Help with the "Octopus".

[Joe Dupre']

I need some help! I collected this tree on the side of the road in Feb. of 2017. It had been pushed over and mangled by grass cutting equipment probably more than once. It was six feet tall and 3 feet wide with very little foliage close to the trunk. What growth you see is mostly from this past summer.

It's at a severe angle and some of the roots had been exposed and some of the branches had been buried..........a real mess. The trunk is about 2.5 " in diameter at one inch above soil line. We don't see many conifers in the wild around here. Heck, I don't even know what species it is.

I've looked at it all summer........turned it around and around........tilted it at all angles and can't really come up with a styling plan. Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[Ironbeaver]

Some sort of juniper? (Foemina?) I kind of like the first or last as a front. Clump style maybe?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Take to bonsai club training class.

 

[just.wing.it]

I would consider making the smallest tree possible, and get out the jin tools.

 

[sorce]

Shit....I thought you were the indiana Joe for a second.....I'd a bought it and came got it!

Peep @JudyB four trunk Hornbeam?
And any @MACH5 juniper...

Combined is this things future!

Pimp grab!

Sorce

 

[Joe Dupre']

I've been messing around with Paint. First time I've blocked out part of a picture.

 

[StoneCloud]

Difficult yes, bad tree.....not in my opinion. it also has a cool story

I hate being stumped!

The 2nd to last pic looks to make a nice front there is nice taper on the main trunk there

and if you keep it you can jin the rest and make a wild looking tree

 

[Lazylightningny]

Just let it grow for a couple of years and fertilize it heavily.

 

[Giga]

very rough design guide maybe

 

[StoneCloud]

very rough design guide maybe
View attachment 173841

Nice! My virt game sucks. I need software lol.

That's what I was seeing!

 

[Michael P]

I can't give you any help with the design, but the tree is almost certainly an Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Wow, Giga, that didn't even occur to me. Looks really tempting .......but................. .... I've been tinkering. In the first pic, the front branch was the one that was really bothering me.........so I hacked it. I did a little carving to blend it and all the mower scalps in and cleaned up and extended the shari on the large trunk to incorporate and hide the big cut near the apex. Where I cut off and carved the front branch, I painted on a little crushed charcoal and water.......my favorite to help hide fresh cuts. That area is going to need more carving later in the spring. The Octopus has lost at least one of it's arms.

 

[sorce]

That was recent!? No!

Just wire it!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Those trunks coulnt be more beautifully placed.

Sorce

 

[Joe Dupre']

MichaelP, the foliage had me confused, but I do think it's Eastern Red Cedar. The juvenile foliage looks quite a bit different than the mature one. Very prickly.

The side trunks were much more vertical when collected. All I did was put some heavy wire props between the outboard branches and the center trunk. It took some muscle to just push them out two inches. I don't figure I'll put any bends into the lower halves by standard wiring. Not near finished, but at least I have a direction for the design.

 

[defra]

I love giga's virt allot
To bad
Ask @Tentakelaertje he is an octopuss expert!

 

[Joe Dupre']

Update on the Octopus. I started to really work on this tree in Jan. of 2018. I really wracked my brain to come up with a design. I came up with something that appeals to me.

While I haven't really groomed it with flat pads and intricately wired branches, to me it's cool to have an example of the ONLY evergreen conifer species in my neck of the woods. And, horror or horrors, I got it to this decent state of fullness by mostly PINCHING! Oh, my! LOL.

 

[Japonicus]

@Joe Dupre'
Your shari does not appear to offer the right branch as a jin and pinching it fully,
excludes it as a sacrifice branch...for now. In essence a bar branch that reminds me of an anchor or arrow.

Progression and fact that it's still alive is exciting though. I like how you've brought the foliage in compared
to the before picture we didn't see
" It was six feet tall and 3 feet wide with very little foliage close to the trunk. What growth you see is mostly from this past summer."
Nice job reeling it in.
Now take it from me, learning the hard way, don't just pinch. Allow the foliage to grow out and snip back.

To remove 20+ years of growth or not?

This is my oldest bonsai, duly named Alpha, surviving my "holocaust" when I burned most of my trees up in a cold frame years ago. The few that survived were small enough to go on the ground, rather than what makeshift bench I made on top of the plastic bottom which held some rain runoff...

www.bonsainut.com

After mostly pinching, your growth will become vertically thicker and thicker. Then there's wire I need to put to use as well. Always something.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Japonicus, I don't quite understand this.
"Your shari does not appear to offer the right branch as a jin and pinching it fully,
excludes it as a sacrifice branch...for now. In essence a bar branch that reminds me of an anchor or arrow. "

I always think about a "before" picture too late. Too anxious to get it home, I guess.

I normally cut the longer pieces of foilage to get my basic shape and pinch the faster growing tips to help with backbudding. I realize that ERC is not the best at backbudding, but it seems to be helping.

ERC , to me , is like someone from Arizona swooning over a Bald Cypress. BC , we have plenty of. Evergreen conifers.....not so much.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I believe junipers were put on earth to stay green while people try to get them to be bonsai. In the process they will stick you and present you with rubbery wood to wire and wait for some sort of "set." MY junipers reward me with branches that wither and create the fun challenges of deciding when to go 100% pines and deciduous.