AusBonsai

Bought this tree a year ago when I first became interested in bonsai - practiced some wiring and cut off some top branches and shortened the remaining branches.

Have not really touched it since as I was unsure how to progress this juniper into a bonsai if at all.

Most of this type that I have been able to find on ausbonsai have very dense foliage on substantial bases.
-- saw Rowan's juniper in the progression comp and as it has similar definition to mine thought it worth a shot to ask for some help with the direction of this one.

It is in an 8" pot.
Thanks David

hi mate

your juni is still growing on but there is somethings you can do to increase interest in it. firstly a lot of the foliage is at the top of the trunk. what I would do is wrap it in a binding, inner rubber bike tube, vet wrap, raffia, graft tape etc. you want to do this fairly tight as it will help keep the cambium from breaking. after it is wrapped with whatever you have, you will need to wire it with some reasonably heavy wire. judging by the thickness I would go with 3-4mm wire, might have to double wire it, this will give the holding power for the bends.
then you will have to put in some heavy bends/directional changes to give the trunk some character, try and be random and not to make it uniform curves. uniform curves will look contrieved. you might even want to do it at one or two bends at a time, then wait a few weeks and go again.
over time once you get in enough bends you should have brought the foliage level down lower. this will give you something with more interest and character than the fairly straightish trunk you have at the moment. once the trunk line is established and you are happy with it, you can wire the branches out and start some placement.

I recommend getting the trunk sorted out first and then waiting some time to allow it to adjust, with heavy bending you can get some cambium issues but wrapping it should help a lot. I would wait probably at least 6 weeks before working the branching.

I would also slip pot this into a larger grow pot, probably 10-12 inch pot. one thing with juni is they dont mind being somewhat pot bound, it seems when they are that bit pot bound they really push out growth. which if you look at juni in nature, on cliffs etc. the root systems generally dont have a great deal of space.

jamie

Thanks Jamie

You have given me a very new project -- I will tool up and take it on.

Hope to post again.

Thanks again for all the input.

Cheers David

gday mate

great to hear you are gonna try a bit more of an advanced technique ! some people arent as confident to do so

just remember take your time with the wrapping, get it tight and make sure you have the wire that is thick enough to hold. or double wire. as the tree is still growing on you can actually do one wire, then the second can be in between that wire, it will give more holding power than putting them together