Rocky Mountain Juniper

chicago1980

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This tree was collected by Sam Miller and sat in it's original pot for 3 years, till this past weekend. Repot took place this weekend with Peter Tea.

Repotted into a mica pot. Next year we will style and then a year after that repot into a proper ceramic.

FB_IMG_1520946046914.jpgFB_IMG_1520946053202.jpgFB_IMG_1520946058419.jpgFB_IMG_1520946062771.jpgFB_IMG_1520946066283.jpg
 

defra

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Nice man!
I like the live veins
Only the part above the roots just below the turn it looks realy inversed tapered there on the last pic but might just be the pic or only that angle

Sometimes one realy wish to speed up time a bit ey!
Looking forward to the styling!
 

chicago1980

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Nice man!
I like the live veins
Only the part above the roots just below the turn it looks realy inversed tapered there on the last pic but might just be the pic or only that angle

Sometimes one realy wish to speed up time a bit ey!
Looking forward to the styling!
Thanks,

I'm hoping to style something similar to this design.

The branch that extends right at the top, we will bend to the left to keep the double live vein.
 

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bwaynef

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It looks like it went from straight pumice into a mix with akadama. Was it half-barerooted?
 

Vance Wood

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I know that the approach on Junipers has changed since I started doing bonsai almost 60 years ago but seriously, I don't know why the top of the tree was not opened up a bit to encourage the tree to start growing in a direction favorable to bonsai not a front yard bush. It has always been my approach to open a tree up and let the light in to encourage the growth it will need to progress. I don't mean an insult to Peter, but come on, I would like to hear an explanation to the approach on a tree that has obviously had three years of decent growth where an aggressive approach to the top would not have met with disaster in my opinion. I don't know why bottom growth was not removed, I don't understand why weak growth was not removed, and I don't understand why some styling was not attempted. However; some of the new directions people are taking on Junipers I find questionable, and self defeating, I cannot understand why they are being done.
 
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chicago1980

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It looks like it went from straight pumice into a mix with akadama. Was it half-barerooted?
No, I we did not half bare root this Juniper. Akadama, pumice, lava rock. The root ball was reduced and portions left untouched.
 

chicago1980

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I know that the approach on Junipers has changed since I started doing bonsai almost 60 years ago but seriously, I don't know why the top of the tree was not opened up a bit to encourage the tree to start growing in a direction favorable to bonsai not a front yard bush. It has always been my approach to open a tree up and let the light in to encourage the growth it will need to progress. I don't mean an insult to Peter, but come on, I would like to hear an explanation to the approach on a tree that has obviously had three years of decent growth where an aggressive approach to the top would not have met with disaster in my opinion. I don't know why bottom growth was not removed, I don't understand why weak growth was not removed, and I don't understand why some styling was not attempted. However; some of the new directions people are taking on Junipers I find questionable, and self defeating, I cannot understand why they are being done.

You are correct that we could have reduced the roots as much as we had, and reduced the foliage of some weak and downward growth, and MAYBE the tree would survive.

We decided that after removing a substantial amount of roots, the tree would recover faster if we leave as much foliage to photosynthesize this spring and summer. Once the tree recovers from the repot we can then move forward to the styling process.

A lot of the foliage on the tree in the future will be it's new branches and help develop the design. The tree elongated the first year and is starting to mound and back bud along the old branches and surprisingly on the trunk. All this growth will give the tree a much better design in the future.

Again yes, someone could have decided to remove weak and downward foliage, we decided this foliage would be more productive in helping grow back roots.

It's not a black & white situation, but more a situational decision that we felt was best for the tree.

Hope this helped.

Also, you are not the first to make this suggestion.
 

Vance Wood

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If this tree were mine I would not be doing anything to it other that keeping it alive and growing vigorously. This is not the time of year to add stress to one of these guys when it appears to be stressed as well. The photo is not real detailed so what is going on is really difficult to determine.
 

chicago1980

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If this tree were mine I would not be doing anything to it other that keeping it alive and growing vigorously. This is not the time of year to add stress to one of these guys when it appears to be stressed as well. The photo is not real detailed so what is going on is really difficult to determine.
Thank you for the response. This tree is now tucked away in a temperature controlled green house for the winter. Hopefully in a few years I can repot.

Tree before styling
PXL_20201029_210037048.jpg
 

Potawatomi13

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Seems strange all that wire and branches still so uninterestingly straight🤨. Bending to be done later?
 

chicago1980

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Seems strange all that wire and branches still so uninterestingly straight🤨. Bending to be done later?
[/QUOTtuanka for the feedback, i'll will take a look next week and see if move movement could be added in the branch design.
 
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chicago1980

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Seems strange all that wire and branches still so uninterestingly straight🤨. Bending to be done later?
Thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look again at adding more movement.
 

chicago1980

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I like the double apex design.
Thank you, it is something we went back in forth with in the design. I would like to keep this in the 2nd iteration.

To me this fits with the tree.
 

W3rk

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I know this is an older photo but I really like the way the trunk shows with this subtle change in the viewing angle.

It highlights the deadwood a bit more, especially coming up around from that bottom right bend and then that great curve heading into the foliage up top. And it makes that first branch on the left a bit more dramatic. Very cool material.
 

chicago1980

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I know this is an older photo but I really like the way the trunk shows with this subtle change in the viewing angle.

It highlights the deadwood a bit more, especially coming up around from that bottom right bend and then that great curve heading into the foliage up top. And it makes that first branch on the left a bit more dramatic. Very cool material.
This could still be the front. It's subtle the difference, but interesting. This is my favorite front
 
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