Juniperus Squamata Pt 8 - The three year pruning cycle

Part 8! yoinks, it seems that I've learned how to drag out a topic to it's utter death!  Well, it's 3 years (more or less to the day) since this tree had it's first full stripping down, and it is a very different tree now! It certainly needed a haircut as it was looking unruly and the inner needles were beginning to brown.

 

 What a mess!

Thick and unruly, this foliage needs cutting right back or we'll lose the compact size of the silhouette, and end up with leggy growth where we want tighter ramification

 

 

So I set about stripping back again, leaving branches bifurcated. Last time I think it took around 18 hours to strip back - this time it took around 5 hours! I'm either getting faster or the tree is improving and maintenance is becoming easier.....

Here's the tree post haircut...

 

You'll see that ramification has improved since last year, the newer shoots have lignified nicely and bifurcation is evident almost everywhere - a stark contrast to our first  thinning and pruning.

 
It's now super-simple to prune for balance, as I've now completely removed areas which were dominant. This should ensure a nicely balanced growth habit over the next 3 year cycle until it's ready for another full prune.

This time around I rewired for structure only, placing main branches and some secondary branching. I'm not sure I'm going to fine wire this time as I'm not sure that it's beneficial to the new shoots - it's easier to keep control of new growth with scissor pinching

I noticed that the right hand branch had lifted and wanted pulling down, so I set about creating some guys - this is preferable to wiring set as it can be left on almost indefinitely, rather than being taken off when the wire bites in....

 
I think that guys are far superior in so many respects, and offer way more longevity and flexibility than wiring

 

As always with this tree, it's hard to take a decent photo where the foliage doesn't just look messy, but you get an idea of the overall image below. Remember, I haven't fine wired for detail yet... I may change my mind but I'm toying with letting it go this time around and see if it makes any discernible difference to maintenance and refinement.

Sorry for the poor photo quality.

All in all I removed a washing up bowl full of foliage - probably over 50%, but unlike other junipers, this particular cultivar responds well to dramatic pruning - as long as you leave plenty of growing tips. This year was all about balance; first time around I wanted to remove a lot of foliage but left some weaker areas with a lot more foliage to try to get the plant to distribute energy to these areas and strengthen them up. I've pretty much nailed it, so a lot of further balancing has now been done and I'm extremely happy that it seems healthy and balanced all over.

Assuming I stay on top of the foliage as it pops over the next 2 seasons, this heavy prune wont need doing again until 2020.

I'm chuffed with how much easier it was this time and am now looking for more Squamatas to play with!

Thanks for reading,

Deano!