Eric Schrader
Chumono
People seem to enjoy the long-term progression threads; Here is one that is less dramatic in the size of the trunk than the seedlings; it's more a slow progression of refinement of JBP branching. I just finished cleaning it up for the fall and wiring and adjusting the crown. The tree ultimately will not be as good as some of the seedlings that I have coming along, but it's ten years ahead at the moment in terms of fine branching.
Here's the tree in 2004:
July 2006, after deciding to turn it around:
two views from November 2007. I had added two grafts to the front branch of the crown because it was too long with no place to cut back to. It ultimately took 7 years before I cut off the old branch in favor of the grafts. (luckily the bags only had to stay on less than a year)
The image from the 2009 BIB show. I was happy with the tree, but I felt that the crown and the pads needed to be more integrated feeling in the long run:
November 2013, I had been ignoring the tree for a couple years. It was not healthy enough to decandle during the summer so the needles are long and messy looking.
On top of that, I had formulated a plan to make the tree more of a semi-cascade than a slant by adding a lower pad on the left side. At this point I had let one of the branches grow two years without decandling, but it hasn't even elongated much:
June 2014, after removing the weak candles, but before removing the strong ones:
November 2014, prior to any cleanup, a couple different views of the tree. I again left the one branch on the left side to elongate, the needles are now strong and the bud at the tip of the branch is by far the strongest on the tree:
looking up into the crown:
The tree after needle pulling, but before wiring and adjustments. The left branch is now more obviously out of sync with the rest of the tree:
After wiring:
Back on the bench in the garden:
Hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed wiring it and taking the photos!
Cheers!
Here's the tree in 2004:
July 2006, after deciding to turn it around:
two views from November 2007. I had added two grafts to the front branch of the crown because it was too long with no place to cut back to. It ultimately took 7 years before I cut off the old branch in favor of the grafts. (luckily the bags only had to stay on less than a year)
The image from the 2009 BIB show. I was happy with the tree, but I felt that the crown and the pads needed to be more integrated feeling in the long run:
November 2013, I had been ignoring the tree for a couple years. It was not healthy enough to decandle during the summer so the needles are long and messy looking.
On top of that, I had formulated a plan to make the tree more of a semi-cascade than a slant by adding a lower pad on the left side. At this point I had let one of the branches grow two years without decandling, but it hasn't even elongated much:
June 2014, after removing the weak candles, but before removing the strong ones:
November 2014, prior to any cleanup, a couple different views of the tree. I again left the one branch on the left side to elongate, the needles are now strong and the bud at the tip of the branch is by far the strongest on the tree:
looking up into the crown:
The tree after needle pulling, but before wiring and adjustments. The left branch is now more obviously out of sync with the rest of the tree:
After wiring:
Back on the bench in the garden:
Hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed wiring it and taking the photos!
Cheers!
Last edited: