Shimpaku 1

[fore]

After all the negative experiences recently, I thought I'd post a project that is actually going very well. This tree was styled by Peter Warren and myself in Aug/12. Plan on removing wire this fall. It tolerated the styling very well...just a handful of small branches have reverted to immature foliage, but the growth has been slow. I haven't touched this tree this yr. and just plan on letting it continue to recover. There's one or two long leaders I might cut off, but that's about it.

Here are 2 when I bought and potted it up 10/11, and the rest this am.

 

[fore]

And the rest:









Edit: And surprisingly, not one disease on this one this yr.

 

[fore]

Well, I guess I have to post dying pics to get a response! LOL!..jk!!

Really, a lot of those bent branches are prob. going to end up being jins as the trunk is still so small. I'm thinking of next yr. jinning out some of the larger peripheral branches, and plant in ground for sev. yrs as the trunk builds up bulk so slowly.

 

[wireme]

Cool, good to see a juniper looking robustly healthy. Looks like Peter has a very patient and long term approach to working on stock like this eh?
How's that nice big RMJ doing?

 

[fore]

Cool, good to see a juniper looking robustly healthy. Looks like Peter has a very patient and long term approach to working on stock like this eh?
How's that nice big RMJ doing?

I agree, Peter is very patient and has a great long term eye to projects. Just wish it was an Itoigawa lol

The RMJ is doing just fine. Still pushing out tons of immature foliage...boy did I mess this one up this yr lol But hey, I'm happy. It's alive and thriving. Seems to have responded favorably to punching about 8 new 1/2" holes filled with aggregate. It's taking in water much better and drying out quicker. Either way, it'll be at least a yr. to revery to mature foliage. Lesson learned: Start fertilizing MUCH less aggressive at first. I 'knew' that, but didn't listen to my inner voice lol Thanks for asking.

 

[fore]

I applied the wire a bit too tight and they started digging in. So I had to remove the worst offenders, but found the branches had set. Not even a trim this yr as there was just modest growth. So I was surprised that the branches were set.

Here are a few pics

 

[fore]

Vance and Dav4, this is one of my first shimpakus' in a training box for the last 3 yrs. Good growth in length and fullness, but not much girth. And it's even fuller now. I feel like I've let the branches get too long. So I wasn't sure what I should do for the girth, or how to prune for girth.

So Thanks guys for the suggestions to use shari's to thicken up the trunk. I feel better now about cutting it back some, create a cool jin or two perhaps, lightly thin and wire it out again. And I'll just start some shari on the trunk to thicken it up. Something I can do this winter.

 

[Vance Wood]

Vance and Dav4, this is one of my first shimpakus' in a training box for the last 3 yrs. Good growth in length and fullness, but not much girth. And it's even fuller now. I feel like I've let the branches get too long. So I wasn't sure what I should do for the girth, or how to prune for girth.

So Thanks guys for the suggestions to use shari's to thicken up the trunk. I feel better now about cutting it back some, create a cool jin or two perhaps, lightly thin and wire it out again. And I'll just start some shari on the trunk to thicken it up. Something I can do this winter.

What kind of growing conditions do you have it in? They seem to do better if grown in almost full sun most of the day, these, though very nice and green, appear to have been grown in partial shade for the best part of the day? This will also help thicken the trunk.

 

[fore]

What kind of growing conditions do you have it in? They seem to do better if grown in almost full sun most of the day, these, though very nice and green, appear to have been grown in partial shade for the best part of the day? This will also help thicken the trunk.

It's in a mix of turface, lava, and about 10% pumice, 3/4-1.25" lava drainage. Tends to stay a little on the wet side though (this is one I plan on making one of those new boxes btw). Full sun Vance, though our backyard had less full sun, only say 2-sunset. I'll have some better pictures of it soon.

 

[Dav4]

Vance and Dav4, this is one of my first shimpakus' in a training box for the last 3 yrs. Good growth in length and fullness, but not much girth. And it's even fuller now. I feel like I've let the branches get too long. So I wasn't sure what I should do for the girth, or how to prune for girth.

So Thanks guys for the suggestions to use shari's to thicken up the trunk. I feel better now about cutting it back some, create a cool jin or two perhaps, lightly thin and wire it out again. And I'll just start some shari on the trunk to thicken it up. Something I can do this winter.

Create the shari in stages. Brian Van Fleet may have images on his blog or in some of his threads of shari created on his juniper by Kathy Shaner. She started by removing oval shaped portions of bark from the branch/trunk, then let the tree heal for a year, then repeated the process further up or down the branch or trunk. After several years, the oval shaped shari were connected together to form one continuous, irregularly shaped shari. Fyi, the best time to create shari is during the active growing season. Have fun.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Create the shari in stages. Brian Van Fleet may have images on his blog or in some of his threads of shari created on his juniper by Kathy Shaner. She started by removing oval shaped portions of bark from the branch/trunk, then let the tree heal for a year, then repeated the process further up or down the branch or trunk. After several years, the oval shaped shari were connected together to form one continuous, irregularly shaped shari. Fyi, the best time to create shari is during the active growing season. Have fun.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?4389-Shimpaku-Project&p=67673#post67673

 

[fore]

Create the shari in stages. Brian Van Fleet may have images on his blog or in some of his threads of shari created on his juniper by Kathy Shaner. She started by removing oval shaped portions of bark from the branch/trunk, then let the tree heal for a year, then repeated the process further up or down the branch or trunk. After several years, the oval shaped shari were connected together to form one continuous, irregularly shaped shari. Fyi, the best time to create shari is during the active growing season. Have fun.

Good idea Dave, Thanks. And I didn't know that shari's are best done during the growing season.

In my limited experience, I started one on a Ponderosa Pine during the winter and had no problems. No sap.
And secondly, I extended a natural shari to that recently styled burlaped PP during this summer. It bled sap quite a bit. I used cut paste, only have to repeat more paste like 3 more times to stop the sap. (Unfor., it also got sap on the bark) So I was thinking winter was a better time. Thoughts?

 

[fore]

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?4389-Shimpaku-Project&p=67673#post67673

Thanks Brian! Did Kathy say why this method is not used: Using a razor blade, just make one thin cut horizontally where you want the shari taking care not to the live vein to branches? (this is just a thought I came up with and have been wondering about it...haven't read anything about this technique)

Thanks for the blog post, this will help me a lot!
Chris

 

[Vance Wood]

Thanks Brian! Did Kathy say why this method is not used: Using a razor blade, just make one thin cut horizontally where you want the shari taking care not to the live vein to branches? (this is just a thought I came up with and have been wondering about it...haven't read anything about this technique)

Thanks for the blog post, this will help me a lot!
Chris

Could you please clarify your statement above it kind of does not make sense. Using a razor blade, just make one thin cut horizontally where you want the shari. My major problem, before someone accuses me of being stupid, I understand what you are saying but I am not clear how a horizontal cut is the precursor of a vertical element?

 

[Dav4]

Good idea Dave, Thanks. And I didn't know that shari's are best done during the growing season.

In my limited experience, I started one on a Ponderosa Pine during the winter and had no problems. No sap.
And secondly, I extended a natural shari to that recently styled burlaped PP during this summer. It bled sap quite a bit. I used cut paste, only have to repeat more paste like 3 more times to stop the sap. (Unfor., it also got sap on the bark) So I was thinking winter was a better time. Thoughts?

I honestly have limited experience creating shari on pines. The only times I've done it were on a PP and a JRP, both done in late March, and I was connecting jinned branches that were fairly close together...sap was minimal, most likely because the branches near the area that was de-barked were already dead.

The reasoning behind creating shari during the growing season is that the tree is more metabolically active- it heals faster and is less likely to suffer from die back or infection.

 

[fore]

Could you please clarify your statement above it kind of does not make sense. Using a razor blade, just make one thin cut horizontally where you want the shari. My major problem, before someone accuses me of being stupid, I understand what you are saying but I am not clear how a horizontal cut is the precursor of a vertical element?

You're not stupid Vance, I made a mistake. I meant VERTICALLY. Sorry for the confusion. And further, say one cuts a 3" vertical line, following live viens, would the juniper not open up and create a shari? I was just curious.

I'm going to obviously follow Kathy's directions as per Brian.

 

[Vance Wood]

You're not stupid Vance, I made a mistake. I meant VERTICALLY. Sorry for the confusion. And further, say one cuts a 3" vertical line, following live viens, would the juniper not open up and create a shari? I was just curious.

I'm going to obviously follow Kathy's directions as per Brian.

Thanks for clearing that up, I figured that was the case but things in these Shimpaku threads seem a bit messed up anyway so I was not sure. As to the tree opening up if you made a slice. If all you did was to make one cut along a vertical plane I believe the tree would close it up pretty quickly.

 

[fore]

Thanks for clearing that up, I figured that was the case but things in these Shimpaku threads seem a bit messed up anyway so I was not sure. As to the tree opening up if you made a slice. If all you did was to make one cut along a vertical plane I believe the tree would close it up pretty quickly.

Thanks Vance and Al, I was just curious.

 

[fore]

This one is too small, not very impressive either.