[noUpdate][Jabobo] Juniperus chinensis

[Jabobo]

• Species name: Juniperus Chinensis
• Original height of stock: 700mm
• Where: Bunnings warehouse
• Cost of stock: $16

[Jabobo]

OK, So it has been a month now since I started. I just wanted to make sure I didn't kill the poor plant before I had even really started. But I saw some new shoots coming up so I am going to take it as a good sign that it will pull through.

So the first step was to chop the top off. The roots were also quite compact in the pot so I cut about half off.... I then was reading that I shouldn't have done both at the same time as it was probably going to be too stressful. Oh well... live and learn.

I repotted into a large bonsai pot ( it hold just under the amount from the previous pot... much shallower but wider). I also thinned out some of the smaller shoots from the main trunk and wired down the branches to more appropriate angle.



So it looks fairly ugly at this stage, so the plan is...

For the trunk, although does have some taper, it is not very noticeable, so to rectify that I was looking to split the lower portion of the trunk. The trunk also is not straight so I will eventually get some heavy duty wire and fix that; at the moment though I am just wanting it to recover and see if it back buds in any usable place

For the branches, not all the them will be kept, but all will have to be repositioned. As the are the branches were just wired down to allow the light into the tree, to hopefully promote sprouting from the proximal part of the branch. The current branch length is about 2x too long, so when I think I can I will prune them back (although for now I may keep the lower branches as full as possible to help aid the trunk)

And eventually a much shallower pot.

So here is a (bad) photoshop attempt of the plan...


So as of a month since the chop I have some new growth which is promising.

And some back budding on the proximal end of the branch

And here is a view from the side (too early to choose a definite front) and top to see current branch spread
Still ugly as all hell lol


So that is where I am currently at,

Cheers
Jacob

[Neli]

Are you sure it is chinensis?

[Phoenix238]

Looks like my chinensis =/

Looks like the one I bought nearly a year ago, wish I'd taken photo's at the start. Now it's all twisted round in all sorts of angles

[Jabobo]

Hey Neli,

It was just what was on the tag. I don't have enough knowledge to say otherwise, although I am happy to defer to the consensus. What would you suggest it was?

[Mojo Moyogi]

Looks like J.chinensis 'Pyramidalis'

Cheers,
Mojo

[Jabobo]

Hey Mojo,

I had a quick look around and it definitely looks more like the Pyramidalis cultivator

Thanks