Another partway rmj

[wireme]

If I can make one more suggestion, try to get the bottom of every pad as flat as possible, first with wire, then finishing by plucking any wayward scales extending downward.

Hey Pinion, your suggestions are always welcome and sorry I didn’t reply till now. Anyhow, been busy and now moving on to other trees when possible here. I could add a few more fine wires and snip some wayward fronds here and there to crisp the image up for sure. On the other hand as far as continued development of the tree I don’t think that will make any difference so.. next time!

 

[just.wing.it]

A little more progress and I better move on to other work for the day. It will be difficult now to get any clearer look at the upper portion styling without removing the reserve foliage. View attachment 249611

I like where you've taken this tree, and where its heading.

I have one juniper that I have somewhat similar design plans for.

What are you using for soil mix, if I may ask?

 

[wireme]

I like where you've taken this tree, and where its heading.

I have one juniper that I have somewhat similar design plans for.

What are you using for soil mix, if I may ask?

Thank you wing it. It’s probably about 85 percent gritty stuff of a roughly 3/8” size, the remainder some type of high carbon chunky organic stuff of similar size.

It all gets remixed and reused so I don’t really know what is in each tree but a random mix of pumice, lava, granite and coarse perlite. Organic component probably mostly broken up nurse log chunks, some of it burnt and charcoal-like, fir bark, coarse moss...

 

[wireme]

Here’s something interesting about this tree. After a rain the deadwood darkens except for a couple places where the deadwood is oldest, it stays white even when wet. The deadwood has never been treated with anything. Maybe some kind of fungus in the wood or a very light lichen colonization. It’s neat anyways. Dry vs wet below.

For anyone dealing with old thin dead bark layers on conifer deadwood try scraping after a prolonged rain. Some of the stuff can be just about impossible to remove without scalloping into the wood and leaving tool marks when it’s dry. If it’s been wet for a couple days a dull scraper of some kind can slide it off without cutting into the wood below.

 

[wireme]

Today.

I moved a bottom branch from right to left first thing this spring. Other than that, nothing since the last update.

Looks nice and healthy though, probably get into refining the styling here one day soon.

 

[wireme]

Looking back to the freshly styled image has me thinking I’ve really got to keep the canopy narrow, looks much better than when allowed to grow out wider I think . It’s gonna be fun to rework