It's best to do this once and hold the jin till it's cooled down whatever method of cooling you use.
I prefer time and a little conduction to allow the thin hot sap to cool and solidify.
I mentioned this method to @Steve C at the end of April, so thought I'd shoot a video showing how it's done.
I'll post this method in a new thread with a better looking bonsai once I get to that task.
The smaller new jin beside this one required a shield for the foliage above it. Juniper can ignite quite fast
so please spray your foliage to dripping prior to doing this and protect what's above the flame.

Click to expand...

Two things...

First.. this is AMAZING... i’ve heard of this, but never actually witnessed the process.. thanks for sending a homing pigeon to me ‘bout this. (Also, your voice reminds me of learning how to talk and my young childhood. I spent the first five years of my life in Virginia.. now I KNOW Virginia is NOT West Virginia.. but you get what I’m saying.)

Second. I’ve met Jackson Browne doing the “music thing” ‘round the midwest.. Actually met him in Door County wisconsin.
I used to “inflate” the story to sound super-cool an nonchalant like; “Jackson browne is a decent guy.. I’ve got drunk with him.”.. when in reality we were performing at the same event.. he liked my music, bought me a drink.. and walked away.... a blind russian, I believe. He made a disgusted face at my drink selection.

I’m much closer (honesty time) to Pat MacDonald (Jackson Brownes close friend and frontman of Timbuk 3).. we experienced heavy connection through music.. I just hung out with him at pridefest last year.

Not many people know who Pat MacDonald is.. I think he enjoys it that way... now.

Dealing with a vigorous amount of (what appears to be) juvenile growth.
Wanting to get some thinning before the last push winds down, and before Winter, I'm having issues planning around
these hair balls of scale growth and wonder aloud if I continue to thin, if I'm going to continue to get scale growth?...

...because when I started this thread and switched from pinching to a better technique of thinning little bit by little bit
nothing in an all out attack of once and done. Rather intermittent 1/2 hr sessions making corrections to silly growth
born on pinching technique from I'm guessing I got this between 2000 and 2006, Maybe at Bonsai by Dori in Dothan, AL for $20 HWY 231? on or way home,-
from the door front attraction stand and sign - Bonsai for $20- all procumbens nana they were. Better bonsai inside their privacy fence.
I remember bits and pieces as I go.



This last pic is basically how I plan to thin over the entire tree over a few years.

I'm just not liking this scale foliage. It gives thinning those areas a shoot and hope type approach due to my lack of experience with it.
I've never in the last 10 or 15 years had to deal with it on this tree, and not to this degree on any of my procumbens.
I have had it before and on the one I've had 22 yrs now in limited fashion. This one is eager to express it though.

Time for my 1st annual update for 2021.
Seemed like most of my juniper were dealing with something this year including tip blight to some degree.

July 4th looking a bit shabby, but the lichen is controlled on the trunk





So I got the sheers going, basically no hard pruning to write home about. Nothing more than is pictured here.




It looks better in person and has no wire on it yet. No idea how far I'll get with wiring on it this year,
but I'm happy to have gotten this chore in the past. It needed it.

Even without wire it looks good. Nice and healthy also.

I just officially named this one Dothan
since that's where I believe I bought it pretty much as malsai.

Hartinez said:

Even without wire it looks good. Nice and healthy also.

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's hard to believe (for me) how much it has changed since 2011 in post #2

Looking HAPPY!

Going on 2 yrs since any update.
This year I've started thinning in April on juniper waking up and in need, a different approach.
Still no wire, and still tons of juvenile growth.
Here's a before and a few after shots.

Before


After removing a little over 1 gallon of foliage



Back


Front

I really want to get the pads more reined, but going to wait for recovery and hope for less juvenile. A drawn out price to pay for neglecting in previous years.

I sort of has a pending vibe. I wish he trunk was more visible.

coltranem said:

I sort of has a pending vibe. I wish he trunk was more visible.

Click to expand...

That will fall into place when I ever get around to wiring, which will happen after I finish thinning.

Japonicus said:

That will fall into place when I ever get around to wiring, which will happen after I finish thinning.

Click to expand...

That should have said penjing but auto correct had other plans.

coltranem said:

That should have said penjing but auto correct had other plans.

Click to expand...

Pending penjing.
When i look up penjing bonsai
Shumu penjing looks to be most applicable here.
But, the definition i got, pretty much encompasses all my bonsai. I'm just working with what the plant has to offer naturally.
Wire will help the lowest right and left branch show purpose.
As is, from the front, they need to go. From the side, at least the right one is necessary and built fairly well.