[Jeramiah]

I sadly forgot to take before pictures when I first bought this tree.
I bought this tree as a end of season sale for $8.

Here are some pictures after a trimming it received. Any direction or ideas or criticism is welcomed.

Top view of the tree.

[jkl]

Like so many nursery juniper, this one is moving off in at least two directions. You need to choose one and cut the others back -- either as jin or as "balancing foliage" to the main trunk.

[Jeramiah]

I do think this is however my best choice on the sale priced Junipers this year.

If you look at the top view of the tree I like the branch on the left that moves toward the back of the pot. I was thinking maybe trying to wire that up as a leader but as I look at the images I sorta like the over all height on this tree the way it is.

[Brent]

Most beginners would remove all the inner breaks and small branches and leave all the foxtail ends of foliage, and then try to figure out what to do with an impossible situation. Let me introduce you to something completely different. First, read from the tattoo on your forehead: The height of the tree will probably be best if kept around six times the caliper of the trunk. How big is the trunk? If it is one inch, then don't even look at anything beyond six inches from the base, imagine a six inch ball. This is an extremely hard thing for beginners to do, but it's either this or grow the thing out and don't worry about styling at this stage.

How to do this: Take your concave cutters and simply shorten all the branches to six inches from the trunk. If there is no foliage at this distance, then cut just leaving a bit of foliage, no matter how long the branch. DON'T remove ANYTHING else, including little bits of green stuff growing around the branches and off the trunk. Very often, these end up being the final branches while all the existing branches end up being jin.

This will help clarify your mind as to a form, you will no longer be distracted by foliage and can concentrate on line. Chances are, this pruning will be so severe that you won't be able to prune anything else at all. That's what styling sessions are supposed to be like- reducing to the bare elements and then letting it recover. Once it is a nice little fluff ball of foliage, you can begin again. What you SHOULD do next is analyze what you have left. You will never get a better chance to see the trunk and the branches. Once it starts growing again they will soon be obscured.

Now the work begins. You must decide on a trunkline or possible trunklines. How do you do this? Every single branch on the tree has the potential to be the next section of trunkline. So start at the bottom and draw or imagine a trunk that through each branch- one by one. Evaluate each one. Some will jump right out at you (usually the largest branches). Others will be more subtle, but evaluate every single one, it's excellent practice. I used to do this in demos showing I could build a tree from every branch, but some are always bound to be better than others (usually the smallest tree!). You can mark the good ones with flagging tape so they don't get lost.

If you are lucky and your choice(s) of trunkline is a major branch with secondary branching, you may even be able to select the next trunk sections. That's how you build a trunk, piece by piece by changing the direction and the caliper to gain taper. Especially for junipers, you will not use the original trunkline nine out of ten times. It will be boring, straight, and taperless.

Do this and send another pic so we can see if it has any decent possibilities. Remove it from the pot when you take pics so we can see the base clearly, and remove lose soil around the surface roots to see the nebari. The next step will be to choose a front based on the best view of the nebari.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
see our blog at http://BonsaiNurseryman.typepad.com

[Jeramiah]

I think your 6 inch ball is the best thing I have read anywhere. That would make a bit less distracting.

Thanks Brent for that detailed direction. I appreciate the time you took to type that up.


Are you suggesting all of that to be done in one sitting or over time?

[Brent]

Usually you can do it in one session, but you have to leave enough foliage to keep it alive. And that's a judgement call. However, with junipers, if you don't repot (as I recommend) but just prune, it will survive with very little foliage left.

Brent

[Jeramiah]

Just to clarify again, these images are bad but is this what you are talking about?






Or are you talking 6" from all possible trunk lines?

[jkl]

Don't miss what Brent said about the smallest trunk usually/often being the best choice!!!!!!!

It's counter-intuitive, but true.

[Brent]

Jeramiah

Basically, yes, that's the idea.

Bonsai-a-holic

I said the smallest TREE, not the smallest trunk. There's a big difference. In general you want the largest trunk with the most taper.


Brent

[Mike Pollock]

Here's a similar garden juniper I made. The first photo is 5/05, the second 4/06, the third 9/06 and the last 6/08. I sold it because I was tired of fighting cedar apple rust which seemed to plague this species. This one and a sister tree ended up in Puerto Rico. I hope to see them again someday.

As you can see, I cut back hard to create a good, tapering trunk line. It was about 50% as wide as the original tree. Each branch was cut back as far as possible while still leaving green on each branch. It wasn't until I looked at past photos each year that I realized how well it was filling in.

Hope this helps you get ideas for yours.

Attached File(s)

•  Juniper-progression.jpg (113.39K)
  Number of downloads: 77

[Jeramiah]

So anyway I hope I interpreted you correctly. If not let me know and I will try again.
All I did was took your 6 inches because you are correct, it is a 1 inch diameter trunk. I took a measuring tape and from the trunk all the way around the tree cut at roughly 6 inches. I then took the tape and measured from the soil line 6 inches straight up and cut at roughly 6 inches.

I was wondering as I was doing this if you were wanting me to measure each individual branch and cut that at 6 inches?

I did not end up with a ball but this is what I got for you to see.







Top View




I scraped off some of the soil on top probably not enough but here is what I got.

[Mike Pollock]

Looks pretty good to me.

Your next step is to choose a trunk line (and planting angle). Let it grow out until it is bushy. Then choose the next cuts to develop the line and develop growth close to the trunk. My guess is you'll cut back hard again to compact the trunk line even more.

Have fun!

[Brent]

Jeramiah

It looks good. In this case leaving six inch (or more) branches was the right decision seeing how much foliage is left. If you had cut back more, the plant would be endangered. Of course, six inches is still too long and after bud back you will shorten these, remove some, jin others during the next styling session.

You still haven't given us any decent shots without the pot, so I really can't comment on a trunkline. If you are resisting because you wired a branch down to the pot, forget it, wiring anything at this stage is ridiculous. Remove it from the pot, hose off the surface to expose the surface roots and give us some straight head on shots of the trunk and branches. From this you should be able to first select a front based on the nebari, and then see if that front will work with the trunk base and your selection of the next trunk section. It's always best to have the primary view of the nebari in the front because this is the element you probably can't change. This is true even if it means sacrificing a decent trunkline and starting over- if you want the best tree possible and you're not in a hurry. in other words, start at the ground and work your way up.

I can't believe how many decent trees I have seen in the US with garbage roots. For some reason most folks here just can't wrap their mind around the fact that the base is ESSENTIAL to establishing a believable bonsai.

Brent

[wabashene]

Good thread and good advice for you Jeramiah.

How's it going btw Brent?

************************************
Funnily enough I was getting radical last weekend with some San Jose Juniper cuttings I lifted off my allotment last winter.

They were completely wild looking things with no real definition so I decided to chop them all in an attempt to get creative.



The ones left and right are the only one with real potential and are 6", 12" and 8" respectively.

I cut about a foot off the left one to find the smallest tree.
 JUNI CHOPS X3.jpg (98.02K)
Number of downloads: 47
The left and middle ones are going in my usual " everything styled like a classic cookie cutter pine" direction with is really annoying.



These are all rooted prunings off this one and about 6-8 years old.

http://www.bonsaisit...opic=3987&st=75

see post 83

Just stick 'em in a wooden trough in peaty/gritty soil any time and keep them damp.

Maybe give you some ideas.

thks

TimR

[lennard]

Nice thread. Im learning a lot. This is why this is the best forum on the web!

Lennard