Thinning, wiring and styling of Juniperus Squamata Pt 1

There's a wealth of information on the net about Needle and Scale Juniper pruning and styling techniques, but it's surprisingly difficult to find thinning and wiring info on Squamatas which sit somewhere loosely in the middle. I have Itoigawas and they are relatively straightforward to prune and style, with any greyer areas amply covered by endless tutorials on all of the decent blogs. The Juniperus Squamata is a very different beast though. Its thick and crowded shoots, and plump needle foliage pose different problems when wiring, and a different approach is required.


For information, the endlessly useful Bonsai4me provided the overview, with some good detailed information


http://www.bonsai4me.co.uk/AdvTech/AT%20Styling%20Juniper%20Bonsai%20Branches%20Thinning%20Out.html


However, nothing specific on Squamata.



I endlessly scoured the net for any information I could find, and as luck would have it, I found the very thing I was looking for on the blog of a very knowledgeable(and likeable) chap whom I have met in person - Mike Konig of MikoBonsai. They say that the further you look, the more likely you are to find the answer close to home, and it was indeed so...

I'm sure he won't mind me linking to his excellent piece here, which gives detailed close up information on thinning and wiring of this variety. (Let me know if you disagree Mike)


http://mikobonsai-articles.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/branch-development-on-squamata-juniper.html


Fantastic, detailed and informative posts like his give me confidence to tackle more complex tasks than my experience would normally allow. Thanks for a great article Mike.


So anyway, I assessed my new Juniper over the weekend, and having removed the top dressing and poked around a little, I don't think a repot is required for at least another season so I decided to use the semi dormancy period to tackle the first styling. Wiring is generally advisable on this species during the winter, as there is less sap moving about, which means that the branches are less likely to be weakened or bark separated while you bend and contort them into pleasing positions.


So far I'm about half way through thinning and wiring, having spent around 7 hours on it so far and am delighted with the results. Hopefully I'll be able to post up a completed set of images of the newly refined canopy over the next few days - time permitting.



It leaves me to ponder how anybody achieved or learned anything before the advent of the internet allowed generous and knowledgeable people to share their special skills with anybody who wanted to learn them, and this is why I post too - because if just one person, somewhere on the planet learns even just one single thing from reading my blog, it is a success.



Share. Share everything you know. As we pool our knowledge our understanding will deepen, resulting in enlightenment, progression and advancement.



'Til next time....


nb. If you haven't studied basic wiring techniques, I strongly recommend you take ten minutes out of your day to watch Graham Potter's excellent Youtube:

Wiring - NOT for dummies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHdGpf9AfQc


It explores simple and not so simple wiring techniques which should arm you with enough info to do a half decent job with little experience. Graham Potter's videos are one of the reasons I got so excited about evergreeens - he makes advanced techniques accessible to the layman.