Juniper Styling

bass

Last year I was trying to style this Juniper but I was kind of new to bonsai. so I wired al my branches like down and I don't have an apex. Do you think it looks alright or does it look more like an umbrella?

Attached Images

juniper.jpg (37.1 KB, 216 views)

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FredL

Bass, this tree is not working like this.

Let me ask you a question: Who do you consider your teacher in this activity? Is it a book, or an online course of study or someone at a local club? If you can get one, the first thing they will probably want you to do is to get a picture in your mind of what style you want your tree to adopt. Do you want it to be Informal Upright or Windswept (which is what I think when I look at this tree) or literati or something else. Now this is a mighty young tree and is probably several years away from being material that can be used as a basis for a finished bonsai, evan a small one. It probably will need to go into a grow box or into the ground to put on some girth and develop a reasonable nebari and trunk (the lower trunk being so straight is one of many oportunities to improve this tree). If it were my tree, I'd definitely want to "grow it out" for 2 or 3 years, concentrating first on creating a more interesting base and trunk. I'd do something to put some bend in the trunk and when I put it in the ground or grow box, I'd put it in at an angle of 20-40 degrees.

Meanwhile, I'd try to find a club in my area or another source of direction. It is SO HARD to figure out how to properly prune and wire (initially style), or even select raw material without seeing somebody else do it. We have a lady in this area who has been doing bonsai for quite awhile, on her own, entirely self taught. I did not criticize her work when I saw it, but it is just not very good. I guess there is the occasional self-taught genius, but my experience has been that I never had a clue after several attempts until I joined a club and watched somebody else do it and then had them coach me.

It may be that someone else on this forum can give you better specific advice on this tree, but myself, I would not try to work with it until it had matured some as "pre-bonsai material".

Best regards, Fred

Rene_Voortwist

Hi Bass,

FredL is right about joining a club. Your juniper could benefit from a few years in a growing box, but I think there's a nice shohin in your tree. I made a virtual to show you what I mean. The two small branches on the left are pocket branches and need to go. Tilt the tree to the right and try to arrange the foliage like this by wiring. If I were you I'd to this next year. First, join a club and try to get a bit more experienced in wiring and pruning etc.

regards, René

Attached Images

juniperbassvirt.jpg (10.7 KB, 163 views)

FredL

Rene, it is nice to see your reply and the virtual that came with it. Since I responded to Bass, I've been feeling a little uncomfortable with my response, as I kind of left him in the lurch with an answer that was really a tad unresponsive. I think you've done about as well as could be with the material in question and provided a more responsive reply than I did.

I have a whole bunch of very young material that I collected over the last 18 months, wanting to get "back in the game" as quickly as I could after giving up my entire collection 3 1/2 years ago. I've been learning alot lately about how to develop seedlings and other relatively young material and I'm afraid it has kind of conditioned my whole outlook on working with trees.

Best regards, Fred

Rene_Voortwist

Fred,

I know what you mean about when you want to start fast and collect a whole bunch of seedlings that you want to make into bonsai as soon as possible. I did that too. Most of these seedlings are now in the ground to thicken up. The advice you gave to bass was a good one, especially about joining a club and get more experienced, but I think the trunk of this juniper is thick enough for a shohin. That's why I made this virtual for him. If he follows your advice to put it in the ground it will probably be a much better tree in a year or two, but you and I know how hard it is to be patient, especially when you start in this hobby... :-)
Anyway, it's his choice..

regards, René

bass

Thanks for your advices.
I am currently growing some junipers in the ground to thicken but the trunk on this juniper was the thickest I had it's about 1 inch. so last year I didn't have as much experience like now and I didn't style it correctly.
Merci Rene for this picture It's very encouraging, but this time I'm gonna take my time and know exactly what to do with it and not experiment.
Fred joining a club is what I'm planning to do this spring I've been also taking some workshop classes at Rosade studio which is very beneficial.
Thanks guys.
Bass