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Help with juniper pruning

  • jm_middleton07
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Help with juniper pruning was created by jm_middleton07

Posted 8 months 2 weeks ago #81204
This is my first juniper and I'm unsure what direction to go. It splits at the base into two trunks. The larger one to the left has most of the growth. It could have more trunk under the soil but I ran into roots when removing soil and stopped. Any help will be appreciated.

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  • Tropfrog
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Replied by Tropfrog on topic Help with juniper pruning

Posted 8 months 2 weeks ago #81207
Procumbens is very hard to coment on in that it is very dense. In none of the photos it is possible to see a future trunk line undisturbed by foliage.

I would start to thin out the outer foliage and wire every single branch up. That can be done now or a little bit later in authum when growth have stopped. When you have a less dense tree with wire on every branch for the whole winter there are a great window to really study the structure and draw your design on paper. Come early spring, get to work on it.

Do not try different designs on the tree. Move branches back and forward will risk damage that can kill that branch. Bend one time and let it sit. If for any reason you are not happy with it, wait a year until correcting it.

With that beeing said, procumbens is best styled as cascading or semi cascading trees.

I started a similar project 4 years ago. Since I was new to junipers I spent a year just growing it out. 3 years ago I started working on it. The initial styling will be finished this upcoming spring. My above coments is not how I did it, but what I have learned meanwhile and how I would do it If done again. However, the amount of work involved in procumbens makes it better to focus on one specimen and make it good instead of getting many trees and manage to keep them average.









by Tropfrog
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