Semi cascade kishu

[markyscott]

Kishu shimpaku. Grown from a whip by Jim Gremel. Probably 15 years old or so - wired and twisted when it was young. Some additional wiring and pruning of the branches as they grew, but still rough stock. GOOD rough stock, but rough stock nonetheless. It’ll make a great shohin someday.



S

 

[markyscott]

The tree has grown thick and bushy. It hasn’t been cleaned in a while. There was quite a bit of wire still on some of the branches. Because it was thick and bushy, it had a bit of a spider mite problem. Spider mites are challenging to deal with as most insecticdes are not effective - in fact some may do more harm then good. I use Bifenthrin on them - it’s very effective. I saw no living mites when I checked it before work. There was also evidence of needle scale - merit should take care of that.

 

[markyscott]

I removed all the wire, cleaned and thinned the foliage.



See the grayish bits? That’s spider mite damage. It was mostly the interior stuff that had it - it’s shaded, there’s little air circulation and when the tree gets bushy, its hard to get insecticide into the interior branches.

 

[markyscott]

Cleaning juniper foliage is simple. First, remove old needles. Old needles are pale green, yellow or brown. Pull the brown and yellowing needles. If you don’t see any growing tips ont the pale green ones, pull those as well. They’ll be yellow next season. Use tweezers or cut them at the base with scissors.



S

 

[markyscott]

Next, remove the growth exiting the branch junctions.



S

 

[markyscott]

If the branches have grown long and leggy, you might want to keep that growth to eventually replace the leggy branches. Like this:



S

 

[markyscott]

Then thin the foliage. Envision the branch in the final position and remove all downward facing shoots. Thin the lateral growth to alternating shoots. Finally thin the top growth - leave one upward growing shoot for every 2-3 lateral shoots.

Scott

 

[markyscott]

After I cleaned the foliage, I jinxed a couple of branches that will not be used in the final design.

 

[markyscott]

After repot.



Done for now.

S

 

[coh]

Nice step by step. Always appreciate the time and effort you put into these!

I'm interested in learning more about this "jinxing" technique

 

[markyscott]

I'm interested in learning more about this "jinxing" technique

LOL - I didn’t even see the autocorrect induced typo until you said that! Oh well - preserved for posterity now.

- S

 

[Carol 83]

Your posts are always very educational. I mostly only have tropicals, but I still enjoyed the transformation.

 

[sorce]

I jinx my branches all the time...
Sometimes jinx the whole tree.
Jinx fu@ker you dead.

Seriously....

I appreciate the added bits of "don't do it mindlessly" wisdom.

"Envision the branch in its final position, then remove bottom foliage."

Love that!

Remove crotch growth....."except when!"

Diggin it!

Sorce

 

[Ingvill]

I always learn something new from your posts, thank you so much for sharing

 

[Cajunrider]

Thanks for the post.

 

[baron]

Nice write up! I'm assuming you didn't do any heavy root work and will let it recover for at least a year or so?

 

[markyscott]

Nice write up! I'm assuming you didn't do any heavy root work and will let it recover for at least a year or so?

Roots were in pretty good shape. Just rootwork associated with a standard repot.

S

 

[sierrajuniper]

The tree has grown thick and bushy. It hasn’t been cleaned in a while. There was quite a bit of wire still on some of the branches. Because it was thick and bushy, it had a bit of a spider mite problem. Spider mites are challenging to deal with as most insecticdes are not effective - in fact some may do more harm then good. I use Bifenthrin on them - it’s very effective. I saw no living mites when I checked it before work. There was also evidence of needle scale - merit should take care of that.

Hi Scott,

Are you using Bifen I/T Insecticide-Bifenthrin for spider mite problem? Is it 1oz/gallon of water? Thanks Scott
https://www.amazon.com/Bifen-Insect...005OKQQ8Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

[markyscott]

Styling work today. Before and after. Front flipped 180 after styling.

 

[markyscott]

After a full growing season.