Misfit J. Procumbens progression

[bonsaiwood]

New thread to document the progress of my J. Procumbens.

Like many of my trees I found this one in the ‘misfit pile’ at a small local nursery in 2020. The grower was not sure of the cultivar. I liked it for its compact and dense foliage, which appears to be that of ‘Nana’, but I could be wrong. It was potted in a loam/sand/compost mix by the nursery. No early photos but here are the earliest photos taken before I began work on the tree Feb 2024.

In its first 3 years under my care I fed it well and kept it well hydrated. I made no pruning or styling decisions during this time. It handled a move from a Zone 10 coastal climate to a Zone 9b climate (warmer summers, colder winters in the valley).





Took it to the garage in Feb and began removing leggy/undesirable branches.





Looking nasty from the opposite side...





As I opened up the foliage layers I could see plenty of healthy back budding to work with, great to see. I then picked off all the browned/yellowed foliage from branches I intended to keep.




Stopped to take a break and just studied the tree for awhile paying attention to its natural leaning style. Good time for a beer.





It was possibly chopped here at one point, which caused the new leader to grow out at an angle.





Rotated to backside (tree leaning away).




A little more work and root inspection... lots of fibrous root circling the can

This was a good time to stop and plan to take the tree to my club workshop the following week.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Decided to leave this tiny flush of growth near the top and see what might come of it later.





Late Feb 2024: Before and after some careful pruning and wiring with the instruction of an experienced club member. We made the top branch into jin and peeled away some bark from the upper trunk. We had a lot of fun working on it.

 

[pandacular]

Looks nice, off to a good start. You have a really nice, upright trunk in there, which is rare for a procumbens. I would like to see you train the foliage against the natural creeping habit, into more of an alpine look. @Japonicus has several nice old procumbens and threads for em too.

I was told by a teacher from Japan to avoid making shari on procumbens as it rots quickly…but also it would look great with shari, so I’m conflicted.

 

[AshleyMammal]

Nice! Reminds me of @Brian Van Fleet https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/itoigawa-juniper-stock.8647/ thread

 

[bonsaiwood]

Looks nice, off to a good start. You have a really nice, upright trunk in there, which is rare for a procumbens. I would like to see you train the foliage against the natural creeping habit, into more of an alpine look. @Japonicus has several nice old procumbens and threads for em too.

I was told by a teacher from Japan to avoid making shari on procumbens as it rots quickly…but also it would look great with shari, so I’m conflicted.

Thanks for the feedback! Agree the trunk is a nice feature on this tree which seems to lend itself naturally to a slanted style.
I’m trying to imagine what an alpine look might appear like?
I had some mixed thoughts about making the Shari near the top. Ultimately it came down to doing nothing, which meant leaving the chopped trunk as is or, attempt to create a natural looking transition into the main trunk. In a way it gives the illusion of a broken trunk. Maybe as the pads develop over time, most of that Shari will blend in and become less noticeable.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Today

 

[pandacular]

When I say alpine, mostly what I mean in this case is not a cascade/semi-cascade. Downwards slanting branches as they exit the trunk like you have are a big alpine feature.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Very nice material!!

 

[bonsaiwood]

Very nice material!!

thank you!

 

[bonsaiwood]

When I say alpine, mostly what I mean in this case is not a cascade/semi-cascade. Downwards slanting branches as they exit the trunk like you have are a big alpine feature.

Ah gotcha, yeah I wired most of the branches this way, seeing there were a few thicker branches naturally bending downward, it seemed to suit the tree better. Now looking at it closer, I did not bend the lower branches this way, probably because I wanted to see how the foliage pads would develop. Will likely take some decisions on those in fall.

 

[Japonicus]

I was told by a teacher from Japan to avoid making shari on procumbens as it rots quickly…but also it would look great with shari, so I’m conflicted.

Sorry for the late response. Been getting my wife ready for an adventure to Maui where
they've found 8 IED's in public areas.
I did this jin/shari combination (pic above) prior to 2012. That was before my trip to the Nationals last Fall.
I believe it was in his Hinoki demo that Corin Tomlinson said not to continue shari to the soil.
Rather leave some bark. I didn't know this, but it makes sense. I'm not sure what your "rots quickly"
time frame represents, be it 10,20 vs 200 years, but when I asked why, he said it could shorten the life
from over 100 years to 50 or 60 as the rot will begin at this low zone on the trunk.
I did attend another demo, and could possibly have my 2 artists mixed up, but pretty sure it was Corin.
Anyway, here's that shari today...I need to clean it up with the wire wheel, but just don't get too lax on the lime sulphur
and enjoy some adventure with it.

View attachment 561917

Decided to leave this tiny flush of growth near the top and see what might come of it later.



View attachment 561919

Late Feb 2024: Before and after some careful pruning and wiring with the instruction of an experienced club member. We made the top branch into jin and peeled away some bark from the upper trunk. We had a lot of fun working on it.

Hi @bonsaiwood
Is this the projected front of the tree on slant to right?
This slant, becomes a backwards leaning away from viewer actually, is an inherent procumbens problem that needs to be corrected at a younger age
and kept after with wire and or pruning techniques over the years. What I mean, is as you face the pot of a procumbens bonsai,
it will creep, leaning away from the viewer and as the years go by, this solidifies permanently as in this case.
Having it slant to the side then, as you have is the only way to ever properly have the apex leaning towards the viewer.
Sure, you can crank a shorter section way up top where the inverse taper is heavy, to lean in, but visually that may be too little
an area to capture the...effect, that folks way better an artist than my meager hobby level experience could muster up, strive for.
In other words, beginning with younger stock, better overcomes this inherent ground cover habit of procumbens.

Not sure of your bonsai skill level, but I would not remove foliage before I began the transition of this one to bonsai soil/pot.
Then I would let it rest until it was vibrant again with good extension/runners. Keep all the foliage, and the Spring that follows
this proof of vigour, repot then beginning with a partial rootball removal.
Quit working on the juniper. That's an in the rearview mirror statement.
Don't style before you sacrifice all that energy producing foliage which will drive root recovery.
Once all that is settled and recovered from, I would begin to jin the top 1/3, or just below the heaviest reverse taper.
I sincerely doubt the inverse taper at the bend just above the soil, will ever rectify. At least it appears to be inverse.
It very well may not be, but don't expect it to gain any noticeable girth.

 

[Japonicus]

@bonsaiwood sorry I totally missed post 6 from Saturday.
I didn’t realize you had put it in a grow box.
Some of the pumice looks to already have algae on it, what am I seeing?

 

[bonsaiwood]

Is this the projected front of the tree on slant to right?

Hi @Japonicus , not necessarily, I think the answer to your question is still rather fluid seeing this is going to be a long term project ... it is worth noting one key difference that I see from the current front pictured (post #6) as opposed to the opposite side (not pictured) is that the opposite side has a larger dominating branch ... whereas the current front presents several smaller branches suited for layered pad development ... In short, I think (at least for the moment) the curerent front shows better promise ... this of course could change and I will give each possible front the benefit of consideration with time.

Having it slant to the side then, as you have is the only way to ever properly have the apex leaning towards the viewer.

Yep, this was the idea behind my decision to lean it slightly further to the right and direct the the apex a bit more toward the viewer- I think the latter can be much improved, but the foliage is not there yet to make the proper adjustments to give an immediate and convincing effect ... Maybe in 2-3 years time there will be more growth at the apex to work with.

 

[bonsaiwood]

View attachment 562581

View attachment 562582

Nice tree you have there by the way

 

[bonsaiwood]

@bonsaiwood sorry I totally missed post 6 from Saturday.
I didn’t realize you had put it in a grow box.
Some of the pumice looks to already have algae on it, what am I seeing?

Yes, there is a bit of algae on the pumice ... the summer has been excessively hot and l've had to hand water more frequently between drip cycles ... Algaecide time?

 

[Japonicus]

Yes, there is a bit of algae on the pumice ... the summer has been excessively hot and l've had to hand water more frequently between drip cycles ... Algaecide time?

Never thought of an algecide.
I wouldn't. It just looked like aged soil on a new potting.

 

[bonsaiwood]

One year of letting it grow freely. It has been 'hands-off' since last year's potting. Fed slow release fertilizer + occasional liquid fish.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Looking good!! Could probably take some styling work this year. Seems very healthy.

 

[pandacular]

Fed slow release fertilizer + occasional liquid fish.

Why not more heavy on the fertilizer? It's a young tree, you should try to hit it weekly.

 

[bonsaiwood]

Why not more heavy on the fertilizer? It's a young tree, you should try to hit it weekly.

Heavier feeding is definitely in the plans this year.