Shimpakupalooza

[Smoke]

I have a bunch....Ok well.. 5 old shimpaku that have been sitting around and getting all crappy. Some were cast off due to spider mite, some lost branches at one point, some lost entire apexes and some were never worked and just got bushy.

First let me intorduce you to these band of misfits.

Here is the first one, a cutting I did many years ago. It was compact and fairly nice looking back in the day. It is in a very cool, very small footed Bigie pot. It will be in another begie pot next year, but a different shape. More on that later as I chose this one as the first sacrifice. All of these junipers are of the Kishu variety and all are from Mas Ishii from one time or another. This one is a cutting I did from a Kishu from Mas way back when.

 

[Smoke]

Juniper No. 2

I don't really remember the history on this one. I have had it well over ten years and it has fallen off the bench a couple times, battled spider mite a few times, lost branches and an entire apex. many people would have just thrown it away many years ago, but I think there is still a good tree in there.

We'll see.

 

[Smoke]

Juniper No. 3

This dandy has also suffered many falls from the bench and a large overdose of fertilizer that nearly killed a lot of plants including my Cal. juniper Tripper.

This one has some shape but is really nasty looking. maybe I can give it a face lift.

 

[Smoke]

Juniper No. 4

This one is in a really nice Japanese Shohin pot. At one time it really was a nice shohin juniper. My hot summers and spider mites can ruin one of these in a week. So it was for this bad boy. the bottom branches have suffered greatly and new foliage grows on top of grey green foliage. The apex is new so I think all of these may be more bunjin than anything else.

 

[Smoke]

Juniper No. 5

This one was one of the last junipers I bought from Mas Ishii about 5 years ago. At that time I had given up on buying anymore shimpaku due to my constant battle with mites. If I were to spend every waking moment with the trees and spend more time checking each juniper with a sheet of paper daily I might get the upper hand on them. I usualy see them after the damage is done.

I like tridents better, so thats the way I went. This one has never been wired nor had any work done to it it is just the way I bought it except for all the damage I caused.

 

[Smoke]

I chose juniper No. 1 as the first candidate just to get my appetite wet for working on these useless subjects. Most of the branches were removed, the largest jinned and the tree was wired. Mostly very small aluminum wire and the tree was slipped from the pot and placed in a larger terra cotta planter till next repotting season. Fertilizer has now been applied to this one since I actually worked this on Sept. 14. The pictures are from today though. I am still undecided on the first branch on the right. I feel it looks a little heavy for bunjin, but the next branch on the right near the top is very small, so I have to wait for a while.

One down, four to go....

The pictures are front, back and sides.

 

[Poink88]

All looks awesome to me...I'm easy to please. If you decide to sell any of these, let me know.

 

[JudyB]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who can't throw stuff away.. Although your crap is soooo much better than mine!
Will be interested to see what becomes of them. Most people don't even start with that nice of material.
Some nice pots at any rate.

 

[Smoke]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who can't throw stuff away.. Although your crap is soooo much better than mine!
Will be interested to see what becomes of them. Most people don't even start with that nice of material.
Some nice pots at any rate.

Too bad you don't live nearby, you would be surprised to see what I throw in my green can.....

 

[Smoke]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who can't throw stuff away.. Although your crap is soooo much better than mine!
Will be interested to see what becomes of them. Most people don't even start with that nice of material.
Some nice pots at any rate.

In fact, just to proove a point, I have no idea where this elm came from. I didn't grow it nor did I buy it. It may have been won at a raffle, I just don't remember. It is about 30 inches tall and has a 1.25 thick trunk. Maybe could be made into a double trunk bonsai or something else.

First person shows up at my door asking for the elm gets it, for free, other wise it goes to the bonsai swap meet on Dec. 7th.

 

[JudyB]

Too bad you don't live nearby, you would be surprised to see what I throw in my green can.....

I'm quite sure I'd be dumpster diving!

 

[tmmason10]

I'm with Dario, feel free to ship me one of these outcasts. Looking forward to you next updates.

 

[Jaberwky17]

Contender

for thread title of 2013

 

[Vance Wood]

I really look forward to watching the progress on these trees. I find a real kinship with trees like these, they have a lot of the difficulties of a Yamadori without the weathered and tortured character that adds a degree of inspiration.

 

[october]

This thread is awesome. Shohin shimpaku are some of, if not my favorite bonsai. Also, I had the spider mite thing under control. However, a couple warm days last week and I just noticed a few trees with it. I sprayed 3 trees in the last 24 hours. I think I caught it before any real damage occurred.

It's like you said. You need to, but don't have time to be out there every single day checking. Mites is a relatively new problem to my collection. I finally got the juniper fungal disease and scale under control though.

Rob

 

[fore]

This thread is awesome. Shohin shimpaku are some of, if not my favorite bonsai. Also, I had the spider mite thing under control. However, a couple warm days last week and I just noticed a few trees with it. I sprayed 3 trees in the last 24 hours. I think I caught it before any real damage occurred.

It's like you said. You need to, but don't have time to be out there every single day checking. Mites is a relatively new problem to my collection. I finally got the juniper fungal disease and scale under control though.

Rob

Still having problems Rob? I feel for you! So strange with your mite problems, I've never had mites once here. I too got in control finally fungus issues. Though I'm still spraying copper 1x/mos. on the affected trees. Good luck mate!

I have 2 types of Itoigawa, one is soft, brilliant almost lime green (an import), and another that has a bluish green developed foliage, but a nice green growing tips. 10 shimpaku's in the ground and one in a wooden box. A kishu is also thriving. I only lost one this summer, but due to root issues. But I've had no other problems at all (fungal issues only on my rmj, yews) I wonder what the difference is? You live in a less humid area than I. Just can't understand why...

 

[october]

Still having problems Rob? I feel for you! So strange with your mite problems, I've never had mites once here. I too got in control finally fungus issues. Though I'm still spraying copper 1x/mos. on the affected trees. Good luck mate!

I have 2 types of Itoigawa, one is soft, brilliant almost lime green (an import), and another that has a bluish green developed foliage, but a nice green growing tips. 10 shimpaku's in the ground and one in a wooden box. A kishu is also thriving. I only lost one this summer, but due to root issues. But I've had no other problems at all (fungal issues only on my rmj, yews) I wonder what the difference is? You live in a less humid area than I. Just can't understand why...

The mites are new this year. I cannot recall having mite problems. At least not in the last 10 years that I can remember. I caught it yesterday before anything really bad happened. I also sprayed about 4 other junipers just in case.

Rob

 

[macdad]

In fact, just to proove a point, I have no idea where this elm came from. I didn't grow it nor did I buy it. It may have been won at a raffle, I just don't remember. It is about 30 inches tall and has a 1.25 thick trunk. Maybe could be made into a double trunk bonsai or something else.

First person shows up at my door asking for the elm gets it, for free, other wise it goes to the bonsai swap meet on Dec. 7th.

ROAD TRIP!!! I always wanted to go to California. I don't think my wife would appreciate a $600+ plane ticket for a free tree though

Anyway, your work is impressive, Smoke! I can't decide if seeing people produce amazing trees is encouraging or discouraging...

Can't wait to see some of the other ones!

 

[John Ruger]

I've found that the best care against mites is a hard stream of water. In the wars fought against them, I've tried a number of concoctions from everything that supposed to kill them to sterilization

What I do now is go through each tree in sections. I cup a small portion of the foliage from underneath with one hand as a support and use a garden hose to apply a fairly hard spray from the top; I then repeat the process from underneath.

It's a time consuming process, but each section gets covered and it's been the best preventative I've found to date.

 

[Vance Wood]

ROAD TRIP!!! I always wanted to go to California. I don't think my wife would appreciate a $600+ plane ticket for a free tree though

Anyway, your work is impressive, Smoke! I can't decide if seeing people produce amazing trees is encouraging or discouraging...

Can't wait to see some of the other ones!

I have found watching good people work is inspiring, sure, there is the element of how does he do that etc. but in the end is the realization that there is no such thing as magic and if he can do it I can too.