Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
It is a juniperus procumbens nana, at least that is what the tag said when I got it, but you know how that goes with labeling at big box stores.
John
Procumbus Nana...Revisited
- Thread starter Mellow Mullet
- Start date
It is a juniperus procumbens nana, at least that is what the tag said when I got it, but you know how that goes with labeling at big box stores.
John
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
I would wait to decide until you trim it out rather then try to trim it to look good in a different pot. It has come a long way and you may find what it is in quite suitable
Grimmy
Eric Group
Masterpiece
Like a drum pot? Might be cool...
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GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
Eric Group
Masterpiece
Yeah yeah... I fixed it! Stupid autocorrect...Or perhaps a Drum Pot?
Grimmy
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I was thinking of something round like a drum pot, but no rivets. Dark brown in color.
John
John
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
UPDATE:
It has been a while since I have given this guy any attention, it just sat on the stand and got watered and a little snip or pinch every now and then. It grew really well, I wish I had a pot for it, it could use a repot but it is getting a little late for that. The club had a workshop with Ted Matson last month and, unfortunately, we ran out of time due to the number of trees present, but he did take a look at it and offered me some advise to improve it. He is my attempt to put his ideas into action. The work took place over three days--junipers take some time.
Here is what I started with, I had already worked on the lowest limb before I thought about pictures.
The metal spike is the proposed front.
It has been a while since I have given this guy any attention, it just sat on the stand and got watered and a little snip or pinch every now and then. It grew really well, I wish I had a pot for it, it could use a repot but it is getting a little late for that. The club had a workshop with Ted Matson last month and, unfortunately, we ran out of time due to the number of trees present, but he did take a look at it and offered me some advise to improve it. He is my attempt to put his ideas into action. The work took place over three days--junipers take some time.
Here is what I started with, I had already worked on the lowest limb before I thought about pictures.
The metal spike is the proposed front.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Ted recommended the removal of two branches to make it less heavy and to reveal more of the trunk. I decided to jin them, if I decide later that they don't work, I can always cut them off.
Here is where I left it. I still need to shorten up the jins and apply lime sulfur, thin some more, and apply lots of wire.
Here is where I left it. I still need to shorten up the jins and apply lime sulfur, thin some more, and apply lots of wire.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Last one, what do you think?
VAFisher
Masterpiece
I like it a lot. To me, the best front is the pic that is rotated counter clockwise from your proposed front. It shows a more dramatic slant and the jin looks cooler from that angle - I like the jin long too. Cool tree.
barrosinc
Masterpiece
I can't tell if leaning forward, but I like this, the curves look less round (S curvy round)
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
The front is difficult to pick on this tree, I plan to pot it in a round pot so it can be rotated, lol
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
The problem with this tree, and trees like it, the trunks are so dark and featureless in a rough sort of way, in a photograph they appear to have no detail other than dark. Unless you can see the trunk in some sort of detail in relation to the branches it is extremely difficult to offer advise or opinion. With Procumbens Juniper in-particular trying to put light on the trunk is the big problem when trying to discuss one of them from a photograph. It's hard enough to see through the abundance of bright green thick growth and make sense of one of them in hand.
In my opinion one of the major problems with this species, most beginners start with this tree and are loath to remove any of this beautiful growth. Too much foliage is left causing too much replacement foliage to die due to lack of light. Sadly this carries over to more mature growers not opening up the tree enough to preserve it's profile by allowing it to be replaced with new growth.
In my opinion one of the major problems with this species, most beginners start with this tree and are loath to remove any of this beautiful growth. Too much foliage is left causing too much replacement foliage to die due to lack of light. Sadly this carries over to more mature growers not opening up the tree enough to preserve it's profile by allowing it to be replaced with new growth.
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Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I know what you mean, Vance. I actually thought about removing the outer bark to expose the reddish brown underneath but I decide that since it was a work in progress that it wasn't worth the effort.
Having "rough" or "smooth" bark on junipers is a matter of personal preference. I personally prefer the smooth cinnamon colored bark.
If you want that, carefully peel off the flaky bark. You can scrape it lightly with a dull knife. Sandpaper will get rid of the tiny bumps and knobs.
A couple other things:
With junipers, we want to see a bit of the woody structure below the foliage pads. So be sure to remove any hanging and downward growing foliage.
Then, look down from straight above the tree. You should be able to see "through" the foliage, and see the pot. If you can't see through, the sun can't penetrate into the interior either! So it needs thinning out.
The trunk is relatively thin. The branches are getting too long. It looks like there's too much foliage for the trunk. Don't remove any more branches, just shorten them. Especially the upper ones so it doesn't look too heavy.
The trunk has good movement. Work on refinement, and this will be a pleasing tree!
If you want that, carefully peel off the flaky bark. You can scrape it lightly with a dull knife. Sandpaper will get rid of the tiny bumps and knobs.
A couple other things:
With junipers, we want to see a bit of the woody structure below the foliage pads. So be sure to remove any hanging and downward growing foliage.
Then, look down from straight above the tree. You should be able to see "through" the foliage, and see the pot. If you can't see through, the sun can't penetrate into the interior either! So it needs thinning out.
The trunk is relatively thin. The branches are getting too long. It looks like there's too much foliage for the trunk. Don't remove any more branches, just shorten them. Especially the upper ones so it doesn't look too heavy.
The trunk has good movement. Work on refinement, and this will be a pleasing tree!
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Thanks, but this is what I am struggling with, what do I thin "to see the pot through the top"?
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Even with the bark revealed down to the base of it, something I am not sure should be done with a Procumbens, these trees are still difficult to photograph because for the most part they are over-grown with too much foliage.
This is tough to explain/describe. Much easier in person... but here goes nuthin'...
When you look at a branch from above, there should be the central branch going down the middle, and side branches. The side branches should alternate, left, right, left, right... sometimes, there's both a left and a right. One of those is a canidate for removal. There's usually larger side branches and smaller ones. The larger ones should be closer to the trunk. If there's heavier branches out near the end, you might want to prune them. Sometimes in addition to the major side branches, there's small branches mixed in, coming off the main central leader. Maybe they're weaker than the others. These are good candidates for thinning. If they don't have a bright green growing tip, they're not strong. You can eliminate them.
Once you've "cleaned up" the central leader, then do the same for each secondary branch. Then the tertiaries, and do on. Eliminate the old, dead and weak foliage.
Go thru the entire tree like that.
Don't pinch off any bright green tips. Instead use sharp scissors to cut entire little tufts off at the base of their stems.
I don't have a Procumbens to use as an illustration, maybe Brian Van Fleet does.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
OK, thanks, I'll give it a shot. I have gone through and trimmed out the duplicate branches, I'll go back through it and thin out the side branches and maybe post a picture.
John
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I've done it a time or two, the dark brown layer is real thin, the bark underneath is a nice rusty brown like other junipers, it is just a lot of trouble when you start working around the branches. Not sure what you mean about being overgrown, if pruned properly they seem to look as good as any of the other species.
