Collected Shohin Juniper.

[Anonymous User]

I found this beauty early this spring hiding behind a 12 foot parent tree, collection was easy and it has acted like nothing happened at all.

Other then removing some unwanted shoots, nothing has been done to this at all.

Suggestions?




Will

 

[zelk]

burn it.....

 

[grog]

No suggestions but that is a very interesting trunk. Nice find.

 

[Chris Johnston]

That's a lot of trunk for such a small tree. Terrific find! Do you know the variety?

I suggest feeding very heavily, wiring new growth for movement to mirror the trunk, and pruning back. If this is Fitzer, which it looks like to me, it will probably compact some, but I don't know if the foliage will get compact enough for shohin. If it doesn't in a few years, I would suggest grafting shimpaku in place of the original, kind of as a last resort.

 

[anttal63]

congrats will great find! good luck.

 

[irene_b]

That is one sweet find!
Way to go!
I am sure you will figure out which way it wants to go.
Mom

 

[Anonymous User]

burn it.....

Brillant, as usual.


Yep, three years Zelk, not too shabby huh?





Will

 

[Anonymous User]

That's a lot of trunk for such a small tree. Terrific find! Do you know the variety?

I suggest feeding very heavily, wiring new growth for movement to mirror the trunk, and pruning back. If this is Fitzer, which it looks like to me, it will probably compact some, but I don't know if the foliage will get compact enough for shohin. If it doesn't in a few years, I would suggest grafting shimpaku in place of the original, kind of as a last resort.

I don't know the varity as of now, haven't done much research, I'll post foliage and a close up of the bark here later, maybe we can figure it out.

Thanks,



Will

 

[irene_b]

Brillant, as usual.


Yep, three years Zelk, not too shaby huh?
Will

Will can ya just ignore it?
Mom

 

[Bill S]

Tough to tell from the pic, but at least the branching seems abundant, and hopefully well placed.
Good trunk to start with, guess it's pick the frame work from the new branches, leave a few for sacrifice and oop's, wire it and FEED.

Hard to find that fat of a short trunk, nice find.

If you don't feed the dirty little stray, it'll go away. What dirty little stray , Where , What , Who, Hugnh Oh Pooba!

 

[Chris Johnston]

In fact, I would probably replace the foliage at the earliest opportunity with a tree this size. I know this puts me on the outs with the "naturalists," but I this foliage is almost featherlike, and will be difficult to make something with a sense of proportion.

 

[Anonymous User]

In fact, I would probably replace the foliage at the earliest opportunity with a tree this size. I know this puts me on the outs with the "naturalists," but I this foliage is almost featherlike, and will be difficult to make something with a sense of proportion.

Thanks for the opinion Chris, but I'll work with what nature has provided, in this case a naturally thick trunk and lots of low branches. I collected three beautiful cedars last year, nice trunks, old bark, and they are responding very well. I gave the best of the three to Vance Wood and he is thinking of putting on Hinoki foliage, which is perfectly fine, I will be working with the cedar foliage...should be interesting.

Since this was collected this spring, I'll not be doing anything to it for a year at least, maybe more, other than some light pruning to develop more branching. Feeding well, is a given.

I'll post more pictures of other angles later this evening.



Will

 

[JasonG]

Hey Will,

I would work with the native foliage like you plan too, although Chris is right~ grafting shimpaku will make it a better tree...... I personally try to work with what nature has given us....

I wouldn't worry about working on it too soon. Look at the growth on this little guy, it is very good and that is the sign with Junipers. Heck, my huge monster that Walter Pall posted on his blog was collected last fall and this spring we worked on it pretty good. Responded well. The reason bieng is, like in your case there was very little root disturbance when collecting. Almost like slip potting in a sense. When one collected a tree like this the wait time is reduced drastically.

If this tree was on my bench I would start by thinning it out and starting to get a good visual on what you have to work with. I wouldn't start to style or anything until you have explored the trunk to see if there are any dead viens in there. If so I would expose them and work the trunks deadwood THEN determine your tree based in part of what you find....

My 2 cents worth based on a bad picture...

Good luck, and nice find!

Jason

 

[BONSAI_OUTLAW]

Great trunk Will.

I honestly love Chris' suggestion however. I would love to see that trunk with "itoigawa" foliage coming out of it.

 

[Anonymous User]

Thanks guys. Here are the other pictures I said I would post....

 

[Anonymous User]

And two more, the first before the minor trim.

 

[Graydon]

Cultivar? It looks like an eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) based on the prickly juvenile foliage.

I know you want to try to work with what you have but if it is an eastern red the foliage can be a hit or miss. I have a few and one year that put out nice and tight scales and then "boom" back to the little prickly stuff.

Nice trunk.

 

[Anonymous User]

Interesting, today I compared it to known species I have and decided it was San Jose based on the other San Jose that I have. I also have enough eastern reds to make a rather large forest.


Will

 

[Ashbarns]

Will

What a find, great trunk movement and bark. I would proceed with the foliage you have, endless possibilities here.

Ash

 

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Ash.

My daughter, when looking at this tree from the angle shown here, said she liked the dancing lady. Having learned four years ago, when she was two, that she sees much more than most adults can (kids are like that), I didn't say a word and just kneeled beside her to see what she meant.

I finally got it....




Will