SilverShoe99
Mame
I did a bunch of work on a Blue Point Juniper today. I've only been doing "bonsai" for a couple years and this is the first time I've wired a tree top to bottom. I'm pretty happy with how the pads and layers came out. The trunks are what they are - if you really look you can see some very subtle curves (I didn't do a good job capturing this in the photos), but they're pretty dead straight and kind of boring. I think I got a little carried away and removed too much foliage, but I'm hopeful that it'll pull through and the pads will fill out nicely.
Here's what this tree looked like when I bought it. Just a standard $16 5-gallon Blue Point Juniper that I picked up from Home Depot. I bought two at the time and only ended up working on one of them. The tree pictured here actually the other one that is still in the nursery can, but it'll give you an idea of what I started with.
Last spring, I did a repot into a training pot using a DE-based substrate mix and set the initial structure at the same time. I removed a pretty significant portion of the rootball and foliage, and wired down some primary branches. I blew the angle of the tree during that repot, and will definitely be addressing that next time. I haven't got any photos of the repot or initial chops I made, but after growing out for a year here's what it looked like.
I pulled all the old wire off, cleaned up the branches, and got to wiring. Here's a detail shot of the pad I created on one of the lower branches.
Anyhow, lots (and LOTS) of cleaning and wiring later, here's what I ended up with.
I'm pretty happy with the overall shape of the tree and I'm excited to see how it looks when the pads start to fill out. I took off a LOT of foliage, I hope it lives!
I need some advice on how best to care for this tree after such a drastic foliage reduction. Should I keep this tree in the shade for the next few weeks as it recovers? Prior to today it had been in a location where it was getting morning shade but full unfiltered sun from probably 11:30am till sundown.
Here's what this tree looked like when I bought it. Just a standard $16 5-gallon Blue Point Juniper that I picked up from Home Depot. I bought two at the time and only ended up working on one of them. The tree pictured here actually the other one that is still in the nursery can, but it'll give you an idea of what I started with.
Last spring, I did a repot into a training pot using a DE-based substrate mix and set the initial structure at the same time. I removed a pretty significant portion of the rootball and foliage, and wired down some primary branches. I blew the angle of the tree during that repot, and will definitely be addressing that next time. I haven't got any photos of the repot or initial chops I made, but after growing out for a year here's what it looked like.
I pulled all the old wire off, cleaned up the branches, and got to wiring. Here's a detail shot of the pad I created on one of the lower branches.
Anyhow, lots (and LOTS) of cleaning and wiring later, here's what I ended up with.
I'm pretty happy with the overall shape of the tree and I'm excited to see how it looks when the pads start to fill out. I took off a LOT of foliage, I hope it lives!
I need some advice on how best to care for this tree after such a drastic foliage reduction. Should I keep this tree in the shade for the next few weeks as it recovers? Prior to today it had been in a location where it was getting morning shade but full unfiltered sun from probably 11:30am till sundown.
