Juniper Id

[MrFancyPlants]

I picked this up as it was included at a workshop at the arboretum. I took the practice bending the trunk while retaining the lowest possible branches in case it ever grew into a new design. I promptly repotted into the pond basket but haven't really given it enough of a chance to escape with the moves. I'll winter it in a bed with other pond baskets that really need to escape for a while. Any idea what species or variety? Would the berries be any good in some vodka?



Ugg sorry, terrible pictures. I didn't realize they were so bad since I posted from my phone.

 

[Dav4]

Most likely a Chinese juniper variety...pictures aren't good enough to be more sure or specific.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

This was a draw a number pick a tree workshop at the arboretum a year and a half ago. I must have had last pick and was a little disappointed with my options down low, but I kept every lower branch I could and then used a self anchored guy to try to put a bend in the long straight trunk. I later replaced the guy with a zip tie that I would periodically tighten a few clicks until recently I decided the bow is prob just a sacrifice.

I'm thinking repot this spring at this angle and start lopping off the bow in a few stages.

 

[jk_lewis]

Ugg sorry, terrible pictures. I didn't realize they were so bad since I posted from my phone.

At least they're right side up.

That looks like J. chinensis. It's probably not possible to be more specific as to cultivar.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I am really pleased with how this one is progressing. It was a "tree included" workshop and I was disappointed with what was left over when my number was picked, but I picked one with as much growth near the base as possible, and spent most of the workshop bending the long strait leader into an ugly bow shape and practicing wiring basics on it. Anyways it looks 10 times better now that all of that hard work has been chopped off. The foliage seems to compact the more that I leave it alone, which is nice from a Maintainence perspective. I'll go slow getting it in to that smaller pot to try and preserve the scale foliage.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Roy Nagatoshi was kind enough to give this a once over for me and even adjusted the angle in the new pot I brought back from Brasil. He said it was really too big but agreed it would be a good training pot for the next year or ten.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

@Redwood Ryan
Do you remember what variety of shimpaku?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Kishu I believe.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

This is from May or June 2017, but I just got the photos from my brother in law. He is much better at taking photos than me. The stub left over from the sacrifice growth is eye poking in this photo, but it has the best color. I like to hear some feedback or suggestions. I only have a couple juniper in my collection, so far from an expert. I make have reduced the branch on the left a bit already, but this photo makes me want to reduce it even further. It also looks liker I need to pot deeper next time around. Maybe this spring I will repot and reposition a bit deeper and lean left a tad? Any suggestions for enhancing the base of the tree? How about what I should do with the deadwood stub. Peel of the bark? I have a small bottle of lime sulfur that I've had for years and never used. I've never used lime sulfur before; I hear it stinks.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Any pointers here? I haven’t done much other than slight reductions since Roy Nagatoshi styled it nearly three years ago. Minimally, I should remove upward facing and crotch growth sometime soon? Maybe try some cutting while I am at it?

 

[Stan Kengai]

@MrFancyPlants this juniper doesn't look particularly healthy. If I had to guess, I would say it is over-planted. Junipers get their strength from their foliage, in a sense. Removing foliage from the plant now would be detrimental to its health. I would repot it during you normal transplanting time, in a container about half as large in volume as the one it's currently in. Fertilize lightly through the growing season. Junipers really need little care to thrive with the right growing conditions.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

@MrFancyPlants this juniper doesn't look particularly healthy. If I had to guess, I would say it is over-planted. Junipers get their strength from their foliage, in a sense. Removing foliage from the plant now would be detrimental to its health. I would repot it during you normal transplanting time, in a container about half as large in volume as the one it's currently in. Fertilize lightly through the growing season. Junipers really need little care to thrive with the right growing conditions.

Thanks for the input. What makes you think it looks unhealthy? The color of the foliage or the just lack of foliage to the pot size? The little work that I have been doing on the tree is removing the strong sections if I think it might shade out better branching below. It has been a bit slow to develop, so I don't disagree with you about the health, but my main concern is that it doesn't get too lanky on me.

I'm not sure that I have an appropriately sized pot to put it in, but maybe I can borrow one from my tropicals. They were almost all repotted this past fall before I brought them in, but have been growing gangbusters in the LED enclosure, so I may be able to shuffle them around later spring.

At the risk of kicking off a soil war, can I ask for recommendations on how to proceed with the repotting? At some point I mentioned that I thought I had "arrived horticulturally" with the purchase of a big bag of turface mvp, and I received some scoffs on here and/ or the IBC. I'll rephrase and say that, "I have arrived horticulturally to the point where I no longer reliably kill plants", but there is always room for improvement.

I just did some sifting and mixing of my potting media yesterday, because I have some elm and maples that are overdue for a repotting and I want to be ready. I was running low on buckets, so I just mixed my components together after sifting with screens of sizes 1/4" , 1/8" and 1/12" (large, medium, small) ~ 30% pumice, 30% cali-dama, 15% scoria and 15% "hard" akadama. I have left over lava and akadama that I could boost the %'s , but was worried that the akadama can be broken with the fingers and might turn to mush in large amounts. I do also have some very dry long grain spaghnum and aged compost that I could sift for an organic component.

Should I use the Large or the medium particle size if I repot this spring? Could I maybe use the same pot if I use the large particle size, maybe with a drainage layer of scoria? (same sifted size, but just scoria as opposed to the sifted mix, maybe even half way). My argument would be that if the plant is suffering due to being over potted, the real problem is that it is staying too wet, and larger particles and a same sized scoria drainage layer would help drainage without risk of perched water table. Include any organics?

 

[sorce]

An Internet Communications Tree Killer Phenomenon.

If I had to guess, I would say it is over-planted. Junipers get their strength from their foliage, in a sense. Removing foliage from the plant now would be detrimental to its health

Nothing wrong with a guess.....
But how we stay stuck on the guess is the phenomenon....
What's worse is the actual problem is hinted at in Stan's response.....
Removing foliage NOW, would be detrimental.
But what of PREVIOUS foilage removal?
Lost in time that doesn't exist.*

The little work that I have been doing

Nothing wrong with "little" as an adjective here either....
It is little work to us...cutting off runners...
But to a juniper.....this IS HUGE.

So here, it is easy to dismiss the actual problem.
It was just a "little" work.

But it is getting overlooked because we are again OVERLY concerned with "soil" and "moisture".

It's easy to lose these hints to ACTUAL PROBLEMS when they are but one sentence, lost to time*, amidst paragraphs and paragraphs of soil talk.

I know Stan may come in with the proper info, but only if the adjective "little", (as a human not a juniper) wasn't effective on him.

Even if he does recognize the actual problem, someone else is bound to continue talking about soil and repotting(since we are so mindfuckededly attached to these concepts) and we will stay lost in what was admittedly only a guess in the first place.

So....
Make soil or get off the pot. ......
Which is to say....

Shit! Stop worrying about repotting and soil!

Truth is, with all the runners cut off, this tree doesn't have what it takes to prosper thru a downpotting.

Don't let the internet kill your tree!

Sorce

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Shit! Stop worrying about repotting and soil!
Truth is, with all the runners cut off, this tree doesn't have what it takes to prosper thru a downpotting.

So your recommendation is don't repot and don't cut at all for another year or until there is much more vigorous growth, correct?

I swear I wan't pinching, but I did take off some runners if I thought they were shading better ramification.

 

[sorce]

I swear I wan't pinching,.

Lol!

This too eh?

All this talk about a "how" to remove something which is essentially the same thing with a different tool.

And no/little talk about when, or if, to use the Damn technique!

I don't know well enough myself to spearhead a juniper care discussion, but before @chicago1980 put it into percentages for me, I really couldn't grasp the importance of those runners.

I forget the exact number but I think it was like 60% of the Entire trees energy in them runners.
Now, after some successful bushy summer repots, and some hard stylings that made it thru winter......

I'm getting a bit more knowledgeable/confident in that horticultural arrival!

I personally found it easier to enjoy this without worrying much about soil, or water.
Bunch a stuff coming thru winter that was repotted into real bonsai pots with 8822..and mindless daily water...and fert, is surely reinforcing this thought.

My only downfall was spring repotting.

Any weather I don't see here, like Vegas, can be compensated for with more water.

Besides that, I see humid, drought, weeks of rain, snow, ice, shit that is not even defined as "a weather" sometimes that switches right back to solid ice, and a thing I like to call Fuck Hot!

8822 isn't just good for me!

Hell, it's only downfall, that bit of unsifted mess I found that turned hydrophobic.....
Reckon That's only cuz it was in a basket, in a bonsai pot, like I aha'd out of that RN video...that inside will likely get wet eventually too, since the water will want to find somewhere to go, capilary itself up into those parts.

It can always be "so many other things".
But its really only ever ONE thing.

The internet is good at clouding that.

Yes!

Wait till it's bushy then have no mercy putting it into a tiny pot!

Sorce

 

[Cable]

Is there a "Sorce Translator" mod we can get for the forums???

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I think this hasn’t regained some vigor free not touching it for a growing season. Any updated suggestions?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'm still open to general advice on this one, but what about that little chunk of deadwood(more visible in earlier photos)? I've seen the general advice to saw a plus sign into the tip of it, crush it with some pliers or vise-grips, and then start peeling towards the base. Should I just give a go? What if the peeling peels too far?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Once deadwood, it will never get bigger. Even though the tree might/will.
I have decided to wait it out for a few years on my junipers.

When peels peel to far, set a pair of pliers on the spot where you want them to end and just break the wood between the pliers. Alternatively, wrap a few coils of wire, or work from that endpoint towards the tip by means of an incision or cut.

Good luck!

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Good advice.. I just want to do something with it so that it isn't square cut. In retrospect, I should have kept the sacrifice on for another year or 10. I really like what sacrifices can accomplish, but sometimes you get sick of having eye pokers all over the yard.