Tall one seed Juniper

[Hartinez]

I collected this tree in spring of 22. Left it to grow that year and last year and repotted this spring. It’s grown very well all season. I trimmed back some aggressive shoots to promote some growth in lower branches. Recently I decided to clean up the live vein and deadwood. There were so many layers of bark. It’ll still need some work over the years but it’s at a hood point.

I collected this tree because I liked the upright nature of the tree. Felt a lot like what I see in big half dead juniper. Large sections grow out for decades, then die in favor of lower shoots. Same thing happens again and again over many decades. I tried to keep some of the smaller dead twigging as well to show branches and trunks that died 100 hrs ago, and branches that died 3 years ago.

Aim is to keep tree up right and style the foliage up, out and eventually down. Im not going to overly twist the branching and will use the twigging and dead branches as indication of how this tree was growing for inspiration. Over time I will still create a nice domed top with low hanging branches, just after following a pattern for a while.

I will need to address the base more, perhaps by planting lower in the pot, or by coming up with a creative way to pot it up.

Here is the tree as it stands and some shots from when it was collected.


Before the clean up


At collection

 

[RJG2]

Love it!

That being said...

The base looks precarious. Not that I've done it, but I know root grafting is possible. I think It would look great if you could get those root jins to ground level (without a deeper container) in the long run.

Quick look around seems @Dav4, @yenling83, and @chicago1980 may have some experience.

Jealous of the stuff you can collect!

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

YES! That's what we're about! That's a beautiful beast. I hope you don't mind me asking for collection tips this winter!

 

[Hartinez]

Love it!

That being said...

The base looks precarious. Not that I've done it, but I know root grafting is possible. I think It would look great if you could get those root jins to ground level (without a deeper container) in the long run.

Quick look around seems @Dav4, @yenling83, and @chicago1980 may have some experience.

Jealous of the stuff you can collect!

Thanks buddy!

Root grafts probably not something I’ll do, but I will pot the tree lower at the next repot. It’s just how it ended up based on the pot I had and roots that were present. Now that I’ve cleaned up, I’m seeing the precariousness of it for sure. It is quite solidly fixed however as I used shims in the pot to solidly hood the tree still. I may even wrap some knitting mesh around the base and back fill with soil. That entire section of trunk below the main trunk is all live vein and beginnings of the roots and is still a good 3-4” across!

 

[Hartinez]

YES! That's what we're about! That's a beautiful beast. I hope you don't mind me asking for collection tips this winter!

Not a problem!

 

[RJG2]

Thanks buddy!

Root grafts probably not something I’ll do, but I will pot the tree lower at the next repot. It’s just how it ended up based on the pot I had and roots that were present. Now that I’ve cleaned up, I’m seeing the precariousness of it for sure. It is quite solidly fixed however as I used shims in the pot to solidly hood the tree still. I may even wrap some knitting mesh around the base and back fill with soil. That entire section of trunk below the main trunk is all live vein and beginnings of the roots and is still a good 3-4” across!

I'm sure those three will enjoy seeing it anyway, so the tags stand!

YES! That's what we're about! That's a beautiful beast. I hope you don't mind me asking for collection tips this winter!

I'm going to show up on his doorstep someday and make him take me to get some sagebrush!

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

I'm going to show up on his doorstep someday and make him take me to get some sagsagebrush

For sure! South of Raton, there are hundreds of miles of sagebrush and other scattered woody desert fauna on the plains. And more around the extinct volcanoes north of I40. New Mexico is so vast, desolate, beautiful...
...I met my wife here, and then I also fell in love with the Land of Enchantment afterward. It's definitely worth a visit, but our species may be a big challenge in Maine, if you're up for it.

 

[Hartinez]

I'm sure those three will enjoy seeing it anyway, so the tags stand!


I'm going to show up on his doorstep someday and make him take me to get some sagebrush!

I’m here for it bro! Sage would be fun, but englemann would do well where you’re at for sure. Invite is wide open!

 

[Hartinez]

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

My mouth is watering!

 

[Hartinez]

This tree has thrown some serious runners all over. I’ve decided to wire this tree out. But I have decided to design the tree in a way that is counter to how I had originally planned.

The original intent was to follow more closely the growth style that one seed tend to take on. They grow pads but in a more up and out fashion. As much as I like this look naturally, I don’t think it lends itself well to what I like so much about a well style juniper BONSAI. So while I really wanted to stay “natural” I let my bonsai sense take over.

I’m about half way through. I still need to wire the upper right trunk line.

This is what it looked like a few weeks ago

 

[Hartinez]

Something else that needs addressing at some point is the distance between the soil line and the wispy dead root jins. I’d like to get those floating just above the soil line, which may mean doing some level of ground layer of the live line just below those Jin.

 

[Colorado]

Do you think you could just put it in a deeper pot? Ground layer seems risky, but maybe you are down to roll the dice?

Nice work on the collection man, I recently was reading an article on another site which stated that, apparently, Texas A&M University declared at one point that collecting one-seed juniper was “horticulturally impossible.” So you’ve now done the impossible.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

As abundant as these are down here, I may have to go hunting/scouting before the end of winter. Your collection threads are inspiring.

 

[Hartinez]

wiring complete for now.

At 50" to the top of the tallest point, this is a tallllll tree.

Really went against how these junipers would typically grow. But whatever! big fan of this trees direction so far and I think its got a bright future.

I embraced the lack of curvature and upright nature. Once the foliage fills in more it'll be that much better. The right trunk still has a slight curve to it, that I may try and straighten eventually, or just try to disguise with foliage once it comes in.

I will def need a better pot, and I did a mock up of what I envisioned, unless someone else has a more compelling better idea they can mock up for me.

 

[Hartinez]

Do you think you could just put it in a deeper pot? Ground layer seems risky, but maybe you are down to roll the dice?

Nice work on the collection man, I recently was reading an article on another site which stated that, apparently, Texas A&M University declared at one point that collecting one-seed juniper was “horticulturally impossible.” So you’ve now done the impossible.

Impossible! Haha. That’s funny. But it does make sense. One seed are known to have two roots that reach faaarrrrr into crevices. Like 30 plus feet.

Part of the reason so many collected one seed and several of mine have the dead Jin roots like they do is they also have decent surface roots that then are exposed due to monsoons and flash flooding. The water washes the dirt away exposing the root system. At least that’s how a lot of them grow on hill sides and on the banks of arroyos and acequias.

 

[Hartinez]

slow work day. Fun with photoshop. Going for a foliage mass kinda like this. Kinda.

 

[PA_Penjing]

sweet

 

[ponderingsage]

I’m impressed you were able to collect it in soil like that! For me, it has to be a rock pocket or the roots run too much.

Tree looks really nice with the vein cleaned up!