How do you deal with whorls?

[Brewing_up_a_storm]

Still a beginner, so I’m looking for a little advice. What is the best way to deal with this whorl on this Arcadia juniper. I’ve wired the leader up and feel like there may be some inverse taper in the future, due to the whorl. I also have the same issue on a Scots Pine that I have in the ground as well.

I suppose I would carve it down eventually, but am looking for a little advice from
some folks with more experience.

Also, how many sacrificial branches should I leave on this beast? Hoping to plant this in the ground and let it grow out to be an informal upright some day. The leader is the one branch that is wired.

Thanks!

 

[0soyoung]

Reduce to two branches.

An alternative is a whorl at the top of an evergreen can be hidden in an apex. The whorl of branches descending to form a canopy. And of course one bent up-and-over to form the apex of the canopy (and cover that knob like a hat).

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I try to prevent them on new pine branches by reducing the branches to two's at the end of the summer.
Some whorls can be hidden by using a different front.

Picking material with very few whorls helps too, but sometimes you have to work with what you can get.

It's a fact that weak branches don't grow very fat, so balancing strength can be a strategy.

A good jin or shari can also be a method. Dead wood doesn't grow.

 

[leatherback]

Dead wood doesn't grow.

 

[sorce]

Kick em out before they ask for money.

Welcome to Detroit.....I mean Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Forsoothe!]

The earlier in the process you begin to choose branches to keep, excluding all others, the easier it is for growth to disguise the scars and overcome the bulges. It's especially important on trees that will be small, like shohin.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Same question as the OP about my almost 1 year old jbp seedling cutting.

There's 4 branches forming a whorl but with the tree being so young when would this be considered an issue?

PS: Sorry to OP for hijacking the thread

 

[Forsoothe!]

Every needle present contributes to growth, so what you take off reduces or limits growth. You have to make a choice between increased growth OR smaller or limited scars and whorl bulges.

 

[KillerButts]

Still a beginner, so I’m looking for a little advice. What is the best way to deal with this whorl on this Arcadia juniper. I’ve wired the leader up and feel like there may be some inverse taper in the future, due to the whorl. I also have the same issue on a Scots Pine that I have in the ground as well.

I suppose I would carve it down eventually, but am looking for a little advice from
some folks with more experience.

Also, how many sacrificial branches should I leave on this beast? Hoping to plant this in the ground and let it grow out to be an informal upright some day. The leader is the one branch that is wired.

Thanks!
Disclaimer Just my two cents, I am no expert.

As @0soyoung said (and why) I would reduce to those 2 branches more specifically and work towards this shape in the picture if it were mine, not in one day but by reducing then eliminating what I have blacked out. Those branches in black should be stub cut about 4” then reduced more to a more flush cut year 2, or maybe further nipped at with branch cutters.

The trailing far branch would be my new apex. The larger branch facing us I would try to back-bud by slicing a 1/16” deep line about a little less than half way around where I marked in orange with a razor blade.

I would scratch out as much of the soil from the surface as I could without disturbing the lower 3/4 of root mass. I would pack an inch of sphagnum moss and a cup of vermiculite to the surface and stick it in the ground.

Over the next 2 years I would try to cut out those whorls going in vertical 3-5”x1”sections, top to bottom so it heals like a zipper. Maybe during this time a bud throws just before the line you made with the razor and you can reduce this sacrificial branch.

I would also put a bell cage over this so the squirrels can’t chew at the wounds. Year 2&3 you could raise some springtails in trays with activated charcoal to clean the wounds as they age and heal over. Maybe in 4-5 years you get a sweet informal upright to dig up.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Whorls.
What you have in the juniper is not truly a whorl, it is a zone of congested branching. This needs to be thinned. You already have a knot that formed. I would keep one larger diameter branch and one smaller diameter branch.

Pines - these produce true whorls. For young pine trees, you really don't need to worry much about whorls forming knots or zones of reverse taper. Any time your description of the tree includes "increase the diameter of the trunk", you have time to cure inverse or reverse taper.

Young pines, that are too young to really consider styling, essentially pre-bonsai. Reduce the number of branches to 3 or 4. One is the continuation of the trunk, or main branch, second will be a large shoot, going in the direction you think might be useful. The third will be a small branch going the opposite direction, or just a different direction. If there are a mix of larger and smaller branches in the whorl you keep one large and then one or two of the smallest, an you keep the continuation of the trunk.

This is more than needed, but it keeps your styling options open for later, and retaining more than one branch will help speed the increase in diameter of the trunk.

When the trunk is within 75% of the desired finished diameter, then it is time to reduce the whorls the down to one branch and the continuation trunk or main branch.

 

[Brewing_up_a_storm]

Great info. Thanks!