juniperus squamatta

Paulpash

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Vance Wood

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Paulpash

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Do you still have the tree, I notice you said you did some years ago.

Sort of. Displeased at the image it went back into the ground. I kept a lot of foliage on a back branch as a plan B - I think this tree can be shortened considerably in a future restyle. I sold a similar squamata on Ebay a few years ago which looked attractive. The deadwood, lovely deep red bark and steel blue foliage go really well together.
 

defra

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Ok thnx for the heads up about that vance !
Thnx pete and marie for the links something to read :)
 
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Step 1: Remove all dead needles.
Step 2: Remove all dull not growing foliage.
Step 3: Wire every woody branch. Leave the fluffy green foliage alone.
Step 4: Style every branch in a logical way. With this i mean let the branches grow away from the trunk, give them movement and a direction to the light.
Step 5: Take a picture at the end of June, when the tree is happy you can proceed then.

The most interesting tree i see in there is with the lowest branch but since strength in a juniper comes from the foliage you leave everything until it is booming. A styling now should not affect health in a negative way. It will open up the tree, will give you backbudding and will give the tree the possibility to tell you how it wants to be styled.

Keep in mind that the styling is not important. The important thing for this tree is good growing conditions. (1) Good location (in our climate (Netherland / Belgium) i wouldn't advise full sun or full wind so protect it a bit.) (2) Good watering, not to much but with a good draining mix it is rare to overwater. In summer mine gets 2 or even 3 waterings, that is more than maples. It are trees from the tropic rain forest (3) Good organic fertilizer, these trees are hungry. I supplement weekly with a normal dose chemical liquid fertilizer. If you get things right you can start a fast progression, if you fail the tree will let you know and you will never get there. Work with the tree, not against it.

ps. Remove the "star" moss.
Good choice of using yellow-green wire it is "ge-aard".
 
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It's a good start. Whenever possible, try to induce some more movement in the branches and give them all a good logical place in the sun. Some branches are pointing down and will never grow into the design. You will notice the light green foliage tip will be less vigorous, you can wire them in position now or remove them now or in june/july. The tree seems to be in good shape. You can leave the wire until it digs in. The cutmarks will fade in 5 years and will fixate the branches. Keep in mind that backbudding is unlikely to occur on bare branches (green circle). The eventual tree will be in the left or right red circle. The magic will happen in the blue circle, i would have wired until the blue line and removed the needles up to there. So eventually you will have to select foliage as close to the trunk as possible to have a compact design.
You have chosen to wire only the primary branches, it is good for the health but you should go further and wire the secondary branches as well. It will reduce some dropping branches, better sun and it will indicate that some branches are not good to keep. Cut them.
This is what i would do now
1: Wire the secondary branches to make the structure (lowest picture, top sketch is view from above, lowest picture is view from the side. Make your basic structure flat. The green stems pointing upward in the sketch is new growth resulting from your flat structure.
In june / july
2: Remove all downward growing soft branches.
3: New buds will start to grow up. They have a central leader and 2 weaker buds. You want to create pads, so keep a hight in mind with as much of these weaker buds on that level. Remove the central leader where they are larger than your envisioned level.
In Fall
4: remove branches that are impossible to use. Don't settle on a final design yet.
5: remove the old needles again. This time you will have a) a basic structure without hanging foliage b) more uniform growth c) a vision of the branches that you can remove.
Next year
6: remove the growing tips 2 times (june / august), you can cut back to visible buds, even the tiniest is good enough. But keep them of the same strength and level throughout the tree.

Feed and water agressively

20170511_100209.jpg
20170511_100237.jpg
 

Vance Wood

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I like the possibilities of this tree, I don't like that at present the tree is conflicted. This will never resolve itself and at some point you will be forced to decide what the tree will become. You will find, as the tree develops and you develop that the tree cannot be both. I have been down this road. Personally I like what is happening on the left side of the tree. Put a bit of movement into the straight portion of the trunk and build an apex. Lose most of the right part of the tree, the cascade portion of the tree, and turn it into deadwood.
 

defra

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Thnx dirk for taking the time to help me out with this one, word zeer gewaardeerd!
also vance thankyou for the reply i think i get what you mean!

Ill go find my fine copper wire soon!
also next repot the planting angle has to change this tree was half barerooted and was my first repot job so didnt realy did well on the planting angle
 
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Vance is right (as always (almost)). Some time the tree and you will be ready to chose. Until that time, keep both. Soon you will notice this tree consumes a lot of time. Choosing will solve half of that problem.
 
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The knowledge is this thread is gold. Many thanks!

Dirk, by cutting back to visible buds, do you mean it is possible to cut back to outer buds like these without endangering the tree? Or do I have to let them grow a little longer?

20170511_173941.jpg
 

defra

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The knowledge is this thread is gold. Many thanks!

Dirk, by cutting back to visible buds, do you mean it is possible to cut back to outer buds like these without endangering the tree? Or do I have to let them grow a little longer?

View attachment 145167

How about trim the further located foliage allitle back to divide the energy some more ?

And Clean up those dead stuff
 

Vance Wood

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The knowledge is this thread is gold. Many thanks!

Dirk, by cutting back to visible buds, do you mean it is possible to cut back to outer buds like these without endangering the tree? Or do I have to let them grow a little longer?

View attachment 145167
If I was going to cut back to the growing buds you have shown here I would give them another year to develop before cutting back this far. I would at least wait till I had first year lignified growth. Before the green goes brown it is very fragile and easily broken off. Always a little bit of criticism; be patient every body wants results now. There are some things that take imediate action this is not one of them.

I am sorry if I seem unduly critical but over the years when I have made suggestions it is often the case someone will come back claiming I told them to cut off a branch when I actually told them to cut it back. I have had people take off all the needles when they were only supposed to take the top and down growing needles. Put a pair of tweezers or scissors in some people's hands and get out of the way, they are libel to cut off your private parts. But the answer to you question you can cut back to those buds but its riskiy.
 
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defra

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@Vance Wood I think your constructive critisism is great and comes from your experience wich is of high value in bonsailand for me it is something what makes think about how things actualy work

And yes not being impatience is one of the hardest things in this hobby knowing something is in there but not being able to get it out just yet lol
 

Vance Wood

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@Vance Wood I think your constructive critisism is great and comes from your experience wich is of high value in bonsailand for me it is something what makes think about how things actualy work

And yes not being impatience is one of the hardest things in this hobby knowing something is in there but not being able to get it out just yet lol
That's why you wind up with so many trees. You need something to work on, if you only have one tree you will probably kill it with kindness and attention.
 
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How about trim the further located foliage allitle back to divide the energy some more ?

And Clean up those dead stuff

I already did that between taking the pic and posting, but I was a bit impatient.

The dead stuffsels are gone now.
 
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The new buds are a good sign you are on the good track. The branches died there and this is an emergency reaction of the tree. I would wait to cut back at least one year, but 3 years sounds better. By that time there is a wooden part you was able to wire and develop secondary branches. In meanwhile you clear out dead stuff as you did and gradually start reducing the vigor of the strongest growth at the apical part. Cutting back to fast will slow down the tree and will cost you way more than 3 years of development. Judge the health of your tree before every intervention.
 

sorce

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Or do I have to let them grow a little longer?

You can always ask your tree...
Them dead branches...
They say....
"Grow them bigger than us, we died"

I'm really just understanding Junipers...

But if I wanted to cut back to those...
And it was really important....

I wouldn't cut back to them until they have runners...

And then I wouldn't cut them back for...
Well...X....
Cuz I aint got there yet.

But this...

"60-80% (sorry @0soyoung ) of the energy is in the runners"....

Really changed my Juniper game.

Sorce
 
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