According to Ryan’s Sierra Juniper stream in late February he stated late Winter or early Spring was the best time to perform significant styling work on Sierra Junipers. The tree was repotted in March and showing great response with robust growth. Now that it is almost July I would like to clean and do some rewiring to direct this growth
Is this still a good time to perform this work?
Thanks.
Any pics? It would help to see the tree in question.
Wow is that ever nice. You should be giving me advice. 
Here’s the feral little Sierra I got in spring.
I like that you are leaving the foliage and not grafting shimpaku on it. That’s a mortal sin in my book. I don’t care how loose the scales are, that’s part of the species correctness and authenticity!
Sierra Juniper is not a species that I have much experience with, but it’s still a juniper. Maybe they run a little more drier/brittle than others. Their roots are slower growing. They have less density in foliage… But, I work with Kishu, Itoigawa, Prostrata, Procumbens ‘nana’, Virginiana, Osteosperma, San Jose, Pfitzeriana ‘Lemon Hill’, Ashe, RMJ, Communis, Horizontalis… I never hesitate to wire branches and do some clean up in the summer on a juniper. I tend to leave trunk bends for spring, but it isn’t like you are going to get much trunk movement out of this one without crazy guy wiring or rebar and a friend.
Can I ask what your soil mix is? Boon’s? Good luck! Hopefully someone with more experience than I have will chime in, too.
Best,
Joe
by using the term “significant” I think he means to include styling in terms of removing major branches, carving, and large bending. I believe this as from my understanding the Winter is the best time to do large pruning, carving, and I’m not 100% sure about bending.
If you’re looking to clean the tree up a bit and rewire the new growth I don’t see anything out of place based on what I’ve heard from Ryan in his streams about doing that now. I also think that you should not over clean by any means.
Thanks again Joe. Sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with junipers and I value any advice I can get. With this tree I just happen to get lucky with an auction find last year. I did some styling on it soon after but the wire is starting to bite in since repotting in March with a 50/25/25 akadama/lava/pumice mix. Just want to remove and rewire those areas and clean it up a bit.
Thanks Nate. I am reassured now that as long as I am not over-enthusiastic the tree should be safe.
Much appreciated!
