Small Twist Shimps....long way to go
Posted: June 12th, 2009, 10:33 pm
Hi All,
I got my hands on quite a few little Shimpaku Junipers awhile ago and thought I should start a thread to record my progress, success and hopefully not too many failures. I consider this to being a 5 -6 year project and some much longer.
Most of these will go into a raised planting bed, the soil here is a really heavy clay but I'm slowly improving it, using gypsum and a formulated "Clay Breaker" by multicrop, when I get more time I will also apply some Horse manure and finish of with some sugar cane mulch. I'm hoping to get these into the ground around spring.
I had around 2 full trays of pot bound Shimpaku cuttings and applied wire and twist, and about twenty or so 6" plastic pots which also received the same treatment, I've been doing these for awhile now, at nights and on Sundays at the nursery, my only day to work on my stuff, I've avoided tampering with the roots for now and slip potted into a good free draining mix. Also trying planting some in Pond baskets to see the difference in growth.
Before wiring and twisting a few thicker ones, I thought I'd try placing a wire along the trunk (IMG_0316), I think this will help to scar the trunk and create a nice realistic shari , something like a swirl rather than a coil...
I got my hands on quite a few little Shimpaku Junipers awhile ago and thought I should start a thread to record my progress, success and hopefully not too many failures. I consider this to being a 5 -6 year project and some much longer.
Most of these will go into a raised planting bed, the soil here is a really heavy clay but I'm slowly improving it, using gypsum and a formulated "Clay Breaker" by multicrop, when I get more time I will also apply some Horse manure and finish of with some sugar cane mulch. I'm hoping to get these into the ground around spring.
I had around 2 full trays of pot bound Shimpaku cuttings and applied wire and twist, and about twenty or so 6" plastic pots which also received the same treatment, I've been doing these for awhile now, at nights and on Sundays at the nursery, my only day to work on my stuff, I've avoided tampering with the roots for now and slip potted into a good free draining mix. Also trying planting some in Pond baskets to see the difference in growth.
Before wiring and twisting a few thicker ones, I thought I'd try placing a wire along the trunk (IMG_0316), I think this will help to scar the trunk and create a nice realistic shari , something like a swirl rather than a coil...
.