Kishu Shimpaku Update

jhill

This is Mas Ishi shimpaku that I have been working on but I seem to be having trouble getting the lower left side to thicken up. Any suggestions??
John

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kishu shimpaku.jpg (45.9 KB, 251 views)

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DavidN

John
My only suggestion, and this goes for almost any tree that you want to thicken a lower branch, is to keep the top trimmed so as to allow the energy to go to the lower branches. From your picture it seems the top of the tree is too heavy and needs to be reduced. I believe if you pinch out a lot of the folage above that branch, especially the top, then over time that branch will thicken. By pinching the top branches you are doing them a favour in that they will never develop into heavy top branches. Heavy top branches are a bad thing. So pinch out the top and other higher branches and you should see that lower branch develop nicely. Don't pinch the lower branch though.

David

jarq

Hello :

Naka says something like to wire it in upright position.

Don't know if you could do it ( that's the funny thing giving advise, the other has to care how to do it ). Maybe you could change it to a deeper pot and move the poting angle so this branch becomes the new leader for a while.

If you are smiling now, forget this...

Regards, José

bnsaijim

John,

Sometimes juniper branches that are frequently pinched or pruned refuse to send outlong strong shoots, as required here...

Patience and persistence!

In addition to the suggestions already given - which are excellent, one could also place a mirror to that side or under the tree to deliver more light to those branches.

Feed well, water carefully.

Jim Stone
TX

David Chauvin

JHill,

I had the same problem with a shimpaku with a weak lower branch. I agree with DavidN in that the balance of vigor is out of whack on your tree. It may only be a matter of semantics, but I disagree with pinching foliage at this point. The stronger upper branches should be thinned by pruning. To me, pinching implies taking off the tips of the foliage. This will only cause the thicker pads to backbud even more and get thicker still. By pruning and leaving the terminal foliage intact, this should cause the remaining healthly tipped foliage to take off. When the new growth starts getting a bit long, come back with round of pinching on the strong upper parts of the tree and let the weak branch pump up a bit with no pinching. When the bottom branch starts getting stronger it will be time to pinch. This may have to be repeated over several cycles to get the vigor of the tree's twigging in balance. Taking off any weak, non food producing foliage on the weak branch also helps to jumpstart the remaining strong foliage. It took about a year and a half to two years to fix, but the branch on my tree is back in balance with the rest of the tree. I hope this makes sense.

David

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Carl_Bergstrom

Excellent advice, David!

-OMC

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