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?
Sean Houtman schreef
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
+ + +
The quality of wood likely has nothing to do with it. The heartwood is quite
durable, but in wounds it is the sapwood which is exposed and that is not
resistant at all. Wounds are entry points for diseases (read: fungi). Stubs
are bad too
PvR