A New Juniper Project. Need Ideas

[Jetson1950]

I collected this on my trip to Texas last week. It’s a young Ashe Juniper. This will be my first real project with a juniper, so I need some help figuring out a good style for it.

I was able to extract almost all the roots. Soil was like soft mud. All my relatives live in the area where all the flooding is happening. Two days before I got this out of the ground, it was under 20’ of water. As I’m standing over it, you could see the mud line from the flood was up to the tops of the live oaks. Pretty strange to see. Roots have good branching, but it has not started developing its root ball yet. It’s about 24” tall after I removed the top. It’s got very symmetrical branching all around the trunk. Trunk is still a bit flexible (1/2” at the base) so should be easy to introduce some curves in it if desired.

What would be a good style for this one? I would be okay with letting it grow in its natural form, really make it bazaar or anything in between.

 

[shohin_branches]

If you just collected it out of season don't even worry about a style at this point. Focus on aftercare and keeping it healthy for the next three years and then worry about styling it.

 

[Jetson1950]

If you just collected it out of season don't even worry about a style at this point. Focus on aftercare and keeping it healthy for the next three years and then worry about styling it.

The only thing I was thinking of doing now (at least this year) is putting some curves in the trunk while it’s still flexible. Nothing dramatic, but just enough to give it a little character instead of the very straight trunk.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

If you just collected it out of season don't even worry about a style at this point. Focus on aftercare and keeping it healthy for the next three years and then worry about styling it.

shohin branches is right.

What kind of soil mix did you use in the can?
It looks like you did a good job and next step is to wait and make sure it doesn’t get too much or too little water until it shows signs of recovery.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

The only thing I was thinking of doing now (at least this year) is putting some curves in the trunk while it’s still flexible. Nothing dramatic, but just enough to give it a little character instead of the very straight trunk.

That can wait. Juniper are pretty flexible and you can study up on the technique until there are signs of growth.

 

[Jetson1950]

shohin branches is right.

What kind of soil mix did you use in the can?
It looks like you did a good job and next step is to wait and make sure it doesn’t get too much or too little water until it shows signs of recovery.

That can wait. Juniper are pretty flexible and you can study up on the technique until there are signs of growth.

Thanks! This is why I ask. As my Avatar would indicate, I tend to be in full afterburner and don’t know how to slow down and pace myself. The soil mix is two layer. The bottom half is the clay the tree was in while it was in the grown. Top half is a mix of cactus mix, potting soil and perlite. I’ve put it in a place where the sprinklers can’t hit it and I can control how much rain it gets.

I also dug up some younger 2-3 year old seedlings. They are still mostly needles instead of scale type leaves. They are in the same type of soil mix. Same thing about keeping them from getting too wet. (For those who might be concerned, you cannot dig up too many Ashe Junipers. The Texas Dept of Agriculture pays ranchers to kill as many juniper trees as the can. These things are hell on the water table and multiply way too fast.)

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Collecting from clay can be tricky, but maybe some younger material is just right to practice with. The top may be dry and a soggy lump of clay is still there hanging out with the roots.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

If it really is a lump of heavy clay, I have found some boreholes filled with pumice can help the tree breath a little better until the HBR.

https://a.co/d/4Uo4QQU]

 

[BrianBay9]

Thanks! This is why I ask. As my Avatar would indicate, I tend to be in full afterburner

Is that an F-14? With the Texas and Florida connections, I'm guessing ex-Navy aviator?

 

[Jetson1950]

Is that an F-14? With the Texas and Florida connections, I'm guessing ex-Navy aviator?

lol! Ouch! U.S. Air Force F15 Eagle. 21 years in the Air Force of which 14 were flying the F-15. Before that flew the F-4 Phantom II. After the Air Force another 22 years working for Boeing Aerospace teaching young guys and girls how to fly combat in the F-15. It was a great career.

 

[BrianBay9]

lol! Ouch! U.S. Air Force F15 Eagle. 21 years in the Air Force of which 14 were flying the F-15. Before that flew the F-4 Phantom II. After the Air Force another 22 years working for Boeing Aerospace teaching young guys and girls how to fly combat in the F-15. It was a great career.

View attachment 606638

View attachment 606639

Ooooh. My only excuse is bad eyesight! Couldn't tell the difference in your avatar. Sounds like one heck of a career. Thanks

 

[Jetson1950]

Ooooh. My only excuse is bad eyesight! Couldn't tell the difference in your avatar. Sounds like one heck of a career. Thanks

It was always fun going out your way to fly with the Fresno Guard unit. Great warriors.

 

[BrianBay9]

It was always fun going out your way to fly with the Fresno Guard unit. Great warriors.

Yes they are. My son-in-law flies F-18s for the Navy out of Lemoore.

 

[Jetson1950]

Yes they are. My son-in-law flies F-18s for the Navy out of Lemoore.

Awesome. The Hornet is a great jet. I did get to spend some time doing Navy Ops when I was assigned to NATO. Spent time on the Coral Sea and Eisenhower Carriers and the Yorktown Aegis Cruiser. Got a one time flight in the F-14 off the Eisenhower. When you get your first trap you get the tail hook from your landing. Keep it on my hero wall.

 

[Jetson1950]

New to juniper question.

So I’ve taken the bigger Ashe Juniper out of its heavy natural soil it was in and put it in medium sized bonsai soil. It will stay in the 5 gallon garden pot. All of my plants/trees I have transitioned to bonsai soil are separated from the ones in normal potting mixes to maintain different watering schedules. Those in bonsai soil get watered everyday except when we have daily thunderstorms rolling through. Temperatures here are 90s with heat indexes in the 100-110 range.

Knowing the Ashe Juniper likes its roots dry part of the time, should I keep it in the area that gets watered twice a week, or would it be okay with daily watering. With our heat here, it will surely dry out getting water only twice a week. I also have the option of putting it in full sun to full shade to anything in between.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Welcome Aboard Bonsai Nut. Good to see another vet aboard! Also one that had a tad of sea time.

Well, this was kind of an unusual time to change out media, would say you are going to need to watch this tree frequently despite junipers being tough.

Likely the very best procedure is to transition it into full sun over 1-2 weeks and hope for the best.

We did the opposite about a month ago. Transitioning a Temple juniper out of bonsai media and into the garden. The tree resented our actions, but a couple weeks later it perked up.

There are a couple reasons not to do out of season repotting. Some are.

Damage to the fine root hairs which absorb water and nutrients.​

​

Transition from a stable rhizosphere (area with micro organisms which help supply micronutrients and water to tree) to one without. It takes about 1-2 weeks est for the rhizosphere to completely stabilize. During that time the little guys fight for dominance. Including a bit of the former media can help jump start the process.​

​

Lack of a stable anchoring system. One of the reasons we tie down the rootball upon repotting is to help avoid the Instability in the pot which can tear the sensitive new rootlets. Doesn’t totally solve the issue, but goes a really long way to solve it.​

​

Cheers​

DSD sends​

 

[Jetson1950]

Welcome Aboard Bonsai Nut. Good to see another vet aboard! Also one that had a tad of sea time.

Well, this was kind of an unusual time to change out media, would say you are going to need to watch this tree frequently despite junipers being tough.

Likely the very best procedure is to transition it into full sun over 1-2 weeks and hope for the best.

We did the opposite about a month ago. Transitioning a Temple juniper out of bonsai media and into the garden. The tree resented our actions, but a couple weeks later it perked up.

There are a couple reasons not to do out of season repotting. Some are.

Damage to the fine root hairs which absorb water and nutrients.​

​

Transition from a stable rhizosphere (area with micro organisms which help supply micronutrients and water to tree) to one without. It takes about 1-2 weeks est for the rhizosphere to completely stabilize. During that time the little guys fight for dominance. Including a bit of the former media can help jump start the process.​

​

Lack of a stable anchoring system. One of the reasons we tie down the rootball upon repotting is to help avoid the Instability in the pot which can tear the sensitive new rootlets. Doesn’t totally solve the issue, but goes a really long way to solve it.​

​

Cheers​

DSD sends​

Yes, I tend to be a bit reactionary in my decisions to do stuff. What’s that Army expression, “Ready, Fire, Aim”. Mine is more either in full afterburner or throttles in cutoff. I am getting better and it seems most of the little trees do forgive me.

I will say this for the little juniper in question. When I collected it in San Saba County, Texas it had just finished spending 3 days under about 20’ of raging river. The mud line in that area was almost to the tops of the live oaks and the San Saba river in that area was about a mile across. Normally it’s about 100’ across. Made it ready easy to dig things up when the usually rock hard dirt is now soft mud. If it can survive that, hopefully it can survive my somewhat slow learning process. So far everything I brought back from Texas is alive and healing from the ordeal.