Yamadori Rocky Mountain Juniper

[peterbone]

Amazing tree. Don't you think though that the deadwood is a little dominant from that angle? Photos from 2010 show a better balance of dead to live wood in my view. Is that because more wood died or because the angle changed? Could turning it slightly clockwise show more live vein going into the soil?

 

[Dav4]

Unfortunately, the live vein was receding when those images were taken, and rotating the tree clockwise to highlight the live vein more effectively would hide the wonderful deadwood at the top of the trunk. I suspect this tree will eventually be completely restyled to address those issues.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I know that lime sulfur is de rigueur in bonsai, but I use a ~15 to 20% solution of household bleach in water sprayed or painted on with a non-organic brush. It does not work as fast, -you have to apply it several times, leave it on to dry. It does two things: bleaching the wood as deep as the fluid can penetrate and kills black molds which cause grayness of deadwood. It will leave the wood a bright, dead white and the grain as clean as a whistle instead of having a sulfur-ish yellow tone and can be applied every couple months for maintenance. And, your tree won't stink.

 

[Dav4]

I know that lime sulfur is de rigueur in bonsai, but I use a ~15 to 20% solution of household bleach in water sprayed or painted on with a non-organic brush. It does not work as fast, -you have to apply it several times, leave it on to dry. It does two things: bleaching the wood as deep as the fluid can penetrate and kills black molds which cause grayness of deadwood. It will leave the wood a bright, dead white and the grain as clean as a whistle instead of having a sulfur-ish yellow tone and can be applied every couple months for maintenance. And, your tree won't stink.

Hmmmm, interesting. I may give this a try with an old yamadori juniper carcass I have in my yard to see what it does. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Hmmmm, interesting. I may give this a try with an old yamadori juniper carcass I have in my yard to see what it does. Thanks for the tip.

And, you can use it on small, hard-to-get-to parts. Organic brushes will be consumed, muy pronto, so use a crappy, cheap plastic filament brush.

 

[Dav4]

It’s been a few years since the last time I cleaned the bark... it’s like armor plating.

 

[Dav4]

I was able to find this image from Walter Palls travelogues... wonderful pictorial of Walter's bonsai travels through the years. Any way, this was me and the tree, in it's original wooden collection box, back in early April 2007. If you look carefully, you can see the one sided root system... and no grey in my hair!

 

[Dav4]

Banner year for cedar apple rust...

 

[chicago1980]

Banner year for cedar apple rust...
View attachment 361665

Shit!

What's your plan?

 

[Dav4]

Shit!

What's your plan?

It’s getting grafted with better foliage . I’ve got three grafts that Have taken from last year and another two that I am weaning off of the root stock. This one has been treated prophylactically with make a Z and copper spray every year… This is the worst it’s ever been

 

[Dav4]

It’s getting grafted with better foliage . I’ve got three grafts that Have taken from last year and another two that I am weaning off of the root stock. This one has been treated prophylactically with make a Z and copper spray every year… This is the worst it’s ever been

voice recognition failure!! "Make a z" = "mancozeb"

 

[Dav4]

Grafts

 

[Vance Wood]

The problem is the weather and the humidity.

 

[Dav4]

Although I lost one older graft over the winter, the remaining older ones continue to do well and I have successfully separated one at the Apex… That was a big one for me design wise… And I’m continuing to separate more as we go. I’m hoping to wire them out this fall to begin moving the foliage where I need it… Fingers crossed

 

[Hartinez]

Glad to see some grafts taking Dave. Is there a concern of the rust transferring to the new foliage? or is this one of the big reasons for the foliage change? If you covered this already, my bad. 13 pages.

 

[Dav4]

No, no concerns about rust transferring from one type of foliage to the other. Apparently shimpaku are very resistant to rust which was one of several facts that drove me toward replacing the native foliage. Interestingly enough, now that I am 700 miles further north in a climate that is somewhat cooler and less humid, things like rust and spider mites aren’t nearly as big an issue for me… So far and knock wood . Granted, I’m also not trying to grow these Trees right up against the woods which was what I had to do back down in Georgia.