Structural Pruning My "Creepy" Juniper

[p_anova]

Hello All,

Autumn is here in DC and I believe that it is a good time to start work on juniper. Picked this juniper horizontalis up late winter last year, threw some wire on it and lifted up all of the drooping branches. I left it alone for this year and I think that it is healthy enough for its initial styling. Any thoughts across the board? It does lack taper but I was very interested in the asymmetrical shape it has going right now.

 

[sorce]

I'd leave everything and focus on this Future.



Sorce

 

[p_anova]

Thanks for the reply. It was not getting any action so I assumed that everyone thought that it was a tree to pass on. So when you say leave everything, do not cut the top off where you suggest and let it just grow until the smaller branches develop? I was thinking the upper portion would keep the branches, that you suggest to grow out, from developing. Apical dominance was my biggest concern. If I do leave the branches untouched, I plan to do a repot in Spring to get the root development going. Agreed?

 

[DonovanC]

I agree with @sorce
And you can get some good cuttings off the top whenever you decide to take it off. Horizontalis roots really easily. I would Jin the top and focus on the area that @sorce outlined.

 

[p_anova]

I agree with @sorce
And you can get some good cuttings off the top whenever you decide to take it off. Horizontalis roots really easily. I would Jin the top and focus on the area that @sorce outlined.

Thanks for the info! I was going to do an air layer but you are saying to just cut and root hormones into a bonsai substrate? That would make it a lot easier.

 

[DonovanC]

Thanks for the info! I was going to do an air layer but you are saying to just cut and root hormones into a bonsai substrate? That would make it a lot easier.

In the spring of course - when the weather is consistently warm. The root hormone is optional. I personally never use it and I have a lot of success rooting junipers. I just put them all in the same pot with some bonsai soil. I water them no different than my trees. By the end of the summer you’ll have plenty of roots.
The following spring you can separate them.

 

[sorce]

Apical dominance was my biggest concern

I don't think I understand your concern, but I also don't think you understand your concern.

As....

The apical dominance it is showing now, is actually assisting your mission of creating a good tree, by keeping the branches you(l) intend to keep from becoming apically dominant.

When you remove that top, those next lower branches, which will become your design apex, will also want to quickly grow out of proportion due to apical dominance.

It's an excersize of knowing when apical dominance is a good thing or a bad thing.
I think people fear it so much they don't utilize it for good. Know your enemy.

So keeping the top on will definitely keep those lower branches from developing, this is exactly what you want. Note our fear of apical dominance forcing us to not realize we are being impatient, and that impatience actually makes the process take longer.

In theory, you want to leave that top on as a health sacrifice, to allow safer repot, and to keep the tree alive while you continually skin your keeper branches creating your design.

The longer you grow thick your lowest branches and keep small your top branches, the larger this differential gets, the longer your design will last after you chop the top and your actual design apex becomes apically dominant.

Thicker lower branches getting thinner as you go up, is one of the most important unbreakable rules to design.
Folks tend to not pay much attention to this.

With simple values again...
Call 1 a skinny branch and 10 a thick branch.

We should start with 10's low and 1's high, and the time the tree will stay in good design is longest.

With impatience, folks get to 3's low and 1's high, and the design is ruined faster than they came up with it.

I Repot in summer.

Sorce

 

[p_anova]

I don't think I understand your concern, but I also don't think you understand your concern.

As....

The apical dominance it is showing now, is actually assisting your mission of creating a good tree, by keeping the branches you(l) intend to keep from becoming apically dominant.

When you remove that top, those next lower branches, which will become your design apex, will also want to quickly grow out of proportion due to apical dominance.

It's an excersize of knowing when apical dominance is a good thing or a bad thing.
I think people fear it so much they don't utilize it for good. Know your enemy.

So keeping the top on will definitely keep those lower branches from developing, this is exactly what you want. Note our fear of apical dominance forcing us to not realize we are being impatient, and that impatience actually makes the process take longer.

In theory, you want to leave that top on as a health sacrifice, to allow safer repot, and to keep the tree alive while you continually skin your keeper branches creating your design.

The longer you grow thick your lowest branches and keep small your top branches, the larger this differential gets, the longer your design will last after you chop the top and your actual design apex becomes apically dominant.

Thicker lower branches getting thinner as you go up, is one of the most important unbreakable rules to design.
Folks tend to not pay much attention to this.

With simple values again...
Call 1 a skinny branch and 10 a thick branch.

We should start with 10's low and 1's high, and the time the tree will stay in good design is longest.

With impatience, folks get to 3's low and 1's high, and the design is ruined faster than they came up with it.

I Repot in summer.

Sorce

Welp, that definitely cleared things up for me. As always, thank you.

 

[p_anova]

I did the repot on this guy early spring, I think I posted a picture of it on another thread. HBR from nursery soil and gave it morning light, no fertilizer. Some of the interior stuff started dying off but I assume that can happen with a first time repot. Now I am getting worried because I am losing more and more interior stuff that I want to keep. Should I start panicking?