1st Juniper Yamadori -- thoughts on design?

[I_I_am_not_a_cat]

I collected this in early May and have watched as the main trunk has died back but the lowest branch is still alive. Today I decided to remove the majority of the dead needles so I could get a better indication of what was happening and I think that it may actually be a separate tree that was growing in the same crack in the rock and grew from under one of the roots (root over tree??) or maybe it is 3 trees all growing close together.

Looking for thoughts on design, even though I am not planning on doing any more work to this until next year.

Here it is just after being collected and planted into a box.


And here it is today--I had already started removing needles when I realized I needed a before pic:


As it is now:

A couple of close ups of the base where you can see that it might be

 

[pandacular]

Before thinking about style, keep it alive for at least two more years. It’s very unhealthy as is, to the point where I would want to consult with someone local about what needs to be adjusted to keep it alive.

 

[Ruddigger]

Good advice.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

What made you decide to remove all the foliage from almost all the branches instead of only removing a certain number of branches?

 

[I_I_am_not_a_cat]

Before thinking about style, keep it alive for at least two more years. It’s very unhealthy as is, to the point where I would want to consult with someone local about what needs to be adjusted to keep it alive.

2 more years...well I guess I have other trees in the meantime. This was my first try at collecting a juniper and I was sort of surprised any of it survived. I still want to think about the design, even if I need to wait for it to recover.

 

[I_I_am_not_a_cat]

What made you decide to remove all the foliage from almost all the branches instead of only removing a certain number of branches?

All of the removed foliage was dead--all I had to do was lightly brush a branch for the needles to fall. I just wanted to see the bare bones before removing any branches. Perhaps it was a mistake--as this is my first Juniper, I am still learning.

 

[Ruddigger]

What kind of juniper is it?

 

[I_I_am_not_a_cat]

What kind of juniper is it?

Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), collected in the Oregon high desert.

 

[August44]

In my experience Junipers are tough to collect. They are always in some kind of a rock pile, or growing out of a crack in a huge rock, or have big tape roots. I have collected small Western junipers with luck but never had luck with larger ones yet. I think there is misting etc that needs to be done before success. Maybe someone on here knows methods for survival on them.

 

[MaciekA]

All of the removed foliage was dead--all I had to do was lightly brush a branch for the needles to fall. I just wanted to see the bare bones before removing any branches. Perhaps it was a mistake--as this is my first Juniper, I am still learning.

Removing dead branchlets isn't a problem. The currently-living foliage shows you which part of the live vein survived collection. The rest is deadwood.

The remaining live vein and living foliage isn't in danger from stuff you do to this deadwood structure. Honestly, if your hands are itchy and you want to clarify your view of the tree for design planning purposes in a totally guilt-free / safe way, you could start on carving/cleaning/etc.

If you are going to create some magnificent deadwood structure out of the 9/10ths of this tree that is no longer alive, now's the time to start thinking about that and learning all about jin-making / carving / lime sulphur and so on. The fibers in the dead wood only harden and get more and more difficult to work with from here on in. The fresher the "dead" or dying juniper wood, the easier it is to pull at it with pliers as if it is a cheese string or tough turkey. That pliability will fade.

Research juniper deadwood techniques / find someone to teach you / watch this video for an intro:

 

[I_I_am_not_a_cat]

Removing dead branchlets isn't a problem. The currently-living foliage shows you which part of the live vein survived collection. The rest is deadwood.

The remaining live vein and living foliage isn't in danger from stuff you do to this deadwood structure. Honestly, if your hands are itchy and you want to clarify your view of the tree for design planning purposes in a totally guilt-free / safe way, you could start on carving/cleaning/etc.

If you are going to create some magnificent deadwood structure out of the 9/10ths of this tree that is no longer alive, now's the time to start thinking about that and learning all about jin-making / carving / lime sulphur and so on. The fibers in the dead wood only harden and get more and more difficult to work with from here on in. The fresher the "dead" or dying juniper wood, the easier it is to pull at it with pliers as if it is a cheese string or tough turkey. That pliability will fade.

Research juniper deadwood techniques / find someone to teach you / watch this video for an intro:

Thanks MaciekA, I really did have some itchy hands. After a bit of reading and watching videos, I decided to start on some tanuki with a small branch, just to give it a try and to see if I could start integrating the main trunk (that is most likely a different tree). Now to figure out how far down I want to bring the top of the deadwood.

At first I thought it should wrap clockwise since that is the direction the branch was headed, but then I realized the the trunk actually twists slightly counterclockwise.

I am sure my technique could have been better and I was not certain how wide to make the groove, but hopefully this is a good start.