Twin trunk Procumbens progression

[Rjoyce]

I purchased this nursery stock last May and have been slowly working it into shape.

Last summer, I mainly tried to clean out the old, dead interior branches, stuff growing from crotches, and shortened some of the long, extending growth. I also removed the top where the trunk was damaged because it had grown around the wire that was holding up the leader to create a somewhat upright trunk.

This spring, I repotted it into better substrate with minimal root pruning and continued cutting back the long branches. I also decided on a front, which had a large branch extending directly forward, so it was turned into a jin. I also wired the tree to try and set the secondary branches.

Before turning the front branch into a jin and wiring.

In late June after wiring.

 

[Rjoyce]

After strong growth this summer, I had to remove all the wire because it was cutting in already.
As the tree looks now:


Given that the tree has responded so well to the work done this year, would it be safe to try and really thin it out and re-wire it now?

The reason I ask is there is a small exhibition that my club puts on during a local fair at the end of September. I would like to show this in the "novice" category and would like it to look a little cleaner, but I don't want to compromise it's health.

There is another club meeting before the fair, where I can ask suggestions and get help, but I think I need the most help with wiring. If I do end up thinning and wiring the tree, I don't want to spend half of the meeting removing small branches if I don't have to. Instead, I could thin it at home and use the time during the meeting to wire. Anyway, suggestions welcome!

Thanks.

 

[defra]

Im no expert just a rookie observation based on what ive done with a juniper myself this year..

It apears to be in good health and it looks like it didnt skip a beat from the repotting ...
Also looking at the photos it doesnt look like you removed that much foliage over a decent amount of time that said:

I bought a kinda neglected juni this spring and also repotted the tree i didnt wire it tough but i removed a fair amount of foliage to let the light reach the inner parts of the tree after two months i cleaned up once more and it went from dull greyish green to fresh healthy looking green everywere and allot of new growth!

So imo if you want to thin it out and prune some small branches out it will be fine
The tree probably will love the result of it getting light it will inthe inner parts of the tree

Cool tree for sure also good to ask first instead of doing first !

But as mentioned above i dont have that much experience so lets wait for someone who does to chime in to tell you if im right or wrong lol

 

[LanceMac10]

You could thin it out some for sure. It's getting towards cooler weather in your location. Still some growing season left, though. Maybe go easy on any heavy bending? A lot depends on your over-wintering area.


What's up with that weak, wimpy shoot you wired across the trunk at the base?

 

[Rjoyce]

What's up with that weak, wimpy shoot you wired across the trunk at the base?

Yeah, I did that for a few reasons.
One: it was recommended by a club member that the straight section of the trunk wasn't pleasing and hiding it with a pad of foliage would help block it. I don't think I agree, but I didn't see the harm in keeping it.

Two: it wasn't in the way of anything at the time, so I considered it another opportunity to practice wiring.

Three: there is no taper along the trunk, so I'm hoping that keeping some of the smaller, weaker branches and getting them some strength can help increase the thickness and taper.

Four: if/when they become thicker and I don't need or want them anymore, they can be used as jins and add interest to the trunk line.

The use of the smaller branches to help add taper might be a waste of energy and time since junipers are such slower growers, but I have energy and time on my side . But if that is a fruitless plan, let me know and I can remove 'em.

 

[Wilson]

Yeah, I did that for a few reasons.
One: it was recommended by a club member that the straight section of the trunk wasn't pleasing and hiding it with a pad of foliage would help block it. I don't think I agree, but I didn't see the harm in keeping it.

Two: it wasn't in the way of anything at the time, so I considered it another opportunity to practice wiring.

Three: there is no taper along the trunk, so I'm hoping that keeping some of the smaller, weaker branches and getting them some strength can help increase the thickness and taper.

Four: if/when they become thicker and I don't need or want them anymore, they can be used as jins and add interest to the trunk line.

The use of the smaller branches to help add taper might be a waste of energy and time since junipers are such slower growers, but I have energy and time on my side . But if that is a fruitless plan, let me know and I can remove 'em.

I feel like this is one tree. That branch you are using to hide the trunks makes it an invisible twin trunk. If it is temporary like ou say, I can understand. It does need to go in the future though. It is a nice start though!

 

[Rjoyce]

Shortly after my last post on this tree, I completely wired and trimmed it to get ready to show in a small exhibition as part of a local fair. The tree won the blue ribbon in the novice category, although I don't know which trees it was being considered against (the trees were not organized spatially into categories and you couldn't read the entry cards), but I'm still happy with that result.

 

[Rjoyce]

I was planning on not touching the tree at all this year, except for removing the wire, but the tree grew very full and bushy. I decided last week to chase back some of the extra-long branches and thin out the foliage to get some back-budding to try and get the tree into scale. I turned the ends of larger branches which were too long into jins to add some interest and age. If they don't look right, they can always be removed. I've read it's much harder to put them back on . I plan to let the tree grow freely for the rest of this year and repot in the spring to remove more of the older nursery soil, get the root-ball shallower, and slightly change the planting angle.

Before:


After:

 

[Rjoyce]

I brought this tree to a club workshop and did some branch selection and talked about it's future with John Romano. Next year it will be repotted at a new angle (tilted forward about 30 degrees) and work on getting the root ball much shallower. If I can find an appropriate oval pot by then, that would be great. Otherwise it will go back into the grow box. Once it is repotted, I will fully wire it out to set the secondary branches at the right angles and create some separation in the pads.

 

[Rjoyce]

Repotted in April, thinned the foliage a bit in early June, glamour shots this past weekend.

Front:


Back:


And yes, that is duct tape holding the grow box together. Hopefully I can find a decent container for this before next spring to slip-pot in into before the grow box falls apart.

 

[Mayank]

Nice progression and images. Can't wait to see it in a few years and in a pot.

 

[Rjoyce]

Last spring I significantly reduced the roots and put it into this shallower version of a grow box that is slowly falling apart. The tree grew relatively slowly but still looks healthy. It is even putting out what look like cones. The pot I have for it is about 30% shallower than what it's in now. Could this survive another root reduction already, or should I wait another year? I would and can leave it, but it is really ugly and I'm not sure the box will survive another year before disintegrating.