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Developing a grafted juniper

August 20, 2021 by Jonas Dupuich

I’ve been waiting three years to start shaping one of the junipers in my garden. Since I decided to graft it in winter, 2018, I’ve been allowing it to grow freely until there was enough new foliage to support the tree on its own (see “Grafting follow-up” for the previous post about this tree).

I suspected it was ready for styling so I started pruning it this week. First, here’s how the tree looked last summer.

Grafted juniper

Grafted juniper – September, 2020

And here’s what it looked like earlier this week.

Before pruning

August, 2021

It’s hard to distinguish the grafted foliage from the original foliage in the photo above which is a sign that I neglected to incrementally reduce the prostrata foliage over the last year. But because there was plenty itoigawa foliage, I was able to reduce the original foliage on the grafted branch and remove the branches that weren’t grafted.

After pruning

After cutback

Next, I thinned the itoigawa foliage and wired a few branches.

After carving and wiring

Grafted itoigawa juniper – 10″

As you can see, I also did some deadwood work on the sections of the trunk that aren’t needed to support the grafted branch. Here are before and after photos from the back of the tree that show this work more clearly.

Back before carving

Back before narrowing the lifeline

Back after carving

After creating new deadwood features

I don’t typically remove so much of the lifeline at one time, but I was curious how well the tree would respond to the work so I gave it a try. If the tree responds well, I’ll find a smaller container for it and repot this winter.

✕

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Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Shimpaku

Previous Post: « Committing to an approach graft – separating the roots
Next Post: Tips for late summer »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Doug Zeeff says

    August 20, 2021 at 5:10 am

    Jonas, do you put anything on the newly exposed dead wood or let it age naturally? I see you have cut past at the junction of bark and dead wood – is this because there was so much bark left, or is it common practice on all bark removal? Thanks for another great lesson.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      August 20, 2021 at 8:01 am

      Thanks, Doug! I carved past the bark near the top of the tree and will likely do more of this before the wood dries out so the deadwood will have more interesting texture. I’ll let it dry naturally for a few months and use lime sulfur to treat it in the future.

  2. Bri says

    August 20, 2021 at 7:46 am

    Hello Mr Jonas, which side are you using for the front? Thank you.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      August 20, 2021 at 8:00 am

      Hi Bri – the fourth image is the current front, give or take a little.

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