any suggestions on this juniper i just bought?

legatoistheman

I bought this juniper from a local nursery for 6 dollars, and i think it is perfect for a cascade or semi cascade. Does anyone have any suggestions for it? I know i have to cut one of the branches off, as it cant cascade both ways. Can I try to wire it now? And should i wait to prune it until fall?

If anyone has any advice please respond, thanks.

Legato

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lehket

I'm having trouble telling where the front might be from the photos given. But I'd say go ahead and start styling it now (pruning and wiring). I think you might want to style it with an eye towards repotting it at an angle, but find the front first and then take some time to consider different angles for the trunk by tilting the pot. You might find it a bit easier to see and work with if you cut down the top of the pot so that the soil is only a bit below the rim. (I did this with a tree I acquired last month, and it helped greatly.)

I'm a relative beginner, however, so take all my advice with a pound or two of salt.

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--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

legatoistheman

It's ok if you are a beginner lehket, your the first person to give me some help and respond so you're ok in my book...lol

anyway thanks for the advice...i am still in the dont want to get in and do stuff because i dont want to mess up phase, and i think this tree is the perfect tree to get in there and just do it.

By the way i think the front of the tree as far as im concerned anyway is the part that you can see.

I am also thinking that the first thing i should do is cut off one side or the other of where the branches form the T at the top, and then wire the side that i want to cascade right now.

If you have any more suggestions please respond..

Thanks
Legato

october

Not bad for 6 bucks. I am training an arborvitae that I also purchased for 6 bucks. It will be a nice tree in a few years. As far as your juniper goes, one drawback about garden center nursery stock, is that there are usually not many sub-branches. This due to the tree being somewhat young and with it being bushy, light cannot penetrate the interior of the tree to develope it properly. I will bet that when you start triming, you will find one or two main branches with almost no small branches that have hardened ( woodened off yet ). This means that you can probably wire the trunk and main branch, but you will probably have to wait a year or two to wire the sub brances. In my opinion, I would pick your main branch and then start triming back. Keep in mind the small branches and buds down the main branch that will become future branches. Also, keep in mind to leave a branch for an apex ( the top of the tree ). If you are not sure about a cut, wait, definitely wait. Look at the tree for a little while everyday. this way when you make the cut, it was well thought out. I hope this somewhat helps.

october

oh, almost forgot, you can prune and wire now, but I wouldn't repot. Junipers can be repotted in the spring and sometimes in the fall. In my opinion, I would wire and prune now. Then come next spring I would maybe put it in a grow pot. A grow pot that is around the same or bigger circumference, but slightly more shallow. You could actually do this in the Fall too. Just keep in mind that if you prune and wire now and you do decide to put it in a grow pot this Fall. Do not cut off many roots. Find a pot large enoungh that there is room for fresh new bonsai soil. Good luck.

legatoistheman

thanks for the info....so you said if i do repot it just dont disturb the roots right? I am thinking about either doing that and putting it in my garage or planting it in the ground, at least for the winter, although it isnt good to actually wire it when it before i plant it in the ground is it?

Legato

october

If it were my tree, I would prune and wire now then maybe in late sept. I would put it in a grow pot. Terra cotta make nice grow pots. A pot that you don't have to disturb the roots too much. Maybe just comb the edges and underneath the root ball a little bit with a chop stick. Use a good bonsai soil too. Preferable one that is made for conifers, if you have access to it.
The nursery pot its in now looks like a 3 gallon pot, is this correct? Sometimes with a one gallon pot you may be able to get it in a bonsai pot right away ( sometimes ). However with the major work that need to be done, it is probably too much to ask for a repot. I would also leave it in the grow pot for 2 years.
Let me know if was I said was accurate about the interior not having many woodened off branches. I say this because I worked on a couple of nursery stock junipers this year and experienced this first hand. However these are great for a learning experience and they will not break your wallet.

legatoistheman

By terra cotta pot do you mean training pot? i have a sort of deep vacant training pot right now with wire and mesh already waiting to get a plant in it.

Also, how do i prune it by pinching off the new growth with my fingers or cutting it off?

I just want to be absolutely sure in everything because i dont want to kill off a cool looking tree with potential.

thanks
Legato

lehket

I know the feeling. I used to be nervous about repotting and root pruning, but I've gotten over it. I have learned that it's actually rather hard to kill a tree so long as you exercise a bit of common sense.

Last year in late August I dug up a smallish (3/4 inch trunk) northern red oak from my yard, root pruned it, and potted it in a 6 inch training pot. I wasn't sure it would survive because of how late in the season it was, but the tree was growing up through a fence and it had to go one way or the other. So it became an experiment. During the rest of the season, it responded amazingly well, putting out some impressive new growth. But sometime between winter and early spring, it died. It never woke up in the spring. When I removed it from the pot, I discovered that in spite of the strong growth up top, there had been almost no growth in the roots. However, I'm not sure that this was the problem. I think the soil ended up too wet. Had I been a bit more careful with the water, it might have done fine after another year's growth in the training pot.

Anyway, the point is to not be too nervous about trying things. Just jump in and do them, because that's how you learn. According to one master, quoted in a book written by one of his students, the secret to learing the art of bonsai is: "You have to water a lot, you have to fertilize a lot, you have to prune a lot, you have to kill a lot." Our failures are part of the process.
By the way, a terra cotta pot is a clay pot such as is sold in nearly any garden supply store. I've used both clay and plastic pots for training, and the only difference I've found so far is that the plastic ones are not nearly so heavy. So long as you have adequate drainage, either should work.

Also, when overwintering your juniper make sure it gets enough sunlight. Unlike deciduous trees, evergreens need light through the winter, so don't lock it in a dark garage and forget about it. Last year (which was my first bonsai winter) I kept my trees on a semi-enclosed porch next to the wall of the house and on colder days and nights covered them with clear plastic sheeting. I don't know how ideal this setup was, but it worked. I watered when the soil seemed to be getting dry. At that time I had only one evergreen, an eastern red cedar. Even in those conditions, it began to look a little anemic (I don't know what the right word is for plants), so on warmer days I put it outside in full sun.

My rule of thumb is to just listen to the trees. They'll generally tell you what they want.

__________________
--Dale
----------
Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum