Page 44 - BSAM 2016 Q2

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A er harvest the plant is repotted in crushed granite and lava rock to retain moisture, and as mentioned, the plant is treated as a large cutting (frequent mists and under shade) until it shows signs of recovery. At that point it can be moved into the light and watered normally.
e foliage of the California juniper is very dense and coarse. is allows the plant to absorb the little moisture available during the morning dew point that results from the cycle of hot, dry days and cold nights.
I can say from experience, and the pictures that fol- low are proof, that if fertilized, these junipers grow like crazy considering the environment in which they are accustomed. Water and fertilizer for them is like a party at the Playboy mansion for me!
But back to our serious subject...
Just a er just six months at my friend Hank’s house, with constant watering and fertilizing, the juniper had rooted and grown abundantly. It was already time for the rst styling, otherwise the new sprouts would be- come too thick to bend.
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Obviously it is a thick trunk with plenty of dead- wood. A large living vein runs through the trunk, splitting into two parts in the apical area. Other stumps with veins cut at harvest should be cleaned and carved. e live vein should be cleaned to better reveal the motion of the trunk, and to choose the best angle for the front of the tree.
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Equipped with chisels and knives, Hank Fawcett and Ben Griffin, my excellent assistants, begin to clean the live vein, removing the old bark, which on the California juniper is very thick to protect the vein in the event of a re.
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e dead and dry parts of the bark are scraped away to expose the wood grain in anticipation of carving the dead branches. us it begins, breaking the dead parts to create jin and shari, reducing them in size thanks to big branch splitters. I’m not a lover of drills if they are not absolutely necessary; for this work everything was done manually with a lot of elbow grease from Ben, Hank, and me.
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Everything is ready to start the day!
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42 | BCI | April/May/June 2016
The tree was nurtured by Hank Fawcett prior to styling.