Shimpaku Juniper carving

[digger714]

Hello all. Does anyone know the name of the process of Shimpaku Juniper carving where Ive seen some plants that have been carved from 1-2 years old. I was told they carved a spiral around the trunk, in a 45 degree angle, spaced an inch or more apart. A 1/8" piece of bark was taken off, and scraped down to the wood. He said only 1 revolution a year. Does anyone know what i am talking about? If so, can you describe this, or have any links to the process?

Thanks
Brad

 

[Ang3lfir3]

Its called Shari..... basicly its a long term process of creating shari in a tree that otherwise wouldn't have it. The reasoning for it taking so long is that the life line (food channels) in the tree need to adjust to the new path and find their way around.

This is a common practice in bonsai ... there are some caveats tho.... this does not work the same with all species.... some trees simply will not take to this kind of treatment (the spiraling) as their life lines are very specific. Usually this kind of treatment is reserved for conifers as they handle the treatment better and do this in nature... Deciduous trees however do not do this so much in nature and usually are not treated this way (more than you were asking about i know).

 

[digger714]

Not at all. I thank you for the explanation, and the education. I actually feel pretty dumb right now, lol. Ive heard of shari, but wasnt sure that was the process. I have some shimpakus and think i will try this on a couple. They are probably about 12" tall right now, and about 3/8 diameter. Is that large enough to start the process? Did i describe the process correctly, or is there more i should think about? Thanks again for the response.

 

[Just Duane]

Hi Brad, did you watch this video from Lindsay Farr? Heres a link http://www.vimeo.com/6936761

 

[jamie11]

your trying to create a yamadori style tree that is completly man made, i have about 25 of these in my garden bed all wired and bent and twisted to hell and back, a couple have died off.

what the technique you are describing does is the shari gives the tree a live vein where the nutrients and water are "pumped" up that section the rest is deadwood. you are supposed to start the shari quite small, bout 2-3mm (not sure of the imperial fraction, sorry) spiralling one spiral a year. the next year a little more is taken off the width of the shari and a bit more on the length and so on a so forth. what this does as the live vein swells it creates nice twisted trunk and more of a feature, as the deadwood keeps coming out it begins to flatten off instead of having a round trunk with a shari on it.

i am using that technique and i am also trying some others where i have wired pretty tightly as to let the wire scar the trunk, the wiring is sporadic not perfect as to look a little more natural, when the wire is biting in as far as i dare i take it off, then cut the shari in where the wire was if needed, this process will be repeated for the next 3-5 years or more, ground growing can speed the process up but the japanese have done it in pots the whole time

hope this helps some


jamie

 

[R_F]

Hi Brad, did you watch this video from Lindsay Farr? Heres a link http://www.vimeo.com/6936761

I watched that video too. I'm now trying it this season. We will see what happens. I'm not very experienced with junipers and may have done too much too soon on the little guy....i.e. I bare rooted it and put it in new and better draining soil, I reduced its height and wired the heck out of the rest and created the beginnings of the shari all in about two months time (Dec/Jan). So we'll see what happens.

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

Not at all. I thank you for the explanation, and the education. I actually feel pretty dumb right now, lol. Ive heard of shari, but wasnt sure that was the process. I have some shimpakus and think i will try this on a couple. They are probably about 12" tall right now, and about 3/8 diameter. Is that large enough to start the process? Did i describe the process correctly, or is there more i should think about? Thanks again for the response.

Where you kill the bark the wood exposed will not get any larger... with something less than a half an inch (assuming survival)... over the years the shari's would be swallowed up by the expanding wood under the live vein. If you want to try it, I would find something larger to work with... a couple inches in diameter would be good... a 12" tree is pretty young, and should be planted out to work on in later years when it is larger. The size it is would be more appropreiate for mame sized bonsai than anything.

Good luck...

Victrinia

 

[jamie11]

i should of added in my explanation that the trees i am working on are about 20mm(3/4") trunk diameter, that fork out to a couple of trunks with some branching, what i was trying to explain was that as the live vein grows it adds wood and every year a little bit is cut of it adds a bit more to the deadwood, which gives a plate like deadwood instead of a round trunk with a shari.

thats the theory any ways.


jamie

 

[R_F]

Where you kill the bark the wood exposed will not get any larger... with something less than a half an inch (assuming survival)... over the years the shari's would be swallowed up by the expanding wood under the live vein. If you want to try it, I would find something larger to work with... a couple inches in diameter would be good... a 12" tree is pretty young, and should be planted out to work on in later years when it is larger. The size it is would be more appropreiate for mame sized bonsai than anything.

Good luck...

Victrinia

Victrinia,

You should see the tree that is used in Lindsay Farr's video. It is very small and has a very nice "piping" live vein. It was created using this method . Here's the direct link to that video http://www.vimeo.com/6936761 Check it out, you might surprised I sure was I think the key to keep the vein swelling up and not out so as to cover the dead wood is to continue to cut it back every year while in development.

 

[digger714]

Cool, Thanks for the link. Thats exactly what im talking about. It looks like his trees are very small to start with. Mine are larger than the one he is starting, but the ones that are finished are much larger. Do you think the finished ones were larger when the process was started, or is it like most plants, as long as there is room to grow in the pot, or the ground, it will continue to enlarge the trunk? Thanks to all for the feedback. This had got me very interested.

Brad