Juniper Procumbens Initial Styling.

[Defect]

Hello all,

I have had this juniper sittin around for a little while and decided to go ahead and wire it up. Just did some basic wiring to get it started. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of what it looked like before I started.

I am planning on creating less of a bend in the leader where the 2nd branch of the left is. It started to crack a little so I stopped there seeing as how I didn't want it to completely snap off like these guys like to do.

Did a couple of virts to give to see what my next steps might be. I know the branches need to be a lot more refined and what not but its a start. Also I was thinking of taking those 2 lower right branches and creating jin from them I forgot to include that in the virt. For now the lowest on on the right I am just going to leave alone as a sacrifice branch because it is so low on the trunk.

Take a look, comments and criticisms are welcome.

Thanks,

Aaron

 

[jkd2572]

I like your virt, but leave that bottom branch on and let it grow crazy for a few years. You have a great opportunity to get the base to thicken up more. It's placed perfectly for that. Even when you cut it off later the scar will be in the back. Nice work so far.

 

[stacy allen muse]

?????????????

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

Aaron,

I'd be feeding it like crazy and pruning it to chase back foliage. It takes a long time... but in truth your crown size should be somewhere around the same size as he inner void where you have none (more or less). This looks like a shohin or less thickness trunk ... worrying about foliage placement on an under developed tree is putting things out of order. If you don't want to try for back budding give a hand at grafting... CA is a great place to do it.

That tree will never, and I do not use that word without thought, acquire the trunk proportion to foliage ratio displayed in Stacey's image (which I'm sure he wasn't inferring, but I want to be clear about). Also before I worried about the foliage, I'd actually want to spend some time addressing the root problem... Growing it out a lot for trunk and root development should be something you tackle first.

Hope I don't sound hard... not trying to anyway...

All the best,

Victrinia

 

[stacy allen muse]

??????????????

 

[Defect]

Hope I don't sound hard... not trying to anyway...

Nope not to harsh. Exactly the kind of input I am looking for.
You are also correct on the trunk thickness. I have pruned it back a bit this year but by the sound of your post I should cut it back even more to force back budding.

If I could somehow turn this tree into something that resembles that pine that would be a miracle.....lol

Thanks for all of the comments and helpful tips. Keep em comin!

Aaron

Edit: I have been feeding this guy once every 2 weeks. Would you be feeding it more?

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

If you are feeding lightly, feeding everyday on a tree in need of development would not be a problem. Especially if you have a well draining soil. Folks like Chris and Lisa of Telperion farms have a watering system that lets them add the ferts to the whole watering system. The growth they get, for where they live, is close to miraculous. I know many people who feed that way. We feed about once a week. But we have so many trees it would be challenging to feed daily for us. However I got one of these....http://growerssolution.com/page/GS/PROD/siphon-mixer so that we could premix our ferts at concentrate levels and apply them the way Chris and Lisa do, but on a home level. I intend to document our results and have a few control trees I'm not in love with. lol

Take the juniper back in stages... they aren't fond of being taken down all at once. This is a journey not a sprint... getting that tree to a actual design stage is a matter of years not hours. A lot of what you can do depends on your growing season, being so far south, you can get away with more than I can by far... The best thing to do would be to talk to other people in your area doing the same sort of work. If you look at progressions, you'll notice people posting year after year on the development of a tree... think that way and you will get far better results than otherwise.

Kindly,

Victrinia

 

[Defect]

Thank you again for your input it is greatly appreciated. I will up my feeding and keep you all updated down the road.