Care For Outside Trees

tdlabrie

Spring is coming, and I plan to look for a couple Juniper saplings to grow. I know about indoor tropical Bonsai, well the basics anyway. I know about watering, humidity and trays, misting, Eastern/Western exposure and added grow lights. But clearly, none of those things apply to outdoor trees, except maybe watering during a long, summer dry spell.

So what do I need to do? I haven't decided yet whether to keep them in the nursery pot or plant them in the ground; I do know where they will be placed, which will give them plenty of morning sun, then shade. But after I've done that, I know I'll spend a long time mostly just letting them grow to thicken up the trunks. But what do I need to do for maintenance? And what can I do for styling as they are growing?

Thanks.

__________________
Terry
(Green Pea)

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Aurelius

Decide what style is approriate for any given tree and prune to attain that style.
If your intent on fatting them up in broadest sense of the word, just let them grow.

Tony

Trunks can be wired when they are young to the style you've chosen. Growing out junipers are a bit different from other trees you may have worked with, in that they don't backbud very well on old wood. For that reason, as the tree grows out, you have to keep lower branches alive to use in your final design. That means you'll have to prune the tops every so often to divert energies back into lower branches. Other than that just give it plenty of sunshine, water and fertilizer. When the trunk gets close to what you want dig it up and pot it up in a large training pot with good bonsai soil and start working on root and branch ramification.

Tony

tdlabrie

Thanks to both of you. Tony, you said:

Are you saying I need to water in addition to the natural rain? And, if so, are you referring primarily to dry summers or all year round? And what kind of fertilizer do you recommend?

Thanks again.

__________________
Terry
(Green Pea)