Guy_wires Collection

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Great work.. Any updates ..what’s the genius of the rootstock tree!?

It died from baking in the sun. I put it in a wooden box with a mesh underside, on the highest part of my bench. The soil mix was calcined clay that kept water locked up and barely donated it back to the surrounding soil.
So at one point, it just turned brown all over.
This was the point where I decided to NEVER ever do a mugo repot in summer again, and to be a bit more cautious about the placement of airy containers. I'm quite happy to say that all of my mugo's ever since have died a manual death (deciding it was too much work to turn into a tree) or have survived until this very day.

I believe the understock was scots pine, but I never found that out.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Had to kill some time yesterday so I went garden center hopping.
Found a 7 euro old gold juniper.
Then I started wondering why we start from the bottom, set the bones and then finish the fine wiring.
What would happen if we flip the method around?
Goal: bunjin like juniper, simple but elegant trunkline and some foliage on top.


Okay I lied, I removed a bunch from the bottom first to know what I'm working with. But bare with me, it will get a bit less bad.


See? I started from the top, first an apex! Left, right, left, right branching. Had to do some twists for back and forth dimensions.


A few wires later. Why is my hand looking like a foot?


A dropping branch would be cool. So I eliminated all but three branches. Bottom two ones are too low, so it became the upper one.


Some medical tape applied because this protects the cut paste from snails and it helps prevent splitting. I plan on splitting the trunk next year.
This is also the point where I'm thinking: Hmmm this could be very bad, but let's trust the process. I know how to wire, I know how to bend, I'm familiar with 'the craft' and this is nothing more than crafting with a set of rules. Follow the rules!


Alright, this ain't that bad. Bottom leans left, so movement to the right, forward, left, backwards and right and forwards again.


Wired the future jin and left some foliage and some bark so that it gets a bit more rugged than just a "round branch that was debarked". Trimmed some of the branch lengths.
For now, the work is done.

Have a nice day y'all!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Ponderosa in the ground. Three years from seed I believe. Did some sloppy wiring.
But they're close to pinky thick in just three years, ready for take off and digging this fall to do some root work.

 

[leatherback]

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Ponderosa in the ground. Three years from seed I believe. Did some sloppy wiring.
But they're close to pinky thick in just three years, ready for take off and digging this fall to do some root work.

Sister of the one you dropped in my mailbox?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Sister of the one you dropped in my mailbox?

Yes, do you remember what year that was? Because I forgot.

I'll probably have some pitch pines in fall if you want. I'm thinking about sowing a bunch this spring.

 

[leatherback]

Yes, do you remember what year that was? Because I forgot.

I'll probably have some pitch pines in fall if you want. I'm thinking about sowing a bunch this spring.

Absolutely
...
No idea.

I am not after more seedlings at this time. I have a few trays with seedlings and cuttings of several tree species and cultivars and I really need to clean up. Intending to reduce the number and up the maturity of stock in my garden. (Which is why I picked up 20 juniper youngsters in fal, sight)

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Absolutely
...
No idea.

I am not after more seedlings at this time. I have a few trays with seedlings and cuttings of several tree species and cultivars and I really need to clean up. Intending to reduce the number and up the maturity of stock in my garden. (Which is why I picked up 20 juniper youngsters in fal, sight)

Would this be a good moment to sacrifice myself and offer to take some of your stock? I have some ground growing space left.

 

[leatherback]

Would this be a good moment to sacrifice myself and offer to take some of your stock? I have some ground growing space left.

Haha, thank you for the offer. The main challenge is that I have not been keeping notes on what is what in my propagation trays, and therefor do not know what I want to keep. THere are quite a few cuttings in there of my personal Laceleaf X Arakawa maple breed which I am not passing onto others untill I have registered the variety, which requires multiple years of growing & propagation to show the treats are stable. So plants from my propagation trays are not passed on untill sorted & inidividually planted up.

I have been thinking about selling of stock from my growing beds of common species (Elm, oak, Larch, Crabapple), so I can plant up my propagations of more interesting material (itoigawa, JBP, Arakawa, Trident). But then people only want this when potted up, which requires a year of ongrowing. Catch-22. And I have a bunch of 4-7 year old wild lindens which I might actually lift from my garden today and plop into pots for passing on later.

Are you after something specific?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Haha, thank you for the offer. The main challenge is that I have not been keeping notes on what is what in my propagation trays, and therefor do not know what I want to keep. THere are quite a few cuttings in there of my personal Laceleaf X Arakawa maple breed which I am not passing onto others untill I have registered the variety, which requires multiple years of growing & propagation to show the treats are stable. So plants from my propagation trays are not passed on untill sorted & inidividually planted up.

I have been thinking about selling of stock from my growing beds of common species (Elm, oak, Larch, Crabapple), so I can plant up my propagations of more interesting material (itoigawa, JBP, Arakawa, Trident). But then people only want this when potted up, which requires a year of ongrowing. Catch-22. And I have a bunch of 4-7 year old wild lindens which I might actually lift from my garden today and plop into pots for passing on later.

Are you after something specific?

I am looking for procumbens with scale foliage, which I found in some nurseries last year but only as a grafted on a pole type of plant.
Chinensis cuttings too, not itoigawa or kishu but plain chinensis.
If my trident seeds germinate, then I'll not be looking for trident. Otherwise I might.

 

[leatherback]

Chinensis cuttings too, not itoigawa or kishu but plain chinensis.

I did get a whole load of junipers in, in fall. I popped a bunch of prunings in a bunch of pots. Some of them might be regular chinensis (Although could be "blaauw" or another cultivar)

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I did get a whole load of junipers in, in fall. I popped a bunch of prunings in a bunch of pots. Some of them might be regular chinensis (Although could be "blaauw" or another cultivar)

I have a whole bunch of blaauw, about 20.
Sabina is proven easy to take cuttings of as well.
But regular chinensis is harder to find nowadays than kishu or itoigawa. One of my zombie junipers is large enough to handle regular chinensis foliage and I've been grafting for two, maybe three years now, but I want to do approach grafting since scion grafting is too slow for this plant.
For that, I could use cuttings. So I'm making those! But that's another from now before I can use them.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Practicing some approach grafting. This is my fourth try, and only the second try was ever succesful.


Looks snug, there is some contact and some gaps. First time working with a dremel and I'm running into the issue that the nibblers I use get the crevases in between the teeth filled with wood and resin. Makes it difficult to do a neat and clean wound.

All set. Time for some cut putty.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Another one.
This is why I like keeping weak branches. They don't swell as much and they can be used to overcome looong internodes on other branches by replacing them.



I want to take this post to speak out my appreciation for flat nylon ribbon. It holds with one! knot. It's flat so it does well at supporting flaps and wounds. Easy to cut with a knife, scissor or even a wire cutter. And it's been a grafting aid since last year.
Grafting tape and parafilm are still used here, but for holding strength, nylon ribbon is my go to gal.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

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This scots pine was in some bad place, it's still flushing out. Some buds haven't even opened.
Pondering about what to do with the right hand side.

View attachment 502667
Meh.

View attachment 502668
But what about this?

Not sure. Anyways, back to good health first.

This scots pine got a checkup today because it performed terribly last year.
Last spring I put it in pure pumice and I'm not sure why I chopsticked so terribly. I took it out of the pot today and it was black in there. Smelled foul too, not like fresh pine soil.
It looks like I left way too many soil pockets, especially underneath the trunk. So today I repositioned it and spent a full hour on chopsticking soil all around the rootball.
Took some time to check some other plants that have been underperforming a little bit and what would you know?! Soil pockets.
Gosh.
Inocculated with fresh fungal culture from my other scots pines who are doing great. Get that biome going.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Scion from two years ago is a little bit wonky, but alive and kicking.
Can we fix it?

Reopened the wound, and positioned it so that they would touch.


Push pin to make them touch.

Some sealant and now we wait.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Birds eye view of the patch.


Rooted sabina cutting.


Germanating maple. Trident.






Rigida junipers doing they ting. Producing foliage before the roots. Going outdoors now because it's t-shirt weather.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Something is eating rust in my backyard. An thoroughly too!

 

[leatherback]

rust

as in, iron oxide?
That is peculiar!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

as in, iron oxide?
That is peculiar!

No as in the fungal issue in junipers.
Instead of having to cut the tissue out, something is doing that work for me.
Nice and all, but now I can't see how the disease progresses and I'm not sure if something is rust, or just a random wound.
Weird.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

My bunjin-ish communis is looking a little weak, so I grafted some squamata on it.
Squamata in my backyard grows like a weed. It might restore some power if this works.
Communis wood is tough though, and the skin is thin too.
Can't recommend it grafting on communis, because it feels like a level above my skillset.