Zuisho JWP progression thread

[Adair M]

I have pretty much finished the “back trunk”. And a few of the branches on the right of the main trunk.

Now, all that’s left is the crown and top apex. (This tree has tree trunks and three apexes!)

Getting there...

 

[Lazylightningny]

Here’s a little clump of foliage up near the apex.

View attachment 209602

What I found is I hadn’t cleaned it out very well. There were no obvious brown or yellow needles to attract my eye, so I had skipped it while cleaning. But it’s WAY too dense. Here it is after cleaning:

View attachment 209603

Now we can see there’s a little cluster of twigs of little branches in there. There’s actually two whorles, which means there is two years of growth.

Let’s thin it out:

View attachment 209604

It’s hard to take a good photo with only two hands. Neither the goats, nor the cats would help! It looks like I left a bar branch, but the upper one is 1/4 inch back and after wiring, it will look better.

As you can see, the twig is rather gangly. This is a problem all over. The previous owner had not wired it out in several years, so the foliage had shaded the twigs. Once it’s wired, I’ll get a lot of backbudding.

Adair, in this set, from the first to the second pictures, it appears that only green needles were present. So did you cut these needles with scissors to thin them out?

 

[Adair M]

Adair, in this set, from the first to the second pictures, it appears that only green needles were present. So did you cut these needles with scissors to thin them out?

I first went through and pulled any brown, yellow, and fading needles throughout the entire tree. Of course I missed some, but no matter, I’ll get them as I wire.

That cleaned it out so I could see what’s there better, and make it easier to wire. When I get near the tips of each branch, there’s usually a tuft of foliage. When you get inside, you see there’s usually a main leader, and usually a little side branch. Sometimes two side branches. Sometimes even more! These are obscured by needles growing in the crotches. So, I have a pair of sharp tweezers I use to pull those obscuring needles. This helps me see the little twigs to wire around them, and avoid crushing needles as I wire out the tip and leaving a fishhook. Sometimes, I’ll thin to two tips, but pulling it off with the tweezers, sometimes I use my needle nise scissors. It’s tight in there.

This being a Zuisho, I can get away with needle pulling. They’re really small. A larger needles white pine would need to be cut.

 

[my nellie]

Hmmm... goat farm??

Yep! Working on the front deck of the farm house.
Less clean-up required! Lol!!

Really?
You are involved in breeding goats?
It sounds exciting!
How many animals do you own, if I may ask.
Are they animals for slaughter or are they milking-goats?

 

[Adair M]

Really?
You are involved in breeding goats?
It sounds exciting!
How many animals do you own, if I may ask.
Are they animals for slaughter or are they milking-goats?

I have Nubian and mini-Nubian goats. About a dozen does, one buck. They’re milking goats.

 

[0soyoung]

This being a Zuisho, I can get away with needle pulling. They’re really small. A larger needles white pine would need to be cut.

???
Please explain what the length of the needle has to do with whether they can be pulled or not.

Had you said something like, "Zuisho needles are so short and clustered that it is, for all practical intents, impossible to cut them - there is no choice but to pull them." I would understand, but you seem to be saying something entirely different and it eludes me what the logic of it is.

 

[Djtommy]

Getting better, I think you can get away with removing the foliagepad on right bottom though.
Any thoughts about that?

 

[Adair M]

Getting better, I think you can get away with removing the foliagepad on right bottom though.
Any thoughts about that?

Not yet. I’ll wait until I get it all wired out. Then I can play with it draping a towel over this or that limb.

 

[Adair M]

Oso,

It’s not the length, it’s just the size of the attachment of the needles to the twigs, and how firmly they are attached. They pull off relatively easily compared with the needles of JWP that have larger needles.

I’m sorry if I didn’t make myself clear in my earlier post.

Zuisho and Kokonoe are dwarf JWP with smaller needles and usually shorter internodes than other JWP cultivars more commonly used for bonsai.

I have seen no “bleeding” of sap from pulling needles from this tree. Mind you, I have not pulled any 2018 needles, only older ones. (Well, maybe a few hanging 2018 needles). But there’s been no bleeding. A “normal” JWP would likely produce a bead of sap right where the bundle of needles had been attached. So, instead of pulling on those, the procedure is to cut them very short, leave 1/16 to 1/8 inch long. The little stubs will brown up and fall off.

The takeaway is you need to know your material. What you can, and what you can’t (or shouldn’t) do.

Japanese Maples vary a lot between cultivars, too.

Thanks for the follow up question. I hope I’ve explained myself better this time.

 

[Adair M]

A little more progress:



Upward and onward!

DjTommy might have a point about the lowest right branch. We’ll see after I git ‘er done!

 

[Dav4]

Looking good, Adair!

 

[0soyoung]

It is, as Dav4 said, looking good.

However, my eye keeps getting stuck here, meaning I think you need to move a bit of foliage across the view of that stem and/or into that space (if it is at all possible now).

 

[Adair M]

It is, as Dav4 said, looking good.

However, my eye keeps getting stuck here, meaning I think you need to move a bit of foliage across the view of that stem and/or into that space (if it is at all possible now).

View attachment 210879

You’re right, I’m thinking of turning the front of the tree a bit clockwise, so the the back trunk is a bit more hidden at the base. We’ll see how it looks when I get it completed.

 

[coltranem]

I love seeing your progressions @Adair M I am interested to see how you deal with that middle/back trunk during the development of this tree.

 

[Adair M]

I love seeing your progressions @Adair M I am interested to see how you deal with that middle/back trunk during the development of this tree.

Me, too! Triple trunk trees are a challenge! Which is part of the reason I acquired this tree. To challenge myself! That, and it’s a well developed Zuisho on its own roots. Pretty rare in these parts.

The main trunk is developing nice bark. The lowest section, below where the secondary trunks split off, has fully mature bark that is beginning to form plates. The secondary trunks still have the juvenile smooth grey bark, but it’s beginning to split and flake off. Once they shed the juvi bark, this tree will really start to look good. That will take maybe a decade! Lol!!!

I’m wiring the apex this afternoon. So, I’ll have something close to a finished image pretty soon.

Then, over the next couple days, I’ll sit back and study it, and put in tweeks here and there. And let it be. Next spring when the new growth comes in, it should look pretty good.

 

[Adair M]

Here’s the final product:



And for comparison, this is the “Before” image:



I still need to go thru and do some light adjustments, but I was ready for a beer!

 

[Hartinez]

Hi @Adair M great thread and lovely tree. So much more feminine than most JWP, JBP I’ve seen. First off I’ve still got a lot to learn, (and your posts are certainly helping me), and I have zero experience with pine, but from a visual and aesthetic stand point, does the circled portion of the tree need adjustment, more work, or even more trimming? It seems to be sitting at a much different angle than the rest of tree and extends past a visual barrier. Curious about your reesponse! Keep these types of threads coming!

 

[Adair M]

Hi @Adair M great thread and lovely tree. So much more feminine than most JWP, JBP I’ve seen. First off I’ve still got a lot to learn, (and your posts are certainly helping me), and I have zero experience with pine, but from a visual and aesthetic stand point, does the circled portion of the tree need adjustment, more work, or even more trimming? It seems to be sitting at a much different angle than the rest of tree and extends past a visual barrier. Curious about your reesponse! Keep these types of threads coming! View attachment 211019

It might be too long. Or need a guy wire to lower it.

I just finished with the apex, and as you work these things, you accidentally bump and nudge the prior work, so you always have to go back and make some adjustments. Which I haven’t done.

I’ll take a break from messing with this tree for a bit, then revisit it with fresh eyes.

(I have another JWP waiting it’s turn!)

 

[0soyoung]

...
does the circled portion of the tree need adjustment, more work, or even more trimming? It seems to be sitting at a much different angle than the rest of tree and extends past a visual barrier. Curious about your reesponse! Keep these types of threads coming! View attachment 211019

IMHO, this branch actually goes backward, away from the viewer, but doesn't seem to. I think all he needs to do is to bend the end toward downward a touch and/or the back/right just a tad. Then I think we see it going backward and not just to the left. He also still has my 'eye grabber' problem. A bit of clockwise rotation could remedy both issues.

 

[Hartinez]

The apex and each consecutive branch running down the right side is my favorite. Very clean. I can see how a triple trunk would be tricky. That trunk in the middle seems a bit unsettled. Regardless, such beautiful material and transformation. Very inspiring.