Where would you take this upright pro nana?

[wharf_rat78]

New to this forum so I’m sure someone will nudge me if it’s the wrong place to post this or if I’m breaking some other norm. Maybe third year of progressively getting into bonsai so I’m new to this too.

I grabbed this procumbens at a nursery last year and have not done anything other than attempt to rescue it from a severely neglected rootbound state and start trying to work it into bonsai soil (slowly reducing root mass and bare-rooting by quarters yes I know it looks like crap but I’m terrified )

I suck at vision and design sensibility but love messing with the plants and learning.

Looking for any input as to where some of you would go with this material (other than the compost bin)!

 

[Adamski77]

It’s not a bad tree looking at what I can in terms of base and trunk but needs to be 1/3-1/2 of current size to be proportional… than the bottom branches need to get shorter too. There is this gap on the trunk… this is where it has to get shorter. And build branch structure from there…

 

[wharf_rat78]

It’s not a bad tree looking at what I can in terms of base and trunk but needs to be 1/3-1/2 of current size to be proportional… than the bottom branches need to get shorter too. There is this gap on the trunk… this is where it has to get shorter. And build branch structure from there…

Yeah I was debating whether to chop the top and work with bottom, or keep the top and do some kind of literati. Thank you!

 

[Srt8madness]

Everyone always goes on about taper, but there are some fantastic trees out there with very little of it. You could wire some more movement in the trunk, wire out pads, and as the trunk thickens you'll have a really nice informal upright.

 

[wharf_rat78]

Everyone always goes on about taper, but there are some fantastic trees out there with very little of it. You could wire some more movement in the trunk, wire out pads, and as the trunk thickens you'll have a really nice informal upright.

Was wondering if something that thick could be wired! I’d like it but am dubious. I’ll have to do more obsessive googling!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Nice tree. I think chopping here gives you a great start.
If you want literati, you’ll prune inversely. The top foliage stays while all of the lower foliage will be removed.

 

[wharf_rat78]

Nice tree. I think chopping here gives you a great start. View attachment 484264
If you want literati, you’ll prune inversely. The top foliage stays while all of the lower foliage will be removed.

Yes, that’s been my lean. I imagine I’d need to reduce the tree gradually? Stupid question?

 

[Paradox]

Looking for any input as to where some of you would go with this material (other than the compost bin)!

You could also consider styling it as a literati.

 

[brentwood]

When I look, I feel like it's an informal upright with a little hat on it - what about a more subtle chop? Maybe open it to there at the top, get proportions a little better..?
B

 

[Shibui]

Yes, that’s been my lean. I imagine I’d need to reduce the tree gradually? Stupid question?

No real need to reduce the top super slow. Healthy junipers can do 50% reduction in one go for sure and up to 75% usually.
Same for roots but that can be too frightening for most beginners so slower reduction is easier for the owner. You will gradually accept what is possible after some successes.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

If you decide to chop the top off this tree you could also try to air layer the piece of the tree to get another tree.

 

[bwaynef]

I keep thinking how this tree could use more movement in the trunk. About the only way I could see doing that would be a tall piece of rebar in the soil and pulling/blocking to/from that. Remove some of the low branches but leave (SHORT!) jins. Until the bends are set, I wouldn't remove a lot of the upper foliage (except bar branches or ill-placed (inside-of-curves for instance) branches).

If you're going to go this route, make use of the rootball that you haven't repotted as the location for the rebar. In the future, you can move the rebar to another area and introduce movement in a different plane.

If you're not going to go this route, I'd work on getting it out of the old soil soon. Not sure when it was last repotted, but I'd half bareroot it (as appropriate, based on whatever you've already done as far as repotting goes) as soon as I could.

Also, thank you for posting a pronana that's not destined for a cascade.

 

[wharf_rat78]

I keep thinking how this tree could use more movement in the trunk. About the only way I could see doing that would be a tall piece of rebar in the soil and pulling/blocking to/from that. Remove some of the low branches but leave (SHORT!) jins. Until the bends are set, I wouldn't remove a lot of the upper foliage (except bar branches or ill-placed (inside-of-curves for instance) branches).

If you're going to go this route, make use of the rootball that you haven't repotted as the location for the rebar. In the future, you can move the rebar to another area and introduce movement in a different plane.

If you're not going to go this route, I'd work on getting it out of the old soil soon. Not sure when it was last repotted, but I'd half bareroot it (as appropriate, based on whatever you've already done as far as repotting goes) as soon as I could.

Also, thank you for posting a pronana that's not destined for a cascade.

Thanks for the thoughtful ideas - would love to get more movement in the trunk if I keep much of it. The rebar idea is an interesting one I’ve read before (might have been from you on a past post).

I would love to get it out of the old soil altogether and have also read here that the notion of going super slow with bare-rooting juniper (perhaps just procumbens) might be a bit of a myth. Indeed, I completely bare-rooted another more disposable procumbens from nursery to bonsai soil a month or two ago, fine so far; we’ll see how it goes this summer).

Question: if replacing the soil by quarters or half, how frequently would you ballpark doing it? One step per year?

 

[bwaynef]

A lot is written of the HBR/Half Bareroot method of repotting, particularly on this site. While its mostly as simple as it sounds, there's a (little) bit more to it, ...but broad strokes: it involves replacing the soil in half of the rootball w/ better soil. If there is a portion of the tree that is weak, you repot the corresponding half of the rootball. Otherwise, replace the front half first and at the next repot, do the back half. The timing of that second repot depends on how the tree responds. It could be the next repotting cyle, or it could be 2-3 years away. (That last bit is me "parrotting" what I've been taught, because I've never had to wait more than a cycle to repot the 2nd half. A particularly weak or old tree warrants caution here though.)

You didn't ask, but I'll just lob this out there. I think repotting by quarters is punitively cautious, particularly on a tree as vigorous and healthy as this one appears to be.