A while ago one of my friends went on vacation and asked me if i would redo his garden.
I really liked the idea and as he told me his ideas we came across a rather tall needle juniper growing in a basket for several years.
It was shaped as in a piramide shape as most of them when seen in garden centers or nursery's.
This one had a lot of brown and dead foliage on the inside because it hadn't been maintained at all.
He told me to dispose it or if i could find good purpose for it to take it with me.
Off course i took it with me and when removing dead branches and foliage i discovered a nice multi trunk.
After cleaning it up and styling it i gave it some rest and see if it grew well and gave it back to him.

Let's hope they will keep it alive..

Hi Chris,

You probably know this but maybe some other readers don't:

If you create such big shari or other big wounds on confiers and you do not want to use the regular wound sealants, petroleum jelly (Vaseline) is a good way to keep the inner wood from drying out too quickly, allowing the tree to seal of some of the veigns in the wood and bark before they dry out by the wind; This helps in healing and reduces die-back.

i have also hear that petroleum jelly allows the new growth to grow over the deadwood easier by creating a "slippery" surface. i have tried this on a large scar on my ficus and am awaiting results to verify this for myself.

all true leatherback. Fact of the matter is that pines and conifers produce a sticky substance after being cut (don't know how to call it in english, dutch; hars)
This will seal of the wound although it can take a little longer especially with bigger wounds.
I mostly don't use anything on conifers or pines to seal it off. But petroleum jelly is a good one if you choose to use anything.

Btw 70% of the shari's were there already because it died back a lot. Too bad i don't have the before photo's

The english word for Hars is resin. And indeed, it won't close a larger wound fast enough to really help in the stuff we put them through, without risking losing a lot more branches (Which 'in nature' is never really a big problem!).

anyway.. I swear by petroleum jelly. Leave the plant in the sub for a season, and most of it will have been absorbed/welted away.