juniperus stricta

M. Frary

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Gloves?
Who needs stinking gloves?
They take away the aspect of bonsai being a contact sport.
Work a hawthorn or Burberry without gloves.
Your juniper will feel like shag carpet.
 

sorce

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It’s not draining well at all at the moment though.

Safer to just jam some chopstick holes down into the soil.

You can Probly dunk water it....like for an hour, and not have to water again till spring iffin your winter is near as ours.

Problem with slip potting is it just allows space on the sides then for water to run away, rather than soak into the soil.

How bout them pics!

Sorce
 

Josiana

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Ok. Thank you so much, Sorce!

Here are few pictures.. Sorry they are rubbish quality.

IMG_20171027_103525.jpg IMG_20171027_103608.jpg IMG_20171027_103449.jpg
 

sorce

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Not at all!

And that space is so peaceful!

Love the woodwork!

Looks healthy!

May as well give styling a bit of a go...
Just don't remove too much.

I've had more success repotting in summer. Just after the Solstice during a waning moon with rain in the forecast....
Rain and wane rain and wane!

By then, if it seems as healthy....repotting should be ok.

All my nursery Junipers are chock full of roots this time of year and drain a little slower....
Just keep dumping the water on!

Sorce
 

Josiana

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Ok. Thank you so very much, Sorce! You have been so so very helpful. I will get on to trimming little. :)
 

defra

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After working my three stricta's i realized that i browse the barkweb quite allot and consume the info like a sponge absorbs water and also test out absorbed techniques on practice plants and timings for my climate.

On juniperus chinensis "stricta" i actualy dont find much or any info about them and no examples of high quality bonsai out of this cultivar anywere..
You begin to think that has a reason why you dont see much of a particular species cultivar around.......
beside that people keep telling me this species aint that great for bonsai and that they dont like to be wired but i got two of them wired two times now and they seem to do just fine !

They grow fast and backbud some so
To me this species are one of the best beginners practice plant out there
Here's my pro's an cons based on my third year caring for three trees from this cultivar

Pro's:

Cheap:

They are availible at every nursery here in the netherlands around december but often year around dor often no more than 10 €

Strong:

I got two pretty cut down hard at the start
And worked twice a year leaving them pretty sparce but they seem to grow strong after any time i work them.

Allot of pruning and branch selecting:

Due there conical shape and realy dense growth the interior needs a proper clean up
Reduce the bush in height and then the first real good practice starts....
After the height reduction and cleaning up ALL the dead needles in there you will be left with a couple trunks and branches with plums of foliage on them you gotta start selecting keeper branches so you gotta think allot about left branch right branch back branch and thick and slim branches in the way they should go from down to up equals from fat to skinny!
It realy makes you think about the good and bad things about loads of branches and make your desicion on that good and bads
When in doubt let them stay on pruning a branch can be delayed but when done it cant be undone.
The two i got realy helped me learn how to think about branch placements and how to devide them troughout a trunk.

allot of wireing:

If you work them early in the year and dont repo them you will be able to cut back a little more in june/juli and wire and style them trough out the following winter you probably have to do some trunk bending branch wireing and even wire some secondairies!
With the wireing comes

Shootselecting :

Once more think about left right and up and downwards growth remove unwanted growth !


always something to do if the urge of working a tree is pressent !
And its something that IMO realy is helping the tree :

You have to remove all the dead needles all the time it does looks like they like that and backbud at places where the dead stuf once was probably also the reason they are used as christmas decoration!
Thnx @dirk hoorelbeke for giving me the advice on the cleaning of dead needles on my squamata it seems to work for this too!


Cons:
I didnt experience anything yet that is a con so far after the third year i have these

This is my experience with this cultivar of juniper IMO realy fun and workable tree's that help practice aplying all sorts of bonsai related techniques!

Heres the progress of the other two beside the tree from this thread

Juniperus chinensis "stricta" literati trained tree:
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/juniperus-communis-what-would-you-do.24777/


Juniperus chinensis "stricta" candelabra styled tree:
(Bought for the 2016/2017 red pot contest on bnut)
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/my-redpot-contestent.27911/[/B]
 

defra

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This is how it looks now.

Maybe not the time to be applying wire?
But i did it anyway

Cut out old wire

Cleaned up dead stuff and unwanted growth

Rewired and carefully bended a few things

use the dremel a bit as practice on carving deadwood !


20180623_162501.jpg

20180623_162522.jpg

20180623_162509.jpg

20180623_162526.jpg
 
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strongest "con" is the strong apical growth. Reduce the distal part of the branches often enough, let the inward growth catch up. Will be good in a few years. Keep upper branches short. Gave mine away after a few years to my neighbor, dried up.
 

defra

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strongest "con" is the strong apical growth. Reduce the distal part of the branches often enough, let the inward growth catch up. Will be good in a few years. Keep upper branches short. Gave mine away after a few years to my neighbor, dried up.

Thnx dirk!
I wil let it build some steam for now

I am wondering if i would get away with a summer repot ( no bare rooting but just cut the rootbal a little to fit in a pond basket )
Or i could just wait and enjoy the pink pot its in :D
 
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Why would you risk it? And a pond basket might give you an unwanted response next summer.
 

defra

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What would be the unwanted response dirk?
I tought it might do good reducing the clay ball some
 
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