From: "P van Rijckevorsel"

I find it hard to imagine that wounds in this genus would not close as
in other trees,

Iris Cohen schreef
Yet it's true. I can show you on my own Juniper bonsai. No, the fact that
it is a bonsai has nothing to do with it. Other pruned bonsai heal just like
outdoor trees.

Iris,

+ + +
I am not one to argue with the facts, but could you provide a little more
detail? Are those wounds never overgrown or only at a very late stage? If
these are never overgrown then a big trunk of Juniperus should be full of
holes where the branches used to be?

My observations of Junipers here in New Mexico indicate that the bark does not
grow to cover a wound or a dead stub until the tree grows out to that area. If
you leave a 5 cm stub when pruning, the tree will need to grow about 5 cm
(radius) before that stub will be covered by bark. Most other trees will
quickly grow bark to cover stubs. If you make a large wound on a Juniper, it
may never get covered up. This may be due to the large quantity of aromatic
compounds found in Juniper wood, the tree doesn't really need to protect itself
as much.

Sean



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