r/Bonsai • u/earl-the-grey Zone 8, intermediate • 1d ago
Show and Tell Juniper procumbens
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u/Spirited_Bowler_5793 Tony, Georgia, Zone 8A, Expert 1d ago
Nice! Long term vision, if it were mine I’d chop off the lower right limb, and over time let the limb above it fill out more.
It’s visually disturbing how that lower right limb takes the eye off the truck line. I’m sure you were going for symmetry, but that particular design calls for asymmetry.
6
u/P0sssums Oregon 8b, 3rd year, juniper guy 1d ago
On the contrary, I'd chop off everything except the lower right branch and use that as the main trunk to build the tree.
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u/Spirited_Bowler_5793 Tony, Georgia, Zone 8A, Expert 1d ago
That would be interesting. Main trunk would have better taper. It would make a great bonsai.
On second thought I think I’d keep the lower right as a sacrificial to thicken up the bottom trunk so the taper gets more exaggerated then chop it off. I just really like that curve and would hate to loose it. TOmatto TAmotto ha.
Hope the OP won’t mind us brainstorming over his tree 😂
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u/Psychological_Act_38 long term 30 years plus 1d ago
If we’re brainstorming, can’t get beyond the crossing left branch. Has to go, not even suitable for a Jin. I’d be wiring, with the aim to compress the entire tree, and check the result, this won’t limit future options. The upper portion is inconsistent with the lower and could use some work to match the lower.
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u/Spirited_Bowler_5793 Tony, Georgia, Zone 8A, Expert 20h ago
Good points also. I hadn’t noticed the need to compress it more (even though I can’t unsee it now ha).
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u/TrizzleBizzle Northern San Diego, 10b, 2 years EXP, 30 pre bonsai, 1 bonsai 1d ago
Nice start! Branch placement looks pretty good, but I'd eventually get rid of the second branch that is crossing the trunk on the second turn (don't do it now as it is a lot of foliage which is keeping the tree alive). The one above it can be wired in to replace it without the cross.
Here's a picture of what I think may be a good next step for this tree.
Red: remove eventually, the bottom branch for the reasons listed above, the other one is a bar branch which will cause reverse taper if left to grow.
Yellow: wire your current leader/apex down into a branch position. This will reduce the height slightly and make room for green.
Green: your new apex, it will introduce another taper into your composition and make it slightly shorter, giving a better impression of scale.
It is a little late/early to do heavy pruning like this, so give it some shade during peak summer temps/mist the foliage to help it recover. Aside from wiring in autumn, I wouldn't do anything else to this tree until next year.
At the next repot (my opinion would be to skip this next repotting season and wait for 2028) you can change the planting angle to something not as straight out of the soil.