Juniper raft ?

[maroun.c]

Will be tepotting this small tree I got from a nursery a while back. Was thinking to reduce to a small tree and put in a small pot just to learn repotting and basic shaping....
Yet I realised all the branches are on one side of the trunk and am thinking experimenting with a raft style.
If I plant and have the trunk half or fully covered in soil would the trunk root ? Do I have to clean some bark from the trunk to induce rooting? Also as it's a juniper if it does root would those roots necessarily sustain the current branches and allow me to take out the roots completely or do I have to keep current roots to sustain current branches when they become trees?

Thanks

 

[Shibui]

The junipers i use here root really easy when branch or trunk is in contact with the ground. This one looks similar so I think it should root quick and easy. Removing patches of bark can speed up root production and will get roots where you want them but is nor essential. You will need to keep the soil around the rooting sites damp to sustain the very new roots until they can grow deeper into the pot.
Leave some/most of the current roots for a year or so until you can see that the trunk has enough new roots to live. At any repot it is possible to remove up to half the roots without hurting the tree so don't be worried about cutting off some roots that are sticking up after the change of trunk angle.
It may take a couple of years for the new roots but eventually there will be enough to keep the tree alive when you remove the old roots.
Like many junipers this one has long, bare trunks. I hope you can get it to grow some new buds or new branches to fill in the lower bare areas.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks, indeed the bare branches are my second concern, I'm hoping I'll have new branches on them. But as you say I have couple of years to wait and see. I'm hoping the cleanup of upper foliage will induce some ne buds/branches. Should I cleanup at time of repot or just give the tree some time to recover from repoting?

 

[Shibui]

I know there is a lot of talk about only one operation at a time and junipers have strength in foliage but none of mine have ever died because I repotted and pruned at the same time. Just make sure you do leave plenty of foliage. They do not grow if all green is removed.

 

[maroun.c]

Sure will keep plenty of foliage and only remove big branches that throw the tree out of balance. If I manage to secure it properly wont remove any branches at this stage. Still working out my poting skills.

 

[sorce]

I'd challenge you to use all those trunks with only the foliage at the tops.

I like the size differences.

You probly have like a 2% chance of it "working", but if it does, it'll be badass.

Sorce

 

[maroun.c]

Why the low chance of it working if they have a decent amount of foliage on top ?
We have many pine forests which are made of.nude long trunks and foliage only at the top.
With the trunks that close it might be very realistic as u say not to have branches and only have a canopy with foliage.

 

[maroun.c]

Repoted today.

Out of the pot not the best root, some black ones and it looked soaked and soil smelled a bit bad.



I bare rooted the underside only and roots weren't stuck to the soil so there was limited affected roots.


I scratched the underside of the trunk in places where itll touch the soil. And placed a bit of moss there to keep new roots moist.

 

[maroun.c]

And done . I left the small branch in current front and most probably that will be the back and itll look like a small tree in the back for 3 D effect or else I'll just remove ....
I'm not sure how to bend the branches to straighten the trucks as trunk on sand isnt that stable yet and wont be before some time I believe. I can anchor wires on a wall and pull the trunks to the front or any other way ?


Any suggestions on anything I should have done different or better? I'm hoping i moved tree in time as roots were clearly struggling and hope itll recover fast. One concern is initial roots are still in the same soil so watering the better soil daily will soak them. How donu approach watering in this scenario? Water each side different?

 

[Shibui]

I would have poked or shaken a bit more of that old soil out. There's nothing you can do to water each half of a pot different. What goes in one side goes into the whole pot. You don't need to water too much but enough to keep it alive for a year until you can have another look and make any changes. For this year just cross fingers and hope.

Why the low chance of it working if they have a decent amount of foliage on top ?

I think Sorce is probably referring to it working as in looking good rather than living. Raft is quite difficult to make a good one. Every time you add some extra part it becomes more difficult to have all the elements look right. A single trunk is hard to get to have all the bends and branches in the right places. Adding a second trunk makes it much harder as you now have 2 trunks which need to have bends and branches in all the right spots and also look good together. 7 trunks together all looking just right and all looking like they belong together really magnifies the degree of difficulty.

I would like to see this tree from the other side. The remote little trunk (currently at the front in those pics) looks like it would be great to give depth to the arrangement.

 

[maroun.c]

Was afraid to barerooting more than half of the pot but rethinking it believe I should have done especially as roots in the soil didnt look great.
Heres a pic from the other side. Trunks are leaning forward so tough to see it well. This definitely would be the front after branches are brought up . The branch in the back adds a lot in terms of 3D effect. I'll need to get some lower branches on it and lower it a bit less than the other trunk to make it look farther away....


And a pic with elevated pot so trunks look more straight


How do u wire the trunks to straighten them as I'm not able to anchor wire on the tree trunk mostly in soil now to get it too root ?
I can use guy words but will have to anchor them on the wall and keep tree with moving which I doubt would have the same effect as wiring ? I can try to anchor the rmwire in soil ? Most branches are easy as there still thin except the 2 largest ones. Still easy to bend but require a more secure wire.

 

[Shibui]

How do u wire the trunks to straighten them

Depends what you need to achieve.
To straighten out the s bends just wire from base to top then bend the trunk straight.
To stand a leaning trunk up straighter you will need a different strategy. maybe tie a ring of wire round the pot just under the lip and connect guy wires onto that. Or tie guy wires around the feet of the pot and up over the rim to the trees that need to be moved. Plastic training pots are so much easier because you can punch a hole wherever you need to tie a wire.
You may need to do both a trunk wire to straighten the trunks and a guy wire to pull the straight trunk upright.
Consider whether you really want dead straight trunks. Maybe having all of them curved a little would look good? Both are legitimate possible forms. In the end the style is up to you.

You should probably defer any training (bending of trunks) until the tree has settled in and recovered from the repot. Moving the trunks around while you wire and bend can dislodge the tree from the pot or break off any new roots that have started to grow.
If I am going to pot and style a tree at the same time I wire before putting it into the pot so there is less possibility of new root damage. There are a lot of growers now who subscribe to the one insult per season theory meaning either repot or style but not both. I have found that I can get away with both together with many species but probably better for beginners to err on the side of caution.

 

[maroun.c]

By straightening I meant pulling the trunks to the back as they lean forward too much but yeah indeed there will be some curves in the trunks for sure.
Indeed I should have either worked the tree before (not an option as I knew it was in bad soil and I needed to move it out) so believe in should have wired the tree anchoring wire to the main trunk and move it to the new pit and adjust the trunks lean with the wire a bit .... if that cant be done anyway then I'll just use guy wires as u describe. I'm not sure itll work as I need to pull high from the trunks so the pot wont allow for that angle. Might need to put the pot on some wood attach a vertical wood to it to anchor the wires I guess. Still that's wait till next season so tree develops some roots to fix itself better. I'll do it in Oct 2021?

 

[Shibui]

I was also going to suggest waiting until the tree has rooted well before trying to move the trunks. Junipers are usually slow to thicken so it will not be too late next year.
You may be able to just poke the wire down into the soil and start wiring from ground level and still get enough hold to straighten those trunks up.

 

[maroun.c]

Wanted to set the initial.structure to the branches, now that the roots should have developed a bit. As im not able to anchor wire on the trunk buried in soil, I had this stand made of plywood and pot is sitting on it and I attached guy wires to hooks screwed at the back. I also wired the trunks and set minimal motion to them as typically a forest wouldn't have Sharp trunk movements?
I kept the small branch in the back as I believe it adds a nice 3 D effect.
Next April or a year later ill repot and move the raft a bit more to the right in the pit as I can now reduce original roots a bit.
Haven't cleaned up branches yet as this year I dudnt get much new foliage so this is causing me.to be a bit cautious. I can see some new foliage down the trunk or lower branches though.
Appreciate feedback on the movement I made in trunks, is it OK or too much for a forest ?
Also on plan for coming April, repit and reduce original roots already or give it a year time.
Prune foliage and cleanup non needed branches l, next April or a year later ?
Thanks

 

[maroun.c]

Forgot the pics