borgsted99
Seed
Hello all. Firstly, I'm having a ton of fun watching my apartment and driveway begin to succumb to a takeover of greenery. I have had marginal success experimenting with many kinds of houseplants. I am wading, awed, into the art of bonsai and I am enjoying the experience of trial/error and trying to "listen" to what my plants want from me. Some of my faster growing houseplants and I had a rocky start but we're beginning to see eye to eye. I am efforting to relax myself into the start of a LTR with some outdoor bonsai, realizing that both I, and these trees are growing slowly. My main desire is for us to help each other with that growth. For my part I will offer attention, protection and water, as well as any food or supply the plants might want. I will also try to create an environment that is aligned with the plant's most naturally-found environment, as best as I can understand and replicate. In return I hope to experience a symbiosis I imagine might occur if we can both thrive, the tree in my care and me in its splendor.
So for a first question/scenario:
It's September in New Jersey and I intend to take a waist high, fairly straight Juniper I spotted and purchased at a local nursery and prepare it for winter outside. I thought I'd try to cultivate a healthy formal upright style tree over the next many years. I will try to attach a picture to this post to illustrate what I'm looking at.
When I look at this tree through my mind's eye I see a majestic old timber tree keeping a centuries-long watch over some magnificent, mist-laden mountain valley, it's collection of beautifully dense, rich pads of healthy, well-shaped foliage an amazing, gasp-inspiring, sight that is a wonder to behold. Something you'd find in a dream about Oregon. Or Japan or somewhere else awesome I haven't been to yet. But as my fantasy-overlay fades what I really see is a rather shaggy juniper that was semi-forgotten in the corner of a nursery and now is staring back at me in the driveway of my apartment building and we're both kind of saying: Now what?
This Juniper tree has a fairly taper-less trunk that is about an inch and a half thick. It has healthy looking branches growing in a reasonably even spiral arrangement (looking from top, what I mean is, it appears to have a distribution of branches in a pleasing even array, roughly like a spiral staircase. With um, like half the stairs missing?) So I feel like I'd ultimately be able to find a good side as a front etc. that exhibited a nice balance. The tree is tied to a metal rod that has allowed it to grow almost arrow straight and vertical with branches extending kind of down and out into some really sweet Juniper-shapey arms. (!?)
I would like to:
1. Help this tree survive a winter that is likely to be ok for a while (cold and dormancy inspiring)and then turn kinda nasty (below freezing, snowy, windy) for maybe even two months.
2. Begin a transition from landscaping plant into a candidate for attention, training and styling.
3. If it is time, begin a trunk thickening/tapering process that will be aligned with the traditional upright tapering examples that I enjoy and seem to be generally accepted as "correct".
So.
At the "top" of my tree, it appears that trunk curves/has-been-bent-over and the "peak" of the tree has become the uppermost "branch". Though at the new "top", the bend at the uppermost point of trunk, there appears to be a healing wound from where a branch was cut, or the trunk itself. There is hopefully a photo where this detail is evident.
My question is if anyone can help me determine whether this is the case, and if so will it begin to grow a new "trunk" upwards out of this bend/wound area?
I have been trying to read about trunk taper/thickening techniques and am wondering if a "trunk chop" has occurred and how this particular tree might begin to grow upwards again. and if it will, should I chop this tree off again, at an even lower point to begin growing say the bottom third of the "finished" height? I don't mean to oversimplify the tapering process but can one simply chop the top two thirds off of a tree and then have it keep growing? Straight up from the wound? I don't get it. Was my top branch the "leader" that's a thing right? I spotted this tree because something about Junipers looks really cool to me. Maybe Pat Morita really reached me. And I like the idea of dedicating myself to this tree for many years. But I definitely want to engage with it and try to style it in the image of some beautiful trees you all have guided. So I'm totally willing to hack half of it off and wait, but I feel like I'm fumbling in the dark. Based on what you can see of this tree, should I cut it, and if so where should I cut it? There appear to be many small new buds/branches/skinny little green guys poking out of random new spots along the trunk as well. Do these trees usually grow branches from all over and someone has been cutting them off to leave only these larger distinguished branches? Will all of these little green sprouts grow out into big full branches if I allow them? Could I chop off large branches and let these new sprouts grow in instead, to sort of rearrange the branch placement if I were so-inclined? And what of the "leader"? I think I read that My big picture idea of the tree should be based around the development of the trunk and to disregard branches altogether and develop the trunk. Well from a look at this tree, can anyone help me formulate a plan? My tentative idea is to chop it off and see a new trunk push up, wait years, play around with "sacrifice branches" and then chop it all off again etc. until I have a sweet tapered trunk and then start to allow my final branches to come in. I just don't know if I'm way off base here in terms of the way these trees behave.
Further, can I keep it in a big pot in the driveway of my apartment building or will the soil and water and roots freeze solid? Is it ok if they do? I read that planted in the ground is obviously best, and my mother has offered whatever area of her garden would suit the tree, but that is 30 minutes from here and I would like to care for it and water it as frequently as necessary and worry if that is realistic. But I imagine that if it were properly planted in the ground, a certain amount of the root structure would be protected from freezing due to the depth in the living earth and that only a few inches on top will likely freeze solid overwinter. If I built a structure of wood and clear plastic around the potted tree in the driveway would it likely survive? Is wind protection enough of should I prevent freezing?
I realize that I've asked like forty vague questions in this post but I'm not sure how/who to ask, and you guys seem to have a priceless collective experience, and I sure do appreciate the shared knowledge. If anything in this post jumps out at you, please weigh in. I'd love to hear your opinions/suggestions.
Thanks so much,
Simon.
TLDR: Can I chop my Juniper in half now, later, or not at all, and should I plant it at Mum's or pot up outside my apartment building for the winter. Dear Illustrious Forum, how do trees grow?
Thanks- Eager Fumbler.
So for a first question/scenario:
It's September in New Jersey and I intend to take a waist high, fairly straight Juniper I spotted and purchased at a local nursery and prepare it for winter outside. I thought I'd try to cultivate a healthy formal upright style tree over the next many years. I will try to attach a picture to this post to illustrate what I'm looking at.
When I look at this tree through my mind's eye I see a majestic old timber tree keeping a centuries-long watch over some magnificent, mist-laden mountain valley, it's collection of beautifully dense, rich pads of healthy, well-shaped foliage an amazing, gasp-inspiring, sight that is a wonder to behold. Something you'd find in a dream about Oregon. Or Japan or somewhere else awesome I haven't been to yet. But as my fantasy-overlay fades what I really see is a rather shaggy juniper that was semi-forgotten in the corner of a nursery and now is staring back at me in the driveway of my apartment building and we're both kind of saying: Now what?
This Juniper tree has a fairly taper-less trunk that is about an inch and a half thick. It has healthy looking branches growing in a reasonably even spiral arrangement (looking from top, what I mean is, it appears to have a distribution of branches in a pleasing even array, roughly like a spiral staircase. With um, like half the stairs missing?) So I feel like I'd ultimately be able to find a good side as a front etc. that exhibited a nice balance. The tree is tied to a metal rod that has allowed it to grow almost arrow straight and vertical with branches extending kind of down and out into some really sweet Juniper-shapey arms. (!?)
I would like to:
1. Help this tree survive a winter that is likely to be ok for a while (cold and dormancy inspiring)and then turn kinda nasty (below freezing, snowy, windy) for maybe even two months.
2. Begin a transition from landscaping plant into a candidate for attention, training and styling.
3. If it is time, begin a trunk thickening/tapering process that will be aligned with the traditional upright tapering examples that I enjoy and seem to be generally accepted as "correct".
So.
At the "top" of my tree, it appears that trunk curves/has-been-bent-over and the "peak" of the tree has become the uppermost "branch". Though at the new "top", the bend at the uppermost point of trunk, there appears to be a healing wound from where a branch was cut, or the trunk itself. There is hopefully a photo where this detail is evident.
My question is if anyone can help me determine whether this is the case, and if so will it begin to grow a new "trunk" upwards out of this bend/wound area?
I have been trying to read about trunk taper/thickening techniques and am wondering if a "trunk chop" has occurred and how this particular tree might begin to grow upwards again. and if it will, should I chop this tree off again, at an even lower point to begin growing say the bottom third of the "finished" height? I don't mean to oversimplify the tapering process but can one simply chop the top two thirds off of a tree and then have it keep growing? Straight up from the wound? I don't get it. Was my top branch the "leader" that's a thing right? I spotted this tree because something about Junipers looks really cool to me. Maybe Pat Morita really reached me. And I like the idea of dedicating myself to this tree for many years. But I definitely want to engage with it and try to style it in the image of some beautiful trees you all have guided. So I'm totally willing to hack half of it off and wait, but I feel like I'm fumbling in the dark. Based on what you can see of this tree, should I cut it, and if so where should I cut it? There appear to be many small new buds/branches/skinny little green guys poking out of random new spots along the trunk as well. Do these trees usually grow branches from all over and someone has been cutting them off to leave only these larger distinguished branches? Will all of these little green sprouts grow out into big full branches if I allow them? Could I chop off large branches and let these new sprouts grow in instead, to sort of rearrange the branch placement if I were so-inclined? And what of the "leader"? I think I read that My big picture idea of the tree should be based around the development of the trunk and to disregard branches altogether and develop the trunk. Well from a look at this tree, can anyone help me formulate a plan? My tentative idea is to chop it off and see a new trunk push up, wait years, play around with "sacrifice branches" and then chop it all off again etc. until I have a sweet tapered trunk and then start to allow my final branches to come in. I just don't know if I'm way off base here in terms of the way these trees behave.
Further, can I keep it in a big pot in the driveway of my apartment building or will the soil and water and roots freeze solid? Is it ok if they do? I read that planted in the ground is obviously best, and my mother has offered whatever area of her garden would suit the tree, but that is 30 minutes from here and I would like to care for it and water it as frequently as necessary and worry if that is realistic. But I imagine that if it were properly planted in the ground, a certain amount of the root structure would be protected from freezing due to the depth in the living earth and that only a few inches on top will likely freeze solid overwinter. If I built a structure of wood and clear plastic around the potted tree in the driveway would it likely survive? Is wind protection enough of should I prevent freezing?
I realize that I've asked like forty vague questions in this post but I'm not sure how/who to ask, and you guys seem to have a priceless collective experience, and I sure do appreciate the shared knowledge. If anything in this post jumps out at you, please weigh in. I'd love to hear your opinions/suggestions.
Thanks so much,
Simon.
TLDR: Can I chop my Juniper in half now, later, or not at all, and should I plant it at Mum's or pot up outside my apartment building for the winter. Dear Illustrious Forum, how do trees grow?
Thanks- Eager Fumbler.
).
