Could Shari Resolve Trunk Imperfections on Juniper

[thumblessprimate1]

I have a 7 to 8 foot tall blue point juniper in my possession. It's in a 10 gallon nursery can getting water, fertilzer, and a lot of sun. If I had my camera, I'd post a pic, but it got sent out for repairs. I'm supposed to get a loaner today under warranty.

Anyways, the juniper has an imperfection caused by a stake that was left on it for too long. The juniper trunk is about the as thick as a 12 oz beverage can. The impression left by the metal stake is about a 1/4 inch deep and 1 foot in length.

I have bottom of the nursery can buried in the ground to develop escape roots; I think that if the juniper grows the impression would lessen or disappear. I don't mind leaving the juniper in the ground for at least another 5 years.

Lately, I've been contemplating if adding shari on either side of the impression could promote the thickening of the the impressed area faster. What do you juniper folks think?

 

[Poink88]

Not a juni folk but sometimes scarring/scraping the area will trigger faster growth (counter intuitive but it works). I've been doing some perpendicular cuts on some of my trees w/ reverse taper (at lower areas) as well and seem like it is helping. You can try doing either.

Of course you know that with pics it would be much easier to give a more intelligent advise. Maybe mine will change once you posted one.

Good luck!

 

[KennedyMarx]

Why not just make shari where the impression is? Maybe I'm not imagining it clearly without a picture.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

It'll help when I get a picture up. I've thought about making a shari where the impression is, but the challenge is that it may need some carving afterwards. Otherwise, the shari would have an unatural impression left in it. Carving is something I'm not ready for, but I hope to venture into in the future.

 

[DougB]

interesting dilemma. Obviously at 7 or 8 feet you will be chopping it. Where is your expected chop in relation to the undesirable wound and what about branches that would be retained. Those pics will really help everyone. Thanks for sharing.

 

[edprocoat]

Thumbless if you shari the depression it would be just bare wood and not change the shape of it much. Is the depression that obvious that it would not look like and injured part of the trunk once the bark removed? It seems a depression is what you want on your Bonsai when employing techniques like Shari.

ed

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Snapped some pics of the juniper, a possible front, and the back side. The impression is closer to a third of an inch in the deepest parts actually.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

interesting dilemma. Obviously at 7 or 8 feet you will be chopping it. Where is your expected chop in relation to the undesirable wound and what about branches that would be retained. Those pics will really help everyone. Thanks for sharing.

I'm planning to sever the juniper at about the point where the photo is cropped at the top in the second pic. I'd like to see what ideas folks out there have. I have some ideas; just would rather not screw this up.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Here's a closer shot for more detail.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Looks like where it was staked at one time. You can scrape it down to smooth it out and it should improve after a couple years.

I'd be more inclined to make it into a Shari, with maybe a more twisted movement. You can carve the depression and the swelling and end up with a bit of a lightning strike look. The bark and growth pattern already suggest the movement, so it could be a cool feature.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Thanks folks. I probably will use that suggestion of going ahead and create the shari along the impression left from the stake.

Does it matter what time of the year when peeling back the bark for doing this? I gotta order some lime sulphur before I do this.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Spring or fall is probably best. If you're going to chop it down, I'd chop now, and carve the Shari in the fall. Don't worry too much about using LS right away, always looks better if the wood dries and ages a bit first.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Thanks, Brian. I was planning on doing the chop later down the road, letting the foliage closer to the lower part of the trunk grow more. Do you think it's ready for the chop?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Yeah...chop away. Then you'll get some good growth popping back on the trunk for the rest of the year.