Shimp budding back

[berobinson82]

Thought this might interest some of you. I bought this large shimpaku years ago sight-unseen for $35. Didn't make for too interesting a bonsai so I would up taking about 10 air layers from it. After looking at it for so long I think I finally see a semi cascade hiding in there assuming I can chase back the foliage... more. It's been shrinking well thus far.

So anyways, I cut off most of the layers above foliage to keep the trunks alive. On some of the side branches, I cut them off entirely for future jin. I didn't take off the bark. This was back in fall.

Junipers don't bud back if there is no green on the trunks. But this one did. Kind of neat to see an anomaly but I won't count on this happening again.

Cheers.

 

[Dav4]

Cool. I've had this happen on a shimp, yew, AND a JBP. Needless to say, this isn't the best way to induce back budding, but it does happen sometimes. Good luck with the future semi cascade and no more pruning this year.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

That is quite fortunate. That dramatically increased the potential of the mother tree, and you didn't even have to graft.

 

[Eric Group]

They will commonly spit out rough new jet juvenile growth from the "crotch" of the branches when you cut back hard like this- whether you leave foliage or not. Basically you are just activating dormant buds at the base of the branches by removing the tip- it is all about hormone distribution. Not that uncommon really, but not completely reliable in Junipers either, and many times that new growth will show up then slowly fade and die... Kind of like new growth that will fool you on a cutting sometimes before it falls off and dies. I have found it to happen about 40-50% of the time you cut off all the foliage from a branch... Maybe a little higher when you leave a longer stump on there, like you did here. It is- in my eyes- the sign of a pretty healthy tree! Doesn't happen as reliably as it would on say a Maple or Elm obviously, but it happens...

As for the tree, you might be surprised how much better you could make those existing branches look with some aggressive wiring and a little neatening up of the pads... Sure, it is going to look better if you chase the growth back some more, but some curves in the branches would shorten them considerably! Get some wiggle side to side and up and down, and you could remove about 50-60% of their length in some places. Junipers are a lot of work IMO, but great practice for wiring!! If you throw some wire on there, don't like the result, you can always Jin the branch later! Good luck!

 

[berobinson82]

Cool. I've had this happen on a shimp, yew, AND a JBP. Needless to say, this isn't the best way to induce back budding, but it does happen sometimes. Good luck with the future semi cascade and no more pruning this year.

I had this happen with both yew I've had also. Great species imo. Some of you know "Pre Bonsai Mark" from facebook classifieds. He has thousands of hinoki and recently said they back bud also albeit not from bare branches. Guess it's just a roll of the dice. Not much to do with this guy but wait. No pruning for sure.

That is quite fortunate. That dramatically increased the potential of the mother tree, and you didn't even have to graft.

Right!?!? Might have to rethink the direction of the tree depending on where new foliage pops.

They will commonly spit out rough new jet juvenile growth from the "crotch" of the branches when you cut back hard like this- whether you leave foliage or not. Basically you are just activating dormant buds at the base of the branches by removing the tip- it is all about hormone distribution. Not that uncommon really, but not completely reliable in Junipers either, and many times that new growth will show up then slowly fade and die... Kind of like new growth that will fool you on a cutting sometimes before it falls off and dies. I have found it to happen about 40-50% of the time you cut off all the foliage from a branch... Maybe a little higher when you leave a longer stump on there, like you did here. It is- in my eyes- the sign of a pretty healthy tree! Doesn't happen as reliably as it would on say a Maple or Elm obviously, but it happens...

As for the tree, you might be surprised how much better you could make those existing branches look with some aggressive wiring and a little neatening up of the pads... Sure, it is going to look better if you chase the growth back some more, but some curves in the branches would shorten them considerably! Get some wiggle side to side and up and down, and you could remove about 50-60% of their length in some places. Junipers are a lot of work IMO, but great practice for wiring!! If you throw some wire on there, don't like the result, you can always Jin the branch later! Good luck!

Those branches are pretty thick but not so much that they can't be coerced. Certainly want to wiggle it up a bit.

Cheers.
B