Thickening The Trunk Of A Juniper

gilbycantu

This was one of the first trees I bought when I first began bonsai and the more I look at it, the more I wish it had a thicker truck at the base with a nice taper. Are there any techniques that I could use to achieve this without sticking it into a grow box? I heard that you could tie a piece of wire at the base of the trunk which would thicken it up a bit. Does this even work?

Attached Images

juniper1.jpg (28.3 KB, 292 views)

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Gilbert Cantu

www.gilbertcantu.com

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DavidN

Gil
Well I won't say anything about putting it in the ground or grow box to thicken it up. The wire trick is said to work but I haven't really had much success with that. One thing you could try to fatten up the lower part of the trunk is to use wet spagnum moss around the base and lower half of the trunk. I've heard that this enables the trunk to swell a thicken over a period of time.

That's the best I can do.

David

Jay

Gil, another thought is to chop the tree lower (much lower) and start with a shorter tree. The thickness of the trunk is a function of the height of the tree! I would even think about going as low as the first branch!

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A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

Bonsainut

Gilby,
Nanas are tough to thicken. Your best bet is a time machine, go back and leave the lowest branch and let it grow wild.
I have a Nana thats been in a pot for 40 years. Size of the thumb. That is the nature of the beast.

Leave a low sacrifice branch, spread the word!

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Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce

DavidN

I have also found that they simply do not thicken in a bonsai pot. Have found that in a growing box they grow thicker very quickily.

David

ROBOKU

I have no luck thickening ether.i just enjoy them how they are.

KZitzewitz

So what does one do when trunk thickening will not work? and one does not want to trunk chop? We have two choices left, one throw it away, but why would we want to do that? No no no. What style of tree is good with a small trunk? Literati? Yes.. How about a restyle? Maybe some virts?

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--Kristopher

freakwent

“What style of tree is good with a small trunk?”
Mame.

DavidN

Gilbert

I was having a think about this tree and have seen something very successful attempted. Considered the tree will never really thicken up without going into the ground have you ever considered placing a tall rock threaded between the trunk. You might need to put some wire on the trunk to get it bending around the rock but it will disguise the thin trunk well and add an extra feature to the tree. I will try and post a virtual of what I am talking about.

David