Shortening leggy branches

[PowerTap]

I harvested this juniper from my FIL's yard this last spring. I love the trunk but the branches are long and straight before you get to any foliage. It came out of the ground and I'm not sure how to approach shortening the branches without losing it all together.

Should I cut back to the first bit of live foliage oh the branch then see if that develops or prompts back budding?

Should I just leave it for another summer and see what it does on it own?

 

[bonsaichile]

One option for you right now is to bring the foliage closer to the trunk by wiring and compacting those branches. Now is the right time to wire, not so much to prune

 

[ShadyStump]

Conifers aren't known for back budding well on hard wood, so you're right to be hesitant. You didn't post a pic of the whole tree, but we might be able to adjust styling to the situation if you can get us one.

 

[PowerTap]

Conifers aren't known for back budding well on hard wood, so you're right to be hesitant. You didn't post a pic of the whole tree, but we might be able to adjust styling to the situation if you can get us one.

This is from the spring. Unfortunately the pot got broken and I had to slip it into a grow bag. It has received zero styling, just a quiet summer recovering.

The trunk has some potential and thank goodness I have some growth right at the trunk, but that is small and tufty.

But I am concerned with the other branches being long and straight.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Picture does not download.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The picture is a video @Potawatomi13

This tree was dug last spring, but has it performed well? Did it grow strong and produce a lot of runners?
What kind of juniper is it? If it's a pfizer or media, I'd consider not cutting anything because you'll want that foliage to help fuel your future grafts.
Then there's the soil thing.. Because at a certain point you'll be repotting it into bonsai soil, and then you might lose some foliage if things go awry. Best to keep all of it until you're sure it's settled and stable.

 

[ShadyStump]

I think you can get away with cutting each main branch back to the last bit of foliage and see what happens, but @Wires_Guy_wires makes some good points. Don't be hasty. It's best to let a newly collected tree recover for at least a year, then wait to the optimal season for any further work.

 

[Dogestoevsky]

Great movement in the trunk. Looks like a good grafting project if you’re up for it!

 

[PowerTap]

The picture is a video @Potawatomi13

This tree was dug last spring, but has it performed well? Did it grow strong and produce a lot of runners?
What kind of juniper is it? If it's a pfizer or media, I'd consider not cutting anything because you'll want that foliage to help fuel your future grafts.
Then there's the soil thing.. Because at a certain point you'll be repotting it into bonsai soil, and then you might lose some foliage if things go awry. Best to keep all of it until you're sure it's settled and stable.

It has done alright since collection. I lost some foliage which was to be expected. But the remaining foliage seems happy and healthy.

I don't have an exact ID other that that it was a landscape plant and is probably not all that fancy. Likely a Juniperus communis 'Prostrata'. They were planted on an embankment for erosion control and were low and wide after 30 years.

I wasn't planning on moving it into a training pot for another year. So I might just let the foliage do it's thing and fuel more root growth and later recovery after it moves to a training pot.

 

[ShadyStump]

I bit of trimming in the ends of the branches might help prevent your legginess from getting worse while it's waiting.

 

[PowerTap]

So I went out to check on my trees yesterday and noticed that this tree has a fair number of yellow, brown, and even greyish tips. I'm not sure if that is top blight or just a struggling tree and what I should do for it.

 

[PowerTap]

Good news! I moved this to bonsai soil in spring 23 and now it is really showing signs of health and growth. I'm planning on bringing it to a club workshop this fall with a pro to do a first styling.

In the meantime I'm considering cutting this back to shorten the branches to get rid of the thin wispy branches. Looking at this branch I have back budding a 5 points I'm curious for opinions about which or any of these I should cut back to.

 

[PowerTap]

Progress continues. This tree had a great summer and grew lots of healthy foliage. This weekend I cut it back pretty hard to try to drive more growth closer to the trunk.

I had a lot of back budding on braches this year and I'm hoping for more next year.