eeeealmo
Mame
After 8 years of growing trees, I finally got my first juniper. I figured that since they were so ubiquitous, I must be missing out on something. I picked up this lovely Itoigawa for $25 from a dealer, and have started working on it.
Here it is before being touched.
The main trunk seemed way too straight, so I figured this was also a good opportunity to try using rafia for the first time. I have no idea if it was necessary for the resulting bend, but not knowing how flexible junipers actually are, I didn't want to risk bending without some sort of backup system in place.
I was pretty satisfied with my first attempt, so I put on the thickest copper wire I could manage (another first), and gave the trunk some movement.
I let it sit for a couple of weeks after that to make sure I hadn't killed/damaged anything important. It actually grew like gangbusters after the trunk bend, so today I finally tried to do some structural styling.
There are some obvious structural flaws that still need to be addressed :
a) The lower 2 branches originating from the same point. I like the idea of turning one into a jin at some point, but will see how they grow for now.
b) The thicker branch on the left side of the trunk halfway up is at a super weird angle. Not sure what to do there.
I know it still needs lots and lots of work/clean up, but I'm trying to take it slowly so the tree stays healthy.
Any input, comments, advice, criticism, or praise would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Here it is before being touched.
The main trunk seemed way too straight, so I figured this was also a good opportunity to try using rafia for the first time. I have no idea if it was necessary for the resulting bend, but not knowing how flexible junipers actually are, I didn't want to risk bending without some sort of backup system in place.
I was pretty satisfied with my first attempt, so I put on the thickest copper wire I could manage (another first), and gave the trunk some movement.
I let it sit for a couple of weeks after that to make sure I hadn't killed/damaged anything important. It actually grew like gangbusters after the trunk bend, so today I finally tried to do some structural styling.
There are some obvious structural flaws that still need to be addressed :
a) The lower 2 branches originating from the same point. I like the idea of turning one into a jin at some point, but will see how they grow for now.
b) The thicker branch on the left side of the trunk halfway up is at a super weird angle. Not sure what to do there.
I know it still needs lots and lots of work/clean up, but I'm trying to take it slowly so the tree stays healthy.
Any input, comments, advice, criticism, or praise would be much appreciated. Thanks!