Brain Treez's Seven-year Shimpaku Juniper contest entry

[Brain Treez]

Like others, I will have a plethora of trees in the works with the hopes of picking quality out of the quantity. The first batch are these 8 itoigawa whips from Left Coast Bonsai (@JEads) that came in yesterday. I hope to wire and bend them this weekend when it's a little more pleasant to be outside. I'm not yet sure if I want to pot any of these up into a 1 gallon or let them go in these for the first year.



I also have one unworked kishu whip from last year that I'll bend up, in addition to some air layer candidates on a landscape nursery regular shimpaku.

 

[Brain Treez]

Wired and potted up these eight into whatever I had on hand. Substrate is 3:1 pumice and fir bark, then topped with the bark to help come summer. Without many roots or being attached to a larger tree, I struggled to get a good anchor and leverage for the wire, so I'm disappointed in the twists and bends I was able to get. It also doesn't help that I have a dystonia tremor in my dominant hand/forearm. Wiring and detail work are always going to be an uphill battle for me, but it is what it is.

Weather forecast puts the overnight lows in the mid 20's for the next several days, so they'll spend nights in the garage until that clears. Suppose I could have waited, but I was excited to get going!