San Jose Juniper

deadgecko

Here is a series of pictures of a San Jose Juniper that I picked up last year. The first pic is last fall as it came from the nursery. The second is after repotting into a 13" diameter training pot and some initial pruning. The third was taken at a workshop last Friday, where I wired the main branches and started on the secondary branches.

Any comments or critiques are welcome.

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Deadgecko
Cincinnati, Ohio
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it everyday"
Alfred E. Neuman

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deadgecko

Pic #2

__________________
Deadgecko
Cincinnati, Ohio
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it everyday"
Alfred E. Neuman

deadgecko

Pic #3

__________________
Deadgecko
Cincinnati, Ohio
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it everyday"
Alfred E. Neuman

Adam

I like it, in a couple years that thing will fill out nice.

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[Adam]
"Cass Bonsai Gardens"
"Bonsai Knowledge"
"DaGhostCrew"

Rene_Voortwist

Hi,

I think your juniper has a nice trunk, but wat bothers me a bit is the lack of taper. If it was mine, I would cut it just above the second branch on the left, and wire this branch up as a new apex. This way you would get taper and have a nice left-right-left movement. Maybe you could airlayer the top and have two nice trees.
Just my two newbie cents

rgds, René

deadgecko

Rene,

I agree with you, there is a definite lack of taper in the trunk. It starts out about 3" in diameter and ends maybe 2-1/2" diameter.

I'm not sure whether wiring up that lower branch is feasible, it's about 3/4" diameter. Cutting the top would leave an extremely large scar and my junipers don't seem to heal even small scars that well. The taper would also be to extreme in my opinion to look realistic.

__________________
Deadgecko
Cincinnati, Ohio
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it everyday"
Alfred E. Neuman

Rene_Voortwist

Hi,

I don't know if you can bend the branch, but I think that the taper would get realistic after a few years of growth. I do know that it will be very hard to disguise the lack of taper on your tree. I have little experience with healing scars on junipers.. (hey, I'm a newbie) but what I've heard from the more experienced is that it should be possible if you cover the scar with cut paste. Over time the wound should heal and the transision between the trunk and the new apex should get better. Anyway, this was just an ideae...

gr. René

pdbbonsai

Is there a follow up to this tree?

Paul

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deadgecko

Paul,

This tree has been composting now for a little over a year.

__________________
Deadgecko
Cincinnati, Ohio
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it everyday"
Alfred E. Neuman