Developing Juniper Stock: Field Growing

[Neli]

It is embarrassing to say that but I have been lazy and have not finished the article yet. Going to sit down this week and finish it.
I was also not too sure if people are really interested.
But I can tell you I was actually shocked at the way they are styling the junipers. Never imagined that it can be done like that.
I have taken lots of pictures in Japan for this article while I was styling at school, Just need to sit down and finish the article.
This is my blog...but I have done only a small part 1 on junipers.
Navigate through the menus and sub menus on top.
http://nelibonsai.wordpress.com/
and the link to the first part of junipers.

 

[forneysp]

Cass bonsai gardens

I am planning a trip to STL in a couple weeks... I was going to stop by Cass. What do you think of it? It looks promising, and much better than anywhere around Ohio that I've been. My wife is from St. Louis and we visit often. I might have to swing by there when we go.


...........

Since you have not edited you profile to tell us where you live, we cant really help you. I can tell you from my experience in Missouri though. We have real bad soil around the STL area. So, trees need to be grown out in pots. What I have learned from working at one nursery is that all you need to to is put trees in garden center plastic pots. Every time the roots get tight, rake a tiny bit of soil off and put it in a bigger plastic nursery pot. Keep repeating this process until it is in the biggest plastic pot you can find. Also put it in bonsai soil, not akadama or anything that breaks down fast. I bonsai soil from Cass Bonsai, http://www.cassbonsaigardens.com/ , for trees that I am growing. It is mostly pine bark and haydite.

Also I have seen many shimpaku come into a nursery here in STL from florida, and they are grown in a soil containing a lot of sand. I have also read that junipers like to have sand in their soil mix (I think some of the Japanese do it). So I will be experimenting with this, although I cant say for sure that it works yet. The ones from florida that have a lot of sand look amazing. Their foliage is absolutely stunning in color.

From my experience, if you grow them right, in pots, they will look almost as good as growing them in the ground. At the nursery I worked at last summer, there was a huge shimpaku grown from a tiny cutting. About 8-10 years of growing I was told. I have personally started growing out many this year too, using the process that I told you above. I put some some wire to shape them, and after I take the wire off, I will forget about them until I am pleased with their size.

 

[Gaitano]

Cass

Contact Milt or Brian ahead of time to let them know when you will be in town. They are great guys to work with, very knowledgable. Their prices are reasonable and they have a good inventory. Their nursery is about a mile west of I-55 about a half hour from St. Louis in Illinois. It will be worth the visit, stock up! Attached is a good article one of the local papers did on them.

http://www.bnd.com/2014/06/29/3275942/bonsai-brothers-miniature-trees.html

 

[fore]

How do they do it?

I'm curious if anyone can link me to, or reccomend any articles or info on developing juniper stock in the field? I asked Marco about this once and he told me to ask Jim Gremmel. Or maybe to see if Jim would be willing to show me. Hopefully someday that will happen if Jim would be willing. But, I would love to see some articles on how juipers get these amazing movement and are field grown. How does Cheng Cheng do it? I've heard they will wire movement into long whips, then bend shapes into the whips, leave the wire on for a while, then scrunch the tree down even more giving the whip even more movement.

Yenling, did you ever find any good credible information?

 

[Eric Schrader]

Did anyone mention that Cheng has books that he published? I guess they're not about the stock growing but more about the refinement once the stock is dug up again.

Jim just did a program for BSSF last week. He showed some of his field-grown junipers. 10 years of field growing in many cases only yields a 2 inch trunk.

Boon told me that the trees in Cheng's book were field grown for about 30 years and that he has a climate that makes them grow much faster too.

 

[jriddell88]

Jim

I think you're on the right track, the sacrifice branches will be too large to use so they need to be shortened and carved. Try not to think in terms of "first branch, second branch" this is not a good way to design a tree.

Once a tree (even a juniper) is in the ground and established it is difficult to train it like a bonsai. Wire will cut in too quickly to keep track of. Unless you are only ground growing a couple trees it's not a good idea.

I would recommend prior to planting in the ground that you grow the trunk section that you want to use and establish the sacrifice branches and add movement. Let the movement set and then remove the wire. Then plant the tree in the ground for 4-10 years. You may have to do some pruning to control relative vigor in a juniper, but you would do much more in other types of trees (like say a maple)

In my experience Kishu will bud at the base of a larger branch with new small buds when you cut it back hard and it's healthy. Make sure that the branches that are to be removed have been wired since the jin that are left should not be straight.

I would think that a hard pruning early in the season prior to the year it was dug would allow for some good shoots to work with to make finished branches.

Here's a photo of part of Jim's growing field (perhaps better called a growing forest!):

id like to wonder around there for a day!