New Carolina Sapphire

Had the itch to go look for trees, so I hit up a local nurseries. In the clearance section I found this 8’-9’ tall Carolina Sapphire juniper. It looked good, but I wanted to look around more. I just kept coming back to this tree though. The straight trunk and color of foliage just suited my eye I guess.

My plan is to to chop this about 60% up the tree around where it starts to bend to the left. I’ll be doing the chop this weekend. Then I’ll pump it with ferts and let it recover until a repot in the spring. Probably doing it wrong, but I’m not gonna learn anything by just staring at it. :man_shrugging:t5: Thoughts?

Oh, it was 75% off of the $100 price tag, so $25. :smiley:

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No idea on that specific species, but would it be possible to wrap the trunk with raffia and twist it like crazy? You can take the height down greatly, this way. Then again, that specific species might hate you for it.

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I agree with @BillsBayou, crank that sucker down.

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Oh man, that’s an idea. :thinking::thinking::thinking: The branches are surprisingly flexible. Hadn’t considered a trunk bend. What would you suggest even???

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If you’re up for it…
How thick is the trunk? Looks like you’ll need to split the trunk, put raffia, use heavy gauge wire, maybe a 4, then make the bends (while twisting the trunk). You might need to use blocks too.
Some of the branches are already showing how the tree wants to move, so go with that.
Keep the tree in a greenhouse over the winter.

Or…
Lay the pot on it’s side on a table, or maybe diagonally, take a few steps back and see what the tree shows you.

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Peeped it this morning. The first 2’-3’ isn’t budging. Not without notching the trunk which is beyond my skills lol (let’s be real, this entire post is about to be beyond my skills :cry:). I can get some bend in the upper portion of the tree, but without movement in the bottom it’ll look a bit off. I can continue with the current slight arch that it has, but that would put a lot of branches on the inside of the initial bend. :confused: I’ll take a side profile pic and post it this afternoon or tomorrow.

Anyway, I’ve decide to just fert this gal over the fall and then do something in the spring. Just want build up its resources a bit as I explore options. Regardless, I’m gonna need rafia. I’m need bend the heck out of some of these branches.

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@Bonsai_Bentley,
My vote is to chop the top leaving some trunk and branching to jin.
Work with what’s there, it doesn’t look like this one wants to give you twisted and contorted.

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I agree. I’m gonna air layer the upper portion too…well, try to lol. Thanks for the suggestion pic! Looks awesome.

Update, this tree is dead lol. It had canker, which is why it was in the clearance section, and just never fully recovered. It looked good on the exterior, but the trunk was just a sap covered mess. Had to dump it for fear of spread.

Yeah the clearance section can be a blessing and a curse sometimes.

Ha, yup. I’ve mostly had success though. At least they’re usually at a deep discount, so you don’t lose too much.